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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- Eliminating Poverty and Economic Inequality
L.E., et al. v. Chris Ragsdale, et al.
After Georgia’s Cobb County School District failed to implement and enforce recommended safety protocols to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in schools, the Southern Poverty Law Center and its allies filed a federal lawsuit describing how the school district’s actions unlawfully deny students with disabilities and medical conditions access to a safe, in-person learning environment.…
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- Eliminating Poverty and Economic Inequality
Florida State Conference of NAACP, et al., v. Florida Department of Health (request for administrative hearing)
The SPLC, the Law Offices of Joshua Spector, P.A. and the Education Law Center of New Jersey filed a lawsuit that seeks a hearing before the Florida Division of Administrative Hearings to invalidate an emergency rule under which the state Department of Health prohibits mask requirements in public schools across Florida. The lawsuit was filed…
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- Eliminating Poverty and Economic Inequality
Florida State Conference of NAACP, et al., v. Florida Department of Health (court order petition)
After the Florida Department of Health filed an emergency rule that barred school districts in the state from requiring students to wear masks during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Law Offices of Joshua Spector, P.A. filed a legal complaint. The petition was filed in Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal on…
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- Eliminating Poverty and Economic Inequality
Von King, et al. v. State of Georgia, et al.
Did you experience extreme delays in the processing of your unemployment claim during the COVID-19 pandemic by the Georgia Department of Labor (GDOL)? If so, the settlement reached in this lawsuit might affect you. This notice explains your rights and the outcome of the lawsuit. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, unemployed Georgians experienced extreme delays in…
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- Ending Unjust Imprisonment
D.P., et. al. v. School Board of Palm Beach County, et al.
Under Florida’s Baker Act, thousands of children each year are taken from their classrooms and transported – handcuffed and in the back of police cars – to psychiatric facilities without their parents’ input or consent and sometimes over their objections. There, they can be held for up to 72 business hours. From the 2016 school…
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- Strengthening Democracy & Voting Rights
Harriet Tubman Freedom Fighters, Corp., et al. v. Laurel Lee, et al.
The Southern Poverty Law Center and Fair Elections Center filed a lawsuit to challenge a Florida law that, among other things, required groups engaged in voter registration activities to provide misleading information to voters that the organization “might not” submit the voter’s registration application on time and to direct voters to the state’s online registration…
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- Eliminating Poverty and Economic Inequality
C.C. v. Buckner
The Alabama Department of Human Resources (DHR) discriminates against foster children and youth with mental impairments by unnecessarily segregating them in restrictive, psychiatric residential treatment facilities and by denying them an opportunity to grow up in loving homes and community-based settings. Along with the Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program and Children’s Rights, the Southern Poverty Law Center filed…
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- Dismantling White Supremacy
Donofrio v. Duval County Public Schools and Scott Schneider
After Florida teacher Amy Donofrio refused a request by school officials to remove a Black Lives Matter flag hanging outside her high school classroom, she was reassigned to nonteaching duties and banned from her school’s campus. The Southern Poverty Law Center and its co-counsel, Scott • Wagner and Associates, P.A., filed a federal lawsuit to uphold the rights of…
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- Strengthening Democracy & Voting Rights
Sixth District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church v. Kemp
After Georgia voters turned out in record numbers for the 2020 presidential election and U.S. Senate elections in early 2021, state legislators passed a sweeping – and unconstitutional – voting law that threatened to massively disenfranchise voters, particularly voters of color. The SPLC and its allies filed a federal lawsuit against the state of Georgia and Gov. Brian Kemp. The lawsuit challenges multiple…
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- Eliminating Poverty and Economic Inequality
Rosalind Peychaud, et. al v. Erroll Williams, et al.
During the 2020 property assessment cycle, the Orleans Parish assessor arbitrarily cut the value of large commercial properties – some by as much as 57% – citing the COVID-19 pandemic as a reason. As a result, he flouted his legal duty to assess properties at their fair market value. Despite slashing assessments for these property owners by a total of $317 million, virtually no residential properties saw reductions,…