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
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…
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- Strengthening Democracy & Voting Rights
League of Women Voters of Louisiana, et al. v. Landry, et al.
The Southern Poverty Law Center has filed a lawsuit on behalf of a coalition of voting rights groups against the state of Louisiana following its passage of a proof of citizenship law that violates the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA). The NVRA does not allow states to require the collection of additional documentation to register…
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- Eliminating Poverty and Economic Inequality
- Ending Unjust Imprisonment
Baez v. Dixon
The Southern Poverty Law Center and Florida Justice Institute filed federal and state lawsuits on behalf of an incarcerated man who suffered abuse at the hands of the Florida Department of Corrections (FDC). Following a settlement awarded to the man for his injuries, FDC enforced a six-figure lien against him. The suits argue that FDC’s…
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- Eliminating Poverty and Economic Inequality
George v. Sanders
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) filed a class action complaint with the National Housing Law Project (NHLP) and civil rights attorney William Patrick Quigley on behalf of a tenant in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, against a justice of the peace in East Baton Rouge Parish. The complaint states that Louisiana law creates an unconstitutional financial incentive for…
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- Ending Unjust Imprisonment
P.A., et al. v. Voitier
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and Loyola Law Clinic reached a settlement agreement with Louisiana’s St. Bernard Parish Public Schools following a 2023 lawsuit the groups filed accusing the school district with routinely violating the rights of students with disabilities, placing them in a punitive alternative school setting without the appropriate due process, accommodations and…
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- Eliminating Poverty and Economic Inequality
Scott, et al., v. Louisiana State Police, et al.
Amid evictions of unhoused people from encampments in public spaces in New Orleans, the Southern Poverty Law Center joined a case to protect unhoused people from this effort by state authorities. Ahead of major events held at the Caesars Superdome in October and November 2024, the Louisiana State Police and the state’s Department of Wildlife…
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- Dismantling White Supremacy
- Eliminating Poverty and Economic Inequality
Barnes v. Felix
After the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit dismissed a case where a Texas county constable fatally shot an unarmed Black man, and after the man’s family appealed that dismissal to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Southern Poverty Law Center filed an amicus brief in support of the man’s family. The amicus brief…
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- Strengthening Democracy & Voting Rights
Ayota v. Fall
The Southern Poverty Law Center and civil rights groups filed an emergency lawsuit after Cobb County, Georgia, election officials failed to send out more than 3,000 absentee ballots to voters ahead of a Nov. 5, 2024, deadline to return their ballots by mail. The emergency complaint by the SPLC, the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU…
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- Ending Unjust Imprisonment
Walton County (Georgia) School District discrimination complaints
After Georgia’s Walton County School District expelled and referred a Black middle school student with a disability to juvenile court, it denied the student the necessary support and services in its alternative school program, sparking two discrimination complaints by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The SPLC filed a state administrative due process complaint and a…