Legal battle over Boulder Police Oversight Panel member's removal goes to federal court

Amber Carlson, Daily Camera, Boulder, Colo.
·3 min read

Jan. 9—Attorneys on Tuesday morning announced they have filed a new federal lawsuit over Lisa Sweeney-Miran's controversial ouster from Boulder's Police Oversight Panel.

In May 2023, the Boulder City Council voted 5-2 to remove Sweeney-Miran from the panel based on accusations that she was biased against police and law enforcement. Sweeney-Miran had just been appointed to the POP three months earlier, but her appointment sparked backlash even before it was made official, in part because she had made statements on social media criticizing police and policing in America.

She had also been a taxpayer plaintiff on the high-profile ACLU lawsuit challenging Boulder's camping ban, but she removed herself from the lawsuit when she was appointed to the POP.

Now, Sweeney-Miran is suing the city in federal court, accusing city officials of violating her constitutional rights to free speech and due process. According to the suit, the city violated Sweeney-Miran's right to free speech by removing her from the POP as an act of retaliation against her criticism of police. Additionally, the lawsuit argues, by forcing Sweeney-Miran to withdraw from the ACLU lawsuit as a condition of her appointment to the POP, the city violated Sweeney-Miran's First Amendment right to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

"I am bringing this lawsuit because Boulder not only can be, but must be, a leader in police reform and accountability. ... We are not a month out from the most recent police killing with no real information publicly available, no accountability on the part of the police department, and no sense of safety or trust between the people of Boulder and the police department," Sweeney-Miran stated in a news release.

"It is important that we hold the city accountable for its constitutional violations; this accountability will ensure that things like this don't happen again — it will ensure that our city understands that it must respect the rights of people in our community."

Dan Williams, Sweeney-Miran's attorney, stated in the release that the Boulder Police Department has a "difficult legacy of misconduct" to reckon with.

"When the rubber hit the road, Boulder's City Council caved to the status quo by removing Ms. Sweeney-Miran from the oversight panel rather than demand a new chapter of accountability for the Boulder Police Department, at the expense of one of its community member's foundational constitutional rights," he stated.

The latest lawsuit comes several weeks after a district court lawsuit over Sweeney-Miran's removal from the POP was dismissed. But there are a couple of key differences between the district court suit and this new federal suit.

First, Sweeney-Miran herself is the plaintiff on the federal suit. The district court lawsuit was brought by Jude Landsman, a representative of the Boulder County NAACP and member of the POP Selection Committee who helped nominate Sweeney-Miran to the panel. District Court Judge Robert Gunning dismissed Landsman's lawsuit because he determined Landsman did not have standing to sue.

Gunning did, however, find that because the City Council's decision to remove Sweeney-Miran was a quasi-judicial action, Sweeney-Miran should have been afforded due process.

Additionally, Williams told the Daily Camera the federal lawsuit rests on a different legal argument than the district court lawsuit. Specifically, it concerns Sweeney-Miran's broader constitutional rights rather than whether Boulder followed state and municipal laws when it removed Sweeney-Miran from the POP — hence why this lawsuit is being brought to the federal rather than state court.

"This lawsuit is brought in quite a different theory, which is that under the federal constitution, no city or state government is allowed to retaliate against someone for speaking their mind on an issue of important public concern, or punishing someone for filing a lawsuit against the government to ensure that the government follows the law," Williams said.

Sarah Huntley, a spokesperson for Boulder, confirmed the city is aware of the lawsuit and is reviewing the complaint. She said the city will share its response through the court process.