Fixing the D.C. foster care system
LaShawn A. v. Fenty We have been representing the children in the D.C foster care system in a class action that was filed in 1989, and that is still before the court, because the District of Columbia...
View ArticleProtecting the right to attorneys’ fees
Patterson v. District of Columbia In this case we tried to save a public interest lawyer’s right to get attorney’s fees in a civil rights case that settled favorably to her clients. When the...
View ArticleProtecting the Special Ed bar from retaliation
District of Columbia v. Straus When D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles launched a “pushback” against the District’s special education bar by suing a plaintiff’s lawyer for attorney’s fees and...
View ArticleResisting absolute immunity
Zachem v. Atherton Our client was removed from a local grand jury for taking his role too seriously – for example, wanting to know the elements of a crime before voting to indict someone for...
View ArticleDefending the Voting Rights Act, I
Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District No. 1 v. Holder Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibits government entities in certain states that have a history of voting discrimination from...
View ArticleDefending the Voting Rights Act, II
Laroque v. Holder, Shelby County v. Holder, Georgia v. Holder In the wake of the Supreme Court’s 2009 ruling in the Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District case, three new lawsuits were filed in...
View ArticleEven alleged terrorists have a right to counsel
ACLU v. Geithner This case challenges federal regulations that prohibit any “U.S. person” from “making or receiving of any contribution of funds, goods, or services to or for the benefit of persons...
View ArticleProtecting the rights of Internet users
Achte/Neunte Boll Kino Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG v. Does 1 to 4,577 This copyright infringement case was filed by the owner of a movie, who alleges that each of 4,577 unknown defendants infringed...
View ArticleThe right to circulate petitions on Post Office sidewalks
Initiative and Referendum Institute v. United States Postal Service We filed this case in the year 2000 to challenge a new U.S. Postal Service regulation that prohibited “soliciting signatures on...
View Article*Challenging proxy detention, II
Meshal v. Higgenbotham This lawsuit seeks damages from two named FBI agents and several “John Does” on behalf of Amir Meshal, a native-born U.S. citizen who was detained for about four months in Kenya...
View Article*Arrested for disturbing the police, I
Huthnance v. District of Columbia Update (November 10): trial has been postponed to March 7, 2011, because of the hospitalization of one of the District of Columbia's lawyers.Lindsay Huthnance was...
View Article*Protecting same-sex marriage
Jackson v. D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics As members of the Campaign for All DC Families, we added our support to its amicus brief defending same-sex marriage in the District of Columbia and...
View ArticleHolding government officials personally responsible for torture
Ali v. Rumsfeld Representing nine victims of U.S. Army torture in Iraq and Afghanistan, we sued Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and three high-level Army officers, alleging that they were...
View ArticleGPS tracking case goes to Supreme Court
Jones v. United States (was United States v. Maynard) UPDATE: The Supreme Court will hear oral argument in this case on November 8, 2011.On October 3, the ACLU-NCA, together with the National...
View ArticleCourt Dismisses “Targeted Killing” Case
Al-Aulaqi v. Obama December 7—The U.S. District Court today dismissed our lawsuit challenging the government’s plan to assassinate a U.S. citizen with a "predator drone." Judge John Bates wondered...
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