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.
This case, which we brought together with the ACLU of Texas and the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project, challenges the federal government’s drastic change in policy to detain asylum seekers effectively...
The D.C. Department of Public Works (DPW) has forced Doretha Barber to choose between her medication and her job. This case raises a simple question: Does the fact that Ms. Barber’s medicine is medical...
As part of our nation’s commitment to the protection of people fleeing persecution, and consistent with our international obligations, it is longstanding federal law that merely transiting through a third...
We filed a federal lawsuit in August 2019 to challenge the Trump administration’s new rule that massively expands fast-track deportations (called “expedited removal”) without a fair legal process such as a...
In September 2017, a group of Jamaican fisherman were stopped and their boat was sunk by the U.S. Coast Guard. They were then held for over a month in inhumane conditions, including being forced to strip...
Plaintiffs Robert Dexter Weir, Patrick Wayne Ferguson, David Roderick Williams, and Luther Fian Patterson are Jamaican fishermen. In September 2017, the Coast Guard stopped their fishing boat in the...