DENVER (KDVR) — An appeals court has sided in part with a Colorado attorney who challenged a state law she said protects the misconduct of child welfare workers.
Jessica Peck, a lawyer who works on child abuse and neglect cases, argued that Colorado law censors people with the threat of jail if they publicly share information about caseworkers they believe may have endangered children and teens across Colorado.
The 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals partially sided with Peck in a decision issued Tuesday, finding part of the law unconstitutional.
“This is hugely significant because 48 other states have similarly unconstitutional laws on their books, which unlawfully prevent attorneys involved in child abuse cases, such as Jessica Peck, from blowing the whistle on government incompetence and corruption,” said David Lane of Killmer, Lane and Newman, LLP, the Denver civil rights firm that handled the case. Attorney Tom Kelley argued the appeal.
Peck’s case stems from an interview she did with the Denver weekly newspaper Westword. In the interview, she questioned a Denver Human Services case that put a mother at risk of losing her 3-year-old child “without a single shred of evidence.” She also provided a DHS email in the case to the newspaper.
While Peck was not punished for the interview, a judge in the case cited the legal punishments possible and ordered that information in the case was to remain confidential, court...
The Government of India has rejected a viral video that falsely claims the country is facing a civil war-like situation. The Fact Check Unit of the Press Information Bureau (PIB) clarified that th...