Litigation

S.B. 2343 makes peaceful protests on public sidewalks and streets next to state government buildings in Jackson, Mississippi, illegal without receiving prior written permission from one of two government officials – a clear violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The MacArthur Justice Center is fighting alongside communities to ensure the right to peacefully gather and protest is preserved as a democratic pillar and constitutional right.

H.B. 1020 is radical legislation that unconstitutionally packs the Hinds County Circuit Court and a sweeping effort to disempower voters in majority-Black Hinds County from choosing their own local judges. The MacArthur Justice Center is fighting alongside communities whose state legislators are unconstitutionally robbing them of political self-determination, particularly within the criminal legal system.

When prosecutors at Antiwuan Tyrez Campbell’s trial removed a Black woman from the potential jury pool, they knew they weren’t allowed to do it on account of her race. Instead, they listed a slew of reasons, including the fact that “she was a participant, if not an organizer, for Black Lives Matter at her current...

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...

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...

Together with our partners at the University of Chicago Immigrants’ Rights Clinic, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the New York Civil Liberties Union, we are challenging the constitutionality of this unprecedented scheme of domestic indefinite detention. We are also challenging the grossly unfair procedures the government has used, under which the government made the...

  But, in Ohio, if a person is jailed in the days leading up to Election Day after the deadline to request an absentee ballot there is literally no way for them to cast a ballot. Even while it disfranchises jailed voters in this way, Ohio makes special accommodations to deliver ballots to people who...

At every stage in the litigation against that ban (which the President had often characterized as the “Muslim Ban”) the MacArthur Justice Center ensured that judges had before them a full record of President Trump’s hatred of people of the Muslim faith, his open desire to curtail their rights, and his specific, sustained promise to inhibit their entry to the United States.

After a false inclusion in the CPD's Gang Database, six ICE agents stormed Mr. Catalan-Ramirez's house without a warrant, slammed him to the ground, handcuffed him, and took him away where he was detained, without adequate medical care, for over 10 months.The MacArthur Justice Center joined with the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild to sue the City and ICE on Mr. Catalan-Ramirez's behalf. We have secured his freedom – and gotten his name removed from the Gang Database.

The MacArthur Justice Center filed a brief challenging the pardon, supporting the guilty verdict against Arpaio, and arguing for the appointment of an independent attorney in the Arizona federal court. The Ninth Circuit granted the request by a coalition including the MacArthur Justice Center to appoint private counsel to the case because the Trump administration failed to defend the verdict against Arpaio.