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The MacArthur Justice Center (MJC) filed a lawsuit representing five individuals who were held in custody for several months after their release dates had come and gone. Each client pled guilty to charges in Orleans Parish and were sentenced to the custody of the Louisiana Department of Public Safety (DPS&C); each was entitled to release at that...

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...

New Orleanians who overpaid for bail bond services sued bail bond companies for illegally overcharging tens of thousands of low-income New Orleans families, who were forced to turn to these companies to secure freedom for their loved ones. Although a Louisiana law specified that bail bond companies could only charge twelve percent of the bond...

The MacArthur Justice Center is suing Orleans District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro in light of his office’s practice of gathering evidence using subpoenas that do not have the required advance approval of a court. The suit asks the Orleans Parish Civil District Court to order Cannizzaro to comply with a 2015 public records request for copies of district attorney...

The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) and the Roderick & Solange MacArthur Justice Center (MJC) filed a federal class action lawsuit today challenging District Attorney Doug Evans’ extreme racial discrimination against Black jurors in Mississippi’s 5th Circuit Court District. For the past quarter century, Evans’ office, which spans 7 counties, has employed...

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...

The City of Gretna orchestrated the over-enforcement and excessive charging of non-violent misdemeanor offenses to fund the city’s budget. The MacArthur Justice Center is fighting on behalf of Gretna residents to ensure that local governments are not able to over-police vulnerable communities for financial gain.

The MacArthur Justice Center is pursuing a federal class action lawsuit against Orleans Magistrate Judge Harry E. Cantrell challenging his practice of setting high bail amounts without any consideration of the person’s ability to pay or alternative no-cost conditions of release. Judge Cantrell also insists on using commercial bond companies (rather than cash), which require a non-reimbursable fee, a portion of which goes to the court’s General Fund – revenue Cantrell and other judges’ control.

The Louisiana State Police (LSP) provides foot patrols in the French Quarter through an agreement with the City of New Orleans. But LSP does not consider itself bound by the terms of the consent decree in the U.S. Department of Justice’s lawsuit against the New Orleans Police Department. The MacArthur Justice Center is litigating a...

Unlike Missouri and Georgia, Virginia provided some, but not all, documents in response to subpoena. But they would not allow depositions of their staff for use in the Mississippi trial in Jordan v. Hall. The Virginia DOC moved to quash the subpoena issued by our clients. After briefing but without oral argument, the District Court...