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
Crowell, et al., v. Cobb County Board of Elections & Registration, et al.
The Southern Poverty Law Center and its allies filed an emergency lawsuit to ensure that nearly 1,000 absentee voters in Cobb County, Georgia, have enough time to cast their votes in the 2022 midterm elections. The lawsuit, filed less than 48 hours before Election Day, seeks to send ballots overnight to each of the 1,000…
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- Ending Unjust Imprisonment
ALEX A. v. EDWARDS
In July 2022, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards announced a plan to transfer dozens of incarcerated youths to the Louisiana State Penitentiary, also known as Angola. The facility is the nation’s largest and has a longstanding record of human rights violations. It housed some 5,000 adult men, the vast majority of them convicted of violent…
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- Dismantling White Supremacy
- LGBTQ Rights
Cousins et al. v. The School Board of Orange County et al.
The state of Florida in 2022 enacted House Bill 1557, commonly referred to as the “Don’t Say Gay” law, which bans discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in grades K-3 and restricts such discussions for students through grade 12 based on undefined standards of appropriateness. The law, which took effect July 1, 2022, also…
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- Strengthening Democracy & Voting Rights
Hudson v. Ivey
After a state commission moved a judgeship from a diverse Jefferson County community to majority-white Madison County, the Southern Poverty Law Center and the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the move. The lawsuit was filed by voting rights groups on behalf of Tiara Young Hudson, an attorney…
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- Strengthening Democracy & Voting Rights
Merrill v. Milligan
As a lawsuit challenging Alabama’s congressional district map went before the U.S. Supreme Court, the Southern Poverty Law Center and its partners submitted an amicus brief urging the court to affirm a lower court decision that found the map deprived Black Alabamians of their right to elect candidates of their choice to Congress. The amicus…
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- Eliminating Poverty and Economic Inequality
CALOGERO, ET. AL. v. SHOWS, CALI & WALSH, LLP
In the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, Congress provided billions of dollars through the “Road Home” program for repair, rebuilding and other services to homeowners whose residences were destroyed or severely damaged. In 2007, Iris Calogero and Margie Nell Randolph, both elderly widows, each received grants to restore homes devastated by the…
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- Strengthening Democracy & Voting Rights
Karen Finn, et al. v. Cobb County Board of Elections and Registration, et al.
The Cobb County Board of Education in Georgia and state legislators used racial demographic information to “pack” communities of color — particularly Black and Latinx voters — into three of seven school board voting districts to diminish their political power and preserve a white majority on the board. To protect the voting rights of Cobb…
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- Strengthening Democracy & Voting Rights
National Federation of the Blind of Alabama, et al. v. Wes Allen
Alabama’s absentee ballot program is inaccessible to blind voters and voters with print disabilities. It requires those voters to secure another person’s assistance to complete their absentee ballot – forfeiting their right to vote privately and independently. The SPLC and its co-counsel filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of the National Federation of the Blind…
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- Strengthening Democracy & Voting Rights
Jacksonville Branch of the NAACP, et al. v. City of Jacksonville, et al.
The city of Jacksonville, Florida, in March 2022 adopted racially gerrymandered district voting maps that dilute the voting power of Black residents in city council and school board elections. On behalf of four civil rights organizations and 10 individuals, the Southern Poverty Law Center and its co-counsel filed a federal lawsuit claiming that the new…
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- Strengthening Democracy & Voting Rights
Dyamone White, et al. v. State Board of Election Commissioners, et al.
The Southern Poverty Law Center and allied organizations filed a federal lawsuit challenging the voting district lines used to elect members of the Mississippi Supreme Court. The suit contends that the lines, which have not been adjusted in 35 years, dilute the voting strength of Black voters. The state’s population is nearly 40% Black, a…