The National Lawyers Guild has an established Legal Observer program
that was created in 1968 in response to antiwar and civil rights
protests in New York City. Here in Colorado, Legal Observers have
been a important presence at Columbus Day marches, community
organization demonstrations, such as medical marijuana protests, and
recently at the 2008 DNC.
"The Legal Observer program is part of a comprehensive system of legal support coordinated by the National Lawyers Guild designed to enable people to express their political views as fully as possible, without unconstitutional disruption or interference by the government and with the least possible consequences from the criminal justice system. In addition to Legal Observers, Guild attorneys provide legal defense for protestors who are arrested and bring civil litigation to protect protesters' Constitutional rights."
To request Legal Observers for an upcoming event, contact info@nlgcolorado.org. For a copy of the NLG's Legal Observer Manual, click here.
Recent Legal Observing
Local Guild members have been called upon throughout the summer of 2011, to serve as legal observers at numerous civic actions to bring public awareness to a wide-range of issues which NLG has championed for decades, such as immigrant rights, police accountability and the corporate hijacking of “we the people.”
The Colorado chapter of NLG provided legal observers at several rallies for the “Unification Not Deportation” campaign spearheaded by Rights for All People (RAP) which challenged the deportation of two community activists, Jeanette and Gerardo, as well as RAP’s coalition campaign “Stop the Wells Fargo Stagecoach from Rolling Over Colorado Families” which confronted Wells Fargo’s investment in the burgeoning corporate prison system. On another corporate front, local NLG legal observers were present at the “Rights Over Knights” action which was organized to publicize the use of corporate profits by the Knights of Columbus to finance repressive policies throughout this country such as Proposition 8. The massive show of force by the Denver Police Department against the relatively small “Rights Over Knights” action clearly demonstrates not only the need for Colorado Guild members to continue to be willing to serve as legal observers but also the importance of our work as a deterrent to the intimidating tactics of local police departments. The Rights Working Group's national campaign to end racial and religious profiling recently took part in actions all across the country.
On Sept 29th, 2010, local organizations like, Colorado Progressive Coalition, Rights for All People and Coloradans for Immigrant Rights joined and performed street theater through downtown Denver to highlight problems concerning racial profiling, cross certification programs, and police accountability. NLG legal observers were trained and present to encourage activism without constitutional violations!