Denver, Colorado — September 29, 2021 — Celeste Archer, an award-winning career educator employed by the University of Colorado-Denver, today announced that she is suing the school for violating her Fourteenth Amendment right to due process when it summarily barred her from campus based on an unverified complaint related to COVID-19.
That information was false. Archer was COVID-free, and whoever falsely submitted the report against her had done so likely out of malice. But the university’s failure to investigate the claim, or grant her a fair hearing before taking action against her, was a clear violation of her due process rights, which she now wants to school to answer for.
Archer is taking this action to defend a principle seemingly lost amidst the pandemic panic: that health emergencies, even serious ones, simply aren’t a justification for violating constitutional rights. Mountain States Legal Foundation shares that view and will be representing Archer in this case.
Teaching isn’t just a job for Archer; it’s more akin to a calling – something to which she’s devoted herself for more than 25 years. But despite her history as a celebrated educator, she still experienced the dangers of COVID-19 hysteria on September 3, 2021, when she received an e-mail notification from the University stating that she was not allowed on campus until further notice.
It was only a week before her signature annual event, and access to campus was absolutely essential. The exclusion order was issued without advance notice, without an investigation, without a hearing, and without Archer having an opportunity to rebut the claim.
“When I received a text that I would not have access to my workplace because of a hearsay-based claim that I might be infected, I could hardly believe my eyes,” recalls Archer. “As the email conversations with university officials continued, it felt far too much like a bad repeat of our worst history. The targeted politicization of a disease has got to stop.”
The right to defend oneself at a hearing prior to deprivation of life, liberty, or property is one of the bedrock principles on which the American system of justice rests. And those rights and protections are not waived or nullified in the case of an alleged public health emergency. Archer and MSLF are seeking a declaratory judgment that the University violated federal civil rights law (under 42 U.S.C. § 1983) by depriving Archer of her due process rights under color of law. She is bringing the case against the CU Board of Regents, as well as the individuals who were involved in circulating the COVID-19 notice, in their individual capacities for violating her Fourteenth Amendment due process rights. The complaint has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado.
Supreme Court and Tenth Circuit precedent strongly support MSLF’s legal argument that deprivation of life, liberty, or property must be preceded by notice and opportunity for a hearing appropriate to the nature of the case. A failure to hold the University accountable will set a dangerous precedent that governmental entities, such as public universities, are allowed to arbitrarily deprive individuals of their due process rights under the guise of a health crisis such as COVID-19.
“As Justice Neil Gorsuch noted last year, the Constitution does not take a sabbatical in times of great crises, even in the midst of pandemics,” said MSLF General Counsel William Trachman. “Schools shouldn’t let themselves be part of anonymous harassment campaigns, nor should they have excluded Celeste from campus without due process. We hope that the school comes forward to disclose the name of her harasser, and to cover Celeste’s damages from this incident.”
Follow this link to read the case page.
Follow this link to read Archer’s complaint.