Racial Justice
Allen v. Milligan
Whether Alabama’s congressional districts violate Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act because they discriminate against Black voters. We succeeded in winning a new map for 2024 elections which, for the first time, has two congressional district that provide Black voters a fair opportunity to elect candidates of their choosing despite multiple attempts by Alabama to stop us at the Supreme Court. Despite this win, Alabama is still defending its discriminatory map, and a trial was held in February 2025 to determine the map for the rest of the decade.
In May 2025, a federal court ruled that Alabama's 2023 congressional map both violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and was enacted by the Alabama Legislature with racially discriminatory intent.
Status: Ongoing
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Arizona
Oct 2023

Racial Justice
Criminal Law Reform
Fund for Empowerment v. Phoenix, City of
Fund for Empowerment is a challenge to the City of Phoenix’s practice of conducting sweeps of encampments without notice, issuing citations to unsheltered people for camping and sleeping on public property when they have no place else to go, and confiscating and destroying their property without notice or process.
U.S. Supreme Court
Sep 2023

Racial Justice
Women's Rights
United States v. Rahimi
Whether 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(8), which prohibits the possession of firearms by persons subject to domestic-violence restraining orders, violates the Second Amendment on its face.
U.S. Supreme Court
Sep 2023

Racial Justice
Muldrow v. City of St. Louis
Do employees claiming that they have been denied a transfer because of their race have to demonstrate in addition that the transfer caused a significant material disadvantage?
Court Case
Jun 2020

Racial Justice
Defy Ventures, Inc. v. Small Business Administration
Suing the Trump administration to lift its unlawful exclusion of businesses owned by people with criminal records from being eligible for Paycheck Protection Act funds
California
Mar 2019

Racial Justice
MediaJustice, et al. v. Federal Bureau of Investigation, et al.
On March 21, 2019, the Ƶ and MediaJustice, formerly known as "Center for Media Justice," filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit seeking records about FBI targeting of Black activists. The lawsuit enforces the Ƶ and MediaJustice’s right to information about a 2017 FBI Intelligence Assessment that asserts, without evidence, that a group of so-called “Black Identity Extremists” poses a threat of domestic terrorism. The Intelligence Assessment was widely disseminated to law enforcement agencies nationwide, raising public concern about government surveillance of Black people and Black-led organizations based on anti-Black stereotypes and First Amendment protected activities.
Court Case
Aug 2015

Racial Justice
Disability Rights
S.R. v. Kenton County Sheriff's Office
A deputy sheriff shackled two elementary school children who have disabilities, causing them pain and trauma, according to a federal lawsuit filed today by the Ƶ, the Children's Law Center, and Dinsmore & Shohl.
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128 Racial Justice Cases

South Carolina
Feb 2023
Racial Justice
+2 Issues
CYAP v. Wilson
The Ƶ filed a federal lawsuit challenging South Carolina’s “disturbing schools” and “disorderly conduct” laws. The laws allowed students in school to be criminally charged for normal adolescent behaviors including loitering, cursing, or undefined “obnoxious” actions on school grounds and encouraged discriminatory enforcement against Black students and students with disabilities. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court ruling that enforcing these laws against students was unconstitutional, affirming that subjecting students to criminal penalties under such vague rules interferes with their education and their future, and produces stark racial disparities. This decision should be instructive to the many school districts across the country where students continue to be charged with ‘disorderly conduct’ and similar vague crimes.
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South Carolina
Feb 2023

Racial Justice
+2 Issues
CYAP v. Wilson
The Ƶ filed a federal lawsuit challenging South Carolina’s “disturbing schools” and “disorderly conduct” laws. The laws allowed students in school to be criminally charged for normal adolescent behaviors including loitering, cursing, or undefined “obnoxious” actions on school grounds and encouraged discriminatory enforcement against Black students and students with disabilities. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court ruling that enforcing these laws against students was unconstitutional, affirming that subjecting students to criminal penalties under such vague rules interferes with their education and their future, and produces stark racial disparities. This decision should be instructive to the many school districts across the country where students continue to be charged with ‘disorderly conduct’ and similar vague crimes.

U.S. Supreme Court
Oct 2022
Racial Justice
Voting Rights
Fitisemanu v. United States, et al. (Amicus)
On May 28, 2022 the Ƶ filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court in a case, Fitisemanu v. United States, addressing the constitutionality of the federal law designating persons born in American Samoa as “non-citizen U.S. nationals.”
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U.S. Supreme Court
Oct 2022

Racial Justice
Voting Rights
Fitisemanu v. United States, et al. (Amicus)
On May 28, 2022 the Ƶ filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court in a case, Fitisemanu v. United States, addressing the constitutionality of the federal law designating persons born in American Samoa as “non-citizen U.S. nationals.”

U.S. Supreme Court
Apr 2022
Racial Justice
+2 Issues
Cummings v. Premier Rehab Keller, P.L.L.C.
Whether civil rights statutes that prohibit federal financial recipients from discriminating on the basis of disability, race, and sex allow plaintiffs to be compensated for emotional distress injuries where they show that they were victims of discrimination.
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U.S. Supreme Court
Apr 2022

Racial Justice
+2 Issues
Cummings v. Premier Rehab Keller, P.L.L.C.
Whether civil rights statutes that prohibit federal financial recipients from discriminating on the basis of disability, race, and sex allow plaintiffs to be compensated for emotional distress injuries where they show that they were victims of discrimination.

U.S. Supreme Court
Apr 2022
Racial Justice
Voting Rights
United States v. Vaello-Madero
Whether excluding Puerto Rico residents from the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program violates the equal protection component of the 5th Amendment’s Due Process Clause.
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U.S. Supreme Court
Apr 2022

Racial Justice
Voting Rights
United States v. Vaello-Madero
Whether excluding Puerto Rico residents from the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program violates the equal protection component of the 5th Amendment’s Due Process Clause.

North Carolina
Mar 2022
Racial Justice
Criminal Law Reform
Johnson v. Jessup
The Ƶ (Ƶ), Ƶ of North Carolina, Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), and Southern Coalition for Social Justice are suing the North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) for indefinitely revoking driver’s licenses of people who cannot afford to pay traffic tickets. North Carolina’s wealth-based license revocation system impacts hundreds of thousands of people each year, preventing them from driving legally to support themselves and their families. This system funnels people unable to pay traffic tickets, particularly people of color, into cycles of debt, traffic violations, and poverty in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment’s promises of due process and equal protection under the law.
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North Carolina
Mar 2022

Racial Justice
Criminal Law Reform
Johnson v. Jessup
The Ƶ (Ƶ), Ƶ of North Carolina, Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), and Southern Coalition for Social Justice are suing the North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) for indefinitely revoking driver’s licenses of people who cannot afford to pay traffic tickets. North Carolina’s wealth-based license revocation system impacts hundreds of thousands of people each year, preventing them from driving legally to support themselves and their families. This system funnels people unable to pay traffic tickets, particularly people of color, into cycles of debt, traffic violations, and poverty in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment’s promises of due process and equal protection under the law.