Smart Justice
Singleton v. Cannizzaro
The ACLU Trone Center for Justice and Equality, ACLU of Louisiana, and Civil Rights Corps, filed suit against District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro, his office in Orleans Parish, Louisiana, and several Assistant District Attorneys for systematically breaking the laws of Louisiana and of the U.S. Constitution.
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Mississippi
Mar 2017
Smart Justice
Prisoners' Rights
Dockery v. Hall
The ACLU, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), the Law Offices of Elizabeth Alexander, and the law firm of Covington & Burling LLP, filed a petition for class certification and expert reports for a federal lawsuit on behalf of prisoners at the East Mississippi Correctional Facility (EMCF). The lawsuit, which was filed in May 2013, describes the for-profit prison as hyper-violent, grotesquely filthy and dangerous. EMCF is operated "in a perpetual state of crisis" where prisoners are at "grave risk of death and loss of limbs." The facility, located in Meridian, Mississippi, is supposed to provide intensive treatment to the state's prisoners with serious psychiatric disabilities, many of whom are locked down in long-term solitary confinement.
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187 Smart Justice Cases
Alabama
Mar 2015
Smart Justice
Immigrants' Rights
Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama v. Bentley
The Alabama state legislature passed a draconian anti-immigrant law in June, 2011, the toughest of several state laws modeled after Arizona’s SB 1070. Like the Arizona law, SB 56 authorized police to ask for proof of citizenship or immigration status during a traffic stop based on “reasonable suspicion” that the person was an undocumented immigrant. The law went even further than Arizona’s, with provisions that required public school officials to verify the immigration status of children and their parents, that made it a crime for undocumented immigrants to solicit work, and criminalized Alabamians for ordinary, everyday interactions with undocumented individuals like renting a mobile home or offering a ride.
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Alabama
Mar 2015
Smart Justice
Immigrants' Rights
Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama v. Bentley
The Alabama state legislature passed a draconian anti-immigrant law in June, 2011, the toughest of several state laws modeled after Arizona’s SB 1070. Like the Arizona law, SB 56 authorized police to ask for proof of citizenship or immigration status during a traffic stop based on “reasonable suspicion” that the person was an undocumented immigrant. The law went even further than Arizona’s, with provisions that required public school officials to verify the immigration status of children and their parents, that made it a crime for undocumented immigrants to solicit work, and criminalized Alabamians for ordinary, everyday interactions with undocumented individuals like renting a mobile home or offering a ride.
Court Case
Mar 2015
Smart Justice
Thompson v. DeKalb County
On January 29, 2015, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit challenging debt collection practices that have resulted in the jailing of people simply because they are poor. The case was brought on behalf of Kevin Thompson, a black teenager in DeKalb County, Georgia, who was jailed because he could not afford to pay court fines and probation company fees stemming from a traffic ticket.
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Court Case
Mar 2015
Smart Justice
Thompson v. DeKalb County
On January 29, 2015, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit challenging debt collection practices that have resulted in the jailing of people simply because they are poor. The case was brought on behalf of Kevin Thompson, a black teenager in DeKalb County, Georgia, who was jailed because he could not afford to pay court fines and probation company fees stemming from a traffic ticket.
Michigan
Feb 2015
Smart Justice
Criminal Law Reform
Casias v. Wal-Mart
For more than a decade, Joseph Casias of Battle Creek, Mich. has endured the painful symptoms of an inoperable brain tumor and cancer.
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Michigan
Feb 2015
Smart Justice
Criminal Law Reform
Casias v. Wal-Mart
For more than a decade, Joseph Casias of Battle Creek, Mich. has endured the painful symptoms of an inoperable brain tumor and cancer.
Texas
Oct 2014
Smart Justice
Capital Punishment
Manuel Velez v. The State of Texas
Manuel Velez, an innocent man, was released from a Texas prison today after almost nine years behind bars, four on death row. Rather than risk a new trial that could be plagued with the same problems that sent him to death row, Velez, an ACLU client, pleaded no contest to a lesser charge.
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Texas
Oct 2014
Smart Justice
Capital Punishment
Manuel Velez v. The State of Texas
Manuel Velez, an innocent man, was released from a Texas prison today after almost nine years behind bars, four on death row. Rather than risk a new trial that could be plagued with the same problems that sent him to death row, Velez, an ACLU client, pleaded no contest to a lesser charge.
U.S. Supreme Court
Jun 2014
Smart Justice
Criminal Law Reform
Heien v. North Carolina
Whether a traffic stop based on a police officer’s mistaken understanding of the traffic laws violates the Fourth Amendment.
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U.S. Supreme Court
Jun 2014
Smart Justice
Criminal Law Reform
Heien v. North Carolina
Whether a traffic stop based on a police officer’s mistaken understanding of the traffic laws violates the Fourth Amendment.