Case Summary

Denver educator Celeste Archer is a luminary in the Colorado education community. She is the Executive Director of the University of Colorado Denver’s National History Day in Colorado program. She also serves on numerous boards, such as the National Conference of Governor’s Schools. In 2019, the League of Women Voters named her the 2019 Defender of Democracy. Before arriving in Denver decades ago, she taught at urban schools and universities in Houston, and at the historic Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas.

But in a Kafkaesque turn of events, school officials summarily barred Archer from campus based on an anonymous allegation that she had tested positive for COVID-19, had COVID-19 symptoms, or had been exposed to them. The exclusion order was issued without advance notice, without an investigation, without a hearing, and without Archer having an opportunity to rebut the claim.

The allegation was false. But the school, like the nameless and faceless Authority in Kafka’s novel “The Trial,” didn’t make any effort to respect or even recognize Archer’s due process rights, before rushing to judgment and barring her from campus, effectively punishing her based on an unverified allegation.

In order to take a stand against this and other constitutional violations Americans have suffered as a result of the pandemic panic, Archer, with the help of Mountain States Legal Foundation, is suing the University of Colorado for violating her Fourteenth Amendment right to due process. 

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Status

Court

United States District Court for the District of Colorado

Case History

Teaching isn’t just a job for University of Colorado Instructor Celeste Archer. It’s more akin to a calling – something to which she’s devoted herself for more than 25 years, working at the secondary and post-secondary level and earning professional accolades and appointments to prestigious boards and commissions all along the way. It’s challenging work, but Archer relishes challenges.

On September 3, 2021, Archer experienced something no educator should ever have to go through. That day, she received an e-mail notification from the university stating that she was not allowed on campus because it had been reported that she had tested positive for COVID-19, had symptoms, or had been recently exposed. It was only a week before her signature annual event, and access to the campus was absolutely essential.

To make matters worse, the University went to great lengths to distribute the false report among Archer’s supervisor and colleagues. They made it clear that not only had the report been filed, but that she was barred from campus until further notice.

In short, the false report plunged Archer into the COVID-19 hysteria, in which her constitutional rights meant nothing, and she was excluded from the university based on an unverified anonymous allegation, minus any hearing, any investigation, or any semblance of fair treatment. It’s that total disregard for her rights that prompted Archer to bring action against the University.

“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 the 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.

Who made the false allegations against Archer, and why? That remains unknown because the University won’t say. But it’s likely that the false allegation was designed to defame, harass, or intimidate Archer – an effort that University officials enabled by failing to respect and protect her rights. Archer’s rights were violated, according to the complaint, when she was summarily and arbitrarily excluded from campus, without advance notice and without a hearing of some kind, which denied her the opportunity to answer and disprove the allegation. Not only was Archer denied a meaningful opportunity to be heard; she was given no opportunity whatsoever, according to the complaint. Instead of being provided the opportunity to challenge the report or alert the school that she was the subject of a potential harassment campaign, an e-mail from the school summarily demanded that she “remain off-campus” until she was cleared by a contact tracer. 

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. 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.

Health emergencies, even serious ones, simply aren’t a justification for violating constitutional rights. That’s the point that Ms. Archer hopes to make by bringing this action.

Case Documents
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Archer Case Earns More Media Coverage

Colorado educator and MSLF Client Celeste Archer in this piece explains to Denver’s CBS News affiliate why she’s suing her employer, the University of Colorado-Denver, for barring her from campus without first investigating whether there was any truth to an anonymous allegation that she had Covid-19. That allegation was false. But the school’s reflexive rush to judgment — something that’s become alarmingly commonplace as a result of the witch-hunting atmosphere produced by the panic — denied Archer her due process rights, according to the lawsuit.

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