Bio
Sarah Hinger is the Deputy Director of the ACLU Racial Justice Program, where her work focuses on education and youth justice. Her recent work includes representing plaintiffs in Kenny v. Wilson, challenging a vague South Carolina law making it a crime to disturb a school. This law is applied far more frequently to Black students, and was invoked in the arrest of a student and plaintiff in the case, when she spoke out in protest while witnessing a classmate violently ripped from her desk by a school police officer. Prior to joining the ACLU, Sarah was a Trial Attorney with the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, Educational Opportunities Section, where she received the Assistant Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award. At the Civil Rights Division, she litigated issues of desegregation, discriminatory school discipline, classroom equity, discrimination against English language learners and immigrant and refugee students, and Title IX. Sarah previously served as a Karpatkin Fellow with the ACLU Racial Justice Program and a fellow and staff attorney with the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice. She completed her J.D. at Columbia Law School, her M.Phil. at the University of Cambridge, and her B.A. at the University of Virginia.
Featured work
Jul 2, 2018
Innocent Students Are Getting Criminalizing Probation in One California County
May 21, 2018
South Carolina Legislature Repeals Racist ‘Disturbing School’ Law for Students
Mar 14, 2018
The Trump Administration Is Using the Parkland Massacre as an Excuse to Roll Back Civil Rights
Mar 12, 2018
Schools Should Use Walkouts in Protest of Gun Violence as a Teaching Moment
Nov 21, 2017
Police Assault on Black Students in Kentucky Sparks Calls for Reform
Feb 3, 2017
Racial Disparities in Student Arrests Is An Epidemic Affecting Children Nationwide
Mar 17, 2016
Police Accountability Doesn't Stop at the Schoolhouse Door