Washington, D.C.
Weir v. U.S.
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Weir v. U.S.
Human Rights
Status: Ongoing
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit in June 2019 against the United States and the head of the U.S. Coast Guard on behalf of four Jamaican fishermen, who were forcibly removed from their fishing boat and detained for over a month at sea on four U.S. Coast Guard ships in patently inhumane conditions.
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All Cases
February 5, 2021
February 5, 2021
NORA v. MAYORKAS
Immigrants' Rights
The American Civil Liberties Union, Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, and Public Citizen filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of asylum seekers — including numerous children — unlawfully trapped in the Mexican border state of Tamaulipas, one of the most violent and lawless regions in the world.
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July 2, 2020
July 2, 2020
Baxter v. Bracey
Criminal Law Reform
Status: Closed (Dismissed)
In early 2014, Alexander Baxter was bitten by a police dog that was unleashed on him while he was sitting with his hands in the air, having surrendered to police. He sued for excessive force, but in late 2018, a federal appeals court ruled that his claim should be thrown out under the doctrine of “qualified immunity.”
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June 24, 2020
June 24, 2020
J.B.B.C. v. Wolf
Immigrants' Rights
The American Civil Liberties Union, Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, and Oxfam filed the nation’s first legal challenge to the Trump administration’s order restricting immigration at the border based on an unprecedented and unlawful invocation of the Public Health Service Act, located in Title 42 of the U.S. Code.
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August 8, 2017
August 8, 2017
ACLU et al. v. WMATA – First Amendment Challenge to D.C. Metro’s Advertising Restrictions
Free Speech
Status: Ongoing
The ACLU and its affiliates in the District of Columbia and Virginia challenged the Washington area transit system’s advertising restrictions as violations of the First Amendment. The free speech lawsuit follows the rejection of ads from four groups that hail from across the political spectrum.
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