On May 27, 2011, the ACLU joined Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) in asking a South Dakota federal court to prevent the enforcement of House Bill 1217, a law that imposes onerous and humiliating obstacles in the path of any person in South Dakota seeking to exercise their legal right to have an abortion. The U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota granted a preliminary injunction in June 2011, blocking the law from going into effect. After defendants and intervenors filed a December 2020 motion to dissolve the preliminary injunction, the U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota ruled on August 20, 2021 to sustain it. The law will remain blocked while the case is litigated. On August 25, 2021, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, other state defendants, and intervenors appealed the decision to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.

The ACLU and ACLU of South Dakota have filed a federal lawsuit challenging three South Dakota laws that target full-throated advocacy and protest.

The ACLU and the ACLU of South Dakota filed a federal suit on behalf of Terri Bruce against the state of South Dakota because it denies transgender employees health insurance coverage for medically necessary transition-related health care.

Three Indian parents, the Oglala Sioux Tribe, and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe filed a class-action lawsuit to challenge the continued removal of Indian children in Pennington County, South Dakota from their homes based on insufficient evidence and without proper hearings, in violation of the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 and the constitutional right to due process.

The American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of South Dakota, and co-counsel Stephanie E. Pochop have submitted charges to state and federal agencies against Taco John’s of Yankton, Inc. and Taco John’s International Inc. The discrimination charges were filed on behalf of Tyler Brandt, a 16-year-old employee who was forced to wear a “Gaytard” name tag while working.