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Gabriel Bassford, proceeding pro se, sued police officers for arresting him simply for filming the police as they conducted an investigation at a gas station. The district court concluded that the officer arrested Mr. Bassford in retaliation for him exercising his First Amendment right to film the police.

While Matthew Locke was peacefully protesting, a county sheriff and his chief deputy used extreme and gratuitous “pain compliance” tactics on him, causing him severe pain and neurological injury. The district court threw out Mr. Locke’s excessive-force suit based on the judicially invented doctrine of qualified immunity. The MacArthur Justice Center is fighting to ensure...

When Alex Adamowicz challenged his life-without-parole sentence he received as a struggling 21-year-old, arguing that it violated the Michigan Constitution’s ban on cruel or unusual punishment, the Court of Appeals chastised him for even attempting. Joining Mr. Adamowicz’s fight as amici, the MacArthur Justice Center is urging states with expansive Eighth Amendment analogues, like Michigan, to lead the charge in ensuring humane sentencing for youth and for all that offers meaningful opportunities for rehabilitation and release.

Andrew Finch, a 28-year-old father of two young children, was shot to death with a sniper rifle by Wichita Police Officer Justin Rapp less than 10 seconds after Andrew stepped out on his front porch. Andrew had committed no crime. He was not armed. He had not threated the officers or anyone else. In fact,...

Francisco Duarte was heading back to his car after eating dinner at his favorite taco truck, when he saw Stockton, California police officers chasing and tackling a stranger. When he froze in place, police officers tackled him, pinned him to the ground, and beat his leg with a baton until it broke. They then charged...

L.B., a Native American woman living on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in Montana, was raped by a federal officer outside her own home under threat of arrest and child separation simply because she had a couple drinks that night. As a result, she became pregnant and gave birth to a child. L.B. sued the federal...

UPDATE: The MacArthur Justice Center secured a major victory in the California Court of Appeal. The court vacated four convictions in a double homicide case and remanded for a new trial, concluding that the prosecution violated Batson when it struck Crishala Reed from the jury pool. This victory should send a message to prosecutors everywhere: Targeting someone...

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 June 2021, the Supreme Court denied our petition for certiorari. The Stewart family continues their fight for justice and to hold accountable the officers who killed Luke Stewart. A cartoon of a police officer beating an unarmed civilian (caption: “protecting and serving the poop out of you”); a clip from a Chris Rock sketch...

  Mr. Jones was in his own apartment building when a group of NYPD officers attempted to arrest him for a suspected drug transaction.     In response to Mr. Jones’s slightest resistance—insisting on an explanation for his arrest—the officers used an escalating battery of force: from a nightstick, to pepper spray, to shooting Taser...