One of the main ways ACLU-DC works to protect civil liberties and civil rights is through litigation. This section of our website documents the cases we’re working on now and those we’ve handled in recent years. Click here for general information about what types of cases we litigate.
Important disclaimer: Communicating with us through this website does not create an attorney-client relationship; only a signed agreement can create such a relationship. Additionally, past success is no guarantee of future results, even if we agree to represent you.
In February 2025, the Trump administration began moving immigration detainees to the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. After first filing a lawsuit seeking to assure that detainees at Guantanamo...
Two weeks after his inauguration, President Trump began sending immigration detainees to the Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba. In addition to other legal issues with that action, the detainees there are in a...
Federal law protects noncitizens fleeing persecution or torture, granting them asylum rights. We sued the Trump administration over the president’s proclamation aimed at completely shutting down asylum at...
The day after Donald Trump’s inauguration, his administration announced a new plan to massively expand fast-track deportation (called “expedited removal”) of undocumented immigrants without a fair legal...
In 2018, President Trump signed into law the bipartisan First Step Act, which was designed to reform extreme criminal sentencing laws, reduce the population in federal prisons, and encourage people in...
This case is about the District of Columbia’s failure to meet the rehabilitative and treatment needs of children in its custody and instead needlessly and unlawfully extending the time these children spend...