Litigation

On June 1, 2020, Theresa Taylor was participating in a peaceful protest on issues of police brutality and racial injustice when she was unlawfully arrested, charged, and, upon being released from jail, given a verbal banishment order. The banishment order prohibits her from returning to the area, the Country Club Plaza (known as the Plaza),...

A coalition of Wisconsin voters and organizations that work to mobilize Wisconsin voters sued state election officials for violating federal laws that protect the right to vote. The suit asks the court to remedy Wisconsin’s failure to implement measures to ensure that all Wisconsin voters will be able to freely and safely participate in the...

In the midst of the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, voting by mail is the safest option for many voters, especially elderly and medically-vulnerable individuals. As healthcare workers continue to serve on the front lines of our response to the COVID-19 pandemic, members of 1199SEIU are especially reliant on their ability to cast ballots by mail. In...

Three water protectors have filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in response to their false arrests during protests of the construction of the Bayou Bridge Pipeline in St. Martin’s Parish, Louisiana in August 2018. Cynthia Spoon, Sophia Cook-Phillips, and Eric Moll were traveling in a canoe and kayak on the waters of Bayou Bee to...

A corrupt, bad faith, reckless investigation kept Tina Jimerson behind bars for 27 years for a crime she did not commit. In 1991, Ms. Jimerson was wrongfully convicted of first-degree murder as a supposed accomplice in the murder of Myrtle Holmes, an elderly white woman, in the City of Fordyce on the night of September...

The MacArthur Justice Center represents the Chicagoans for an End to the Gang Database, a coalition of individuals and community organizations, in a federal class action lawsuit against the City of Chicago and Chicago Police Department (CPD) targeting the widespread use of an inaccurate, racially discriminatory Gang Database.

The MacArthur Justice Center and the ACLU of Missouri jointly a federal class action lawsuit challenging the Missouri Department of Corrections' (MDOC) systematic denial of potential life-saving medication to inmates with chronic Hepatitis C (HCV).

Martin Crowson suffered from metabolic encephalopathy while in Washington County Purgatory Correctional Facility on an alleged parole violation. Instead of conducting diagnostic tests and treating him appropriately, the jail’s medical personnel simply assumed he was detoxing and treated him for substance withdrawal. This worsened his condition and delayed access to the care he actually required....

Dustin Lance developed a painful and dangerous medical condition while in pretrial detention at the Pittsburg County Jail. He was in severe pain and pleaded with corrections officers for three days to help him. But they did not take him to the nurse or take any steps to provide the emergency medical care that he needed....

In 2018, Florida citizens voted to restore the right to vote to hundreds of thousands of formerly-incarcerated people. In response, however, the Florida legislature passed legislation imposing severe restrictions on voting rights restoration, including a requirement that people must pay all fines, fees, court costs, and other legal financial obligations before they regain their right...