Civil rights case docket
Summaries of our current and historical civil rights cases.
A rich history of litigating important civil rights cases.
Our cases have smashed remnants of Jim Crow segregation; fought against voter suppression; destroyed some of the nation’s most notorious white supremacist groups; and upheld the rights of minorities, children, women, people with disabilities, and others who faced discrimination and exploitation. Many of our cases have changed institutional practices, stopped government or corporate abuses, and set precedents that helped thousands.
Currently, our litigation is focused on several major areas: voting rights, children’s rights, economic justice, immigrant justice, LGBTQ rights, and mass incarceration.
We have also filed amicus “friend-of-the-court” briefs to support litigation from other organizations that are doing similar work.
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- Strengthening Democracy & Voting Rights
Louisiana v. U.S. Department of Commerce
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) filed a motion to intervene in Louisiana v. U.S. Department of Commerce on behalf of the League of Women Voters of the United States (LWV), the League of Women Voters of Florida (LWVFL), and the League of Women Voters of New York State (LWVNYS). The lawsuit, filed by the plaintiff…
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- Eliminating Poverty and Economic Inequality
P.A., et al. v. St. Tammany Parish School Board, et al.
The Southern Poverty Law Center and the Stuart H. Smith Law Clinic at Loyola University New Orleans filed an appeal challenging the decision of the St. Tammany Parish School Board in Louisiana severely limit a disabled student’s classroom instruction time and restrict their interactions with other students. The appeal aims to reverse a Louisiana administrative…
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- Dismantling White Supremacy
Wilberforce Academy of Knoxville v. Knox County Board of Education
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and co-counsel filed a motion to intervene in a federal lawsuit on behalf of five Knox County, Tennessee, taxpayers who oppose a religious public charter school’s demand to use public funds to teach “explicitly biblical and Christian education.” In November 2025, the Wilberforce Academy of Knoxville filed a lawsuit…
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- Dismantling White Supremacy
Mickens v. Oglethorpe County School System
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and the Georgia Association of Educators (GAE) filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Georgia teacher Michelle Mickens against her employer, the Oglethorpe County School System, after it unconstitutionally punished her for exercising her First Amendment rights by posting about political commentator Charlie Kirk on her personal Facebook page. After…
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- Strengthening Democracy & Voting Rights
United States v. Raffensperger
The Southern Poverty Law Center, the ACLU National Voting Rights Project and the ACLU of Georgia filed a motion to intervene in United States v. Raffensperger to stop the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) from obtaining Georgia voters’ sensitive personal data. The SPLC and co-counsel filed the motion on behalf of Common Cause, a nonpartisan…
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- Dismantling White Supremacy
Pigott v. Gintz
The Southern Poverty Law Center, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and Robert & Ethel Kennedy Human Rights Center successfully reached a settlement agreement on behalf of a father and his two children who were held at gun point by a sheriff’s deputy in Louisiana. On April 17, 2020, Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Deputy Paul Gintz…
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- Strengthening Democracy & Voting Rights
Florida Decides Healthcare Inc., et al. v. Byrd, et al.
On Sunday, May 4, 2025 — two days after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Florida House Bill 1205 (HB 1205) into law — a law geared toward eliminating the ability of all but the most wealthy and powerful from accessing Florida’s ballot initiative process — the Southern Poverty Law Center filed a federal lawsuit seeking…
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- Strengthening Democracy & Voting Rights
Louisiana v. Callais
On Sept. 3, the Southern Poverty Law Center filed an amicus brief in a case involving white plaintiffs who claim that Louisiana’s current redistricting plan — which was created to comply with Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and has two majority-Black congressional districts — is a racial gerrymander that discriminates against them. The…
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- Eliminating Poverty and Economic Inequality
Anaria Cabrera, et al. v. U.S. Department of Labor
After the Trump administration announced the suspension of the Job Corps program and that all 99 of its centers would close, the Southern Poverty Law Center and Public Citizen Litigation Group filed a federal lawsuit opposing the action as an illegal shutdown of the program. The lawsuit describes how on May 29, 2025, the U.S.…
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- Dismantling White Supremacy
Deago Buck v. Goyim Defense League, et al.
After an antisemitic group brought a hate campaign to Nashville, Tennessee, in 2024, and targeted people believed to be Jewish or people of color, the Southern Poverty Law Center filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of a young, biracial man assaulted during the event. The lawsuit names the Goyim Defense League (GDL), its leadership and…