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Welcome to the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law’s Newsroom. This page contains our press releases, news clips and blog posts.
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Lawyers’ Committee Settles Class Action Lawsuit for Shooting Victims and Families with Baltimore Police Department Over Illegal Property Seizures
New Policy Will Affect Future Victims and Can Be a Model for Other Cities Washington, DC – Today, the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, alongside co-counsel at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, announced the settlement of a class action...
Lawyers’ Committee Mourns the Passing of Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, ‘One of the Greatest Champions of Civil Rights in Congress’
WASHINGTON— Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, a member of Congress from Texas and a leading voice for racial justice and civil rights, passed away on Friday. During her three decades of service in the House, she championed the rights of the nation’s most marginalized...
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law Announces Settlement with Town of Valley Brook Over Debtors’ Prison
Groundbreaking Agreement That Should Be Replicated Elsewhere Ends Practice of Imprisoning People for Arbitrary Unpaid Fines Valley Brook, Oklahoma– The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law announced a settlement agreement with the Town of...
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law Helps Repel SFFA’s Attempts to Expand Harvard Ruling After Courts’ Dismissal of Admissions Lawsuit against UT-Austin
WASHINGTON—A federal court dismissed SFFA v. UT-Austin, a lawsuit initiated in 2019 by Edward Blum and his anti-civil rights group Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA). The case initially challenged the University of Texas at Austin's (UT-Austin)...
New Voting Rights Campaign to Launch at EssenceFest Called Ojo Asé: Black Women Answering the Call Campaign Aims to Recruit Black Women to Be Poll Monitors
NEW ORLEANS— This weekend will mark the launch of a new, intergenerational voting rights campaign at EssenceFest 2024 called Ojo Asé: Black Women Answering the Call. Recognizing the ongoing central role that Black women play in defending our democracy, the campaign is...
Federal Court Orders Mississippi’s State Legislative Maps to Be Redrawn
JACKSON, Miss. — A federal court has ordered Mississippi to redraw its 2022 state legislative maps in several areas after concluding those maps unlawfully dilute the voting strength of Black Mississippians. Civil rights advocates challenged the maps and showed at...
Lawyers’ Committee Statement on Supreme Court Ruling in Trump v. United States
WASHINGTON—On Monday, the Supreme Court issued a decision in Donald J. Trump v. United States. The ruling gives a president immunity from prosecution for crimes committed through official acts as president. For some acts–for powers the Constitution...
Lawyers’ Committee Applauds Supreme Court Ruling in NetChoice Cases
WASHINGTON—On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision in Moody v. NetChoice and NetChoice v. Paxton. The Court vacated the lower court decisions and sent the cases back to the courts for reconsideration. The Court held the lower courts did not use the...
Lawyers’ Committee Statement One Year Since the U.S. Supreme Court Limited the Use of Race in College Admissions
WASHINGTON—June 29th marks one year since the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision in SFFA v. Harvard/ UNC-Chapel Hill undermining the use of race in college admissions. The Lawyers’ Committee litigated both cases from the beginning and argued the UNC case before the...
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law Statement About the U.S. Supreme Court’s Ruling in Case about Criminalizing Homelessness
The Lawyers’ Committee submitted the amicus brief in the case here. The following statement is from Thomas Silverstein, Acting Director of the Fair Housing & Community Development Project. “The Court’s conclusion that sleeping outside when there...
Lawyers’ Committee Responds to Supreme Court Rejection of Case Challenging Government Ability to Communicate with Social Media Companies about Mis- and Disinformation
WASHINGTON—On Wednesday, in Vivek H. Murthy, Surgeon General, et al., v. Missouri, et al., the Supreme Court rejected a challenge to the federal government’s ability to communicate with social media companies to tackle misinformation on their platforms....
Civil Society Organizations Urge Markup Delay for Privacy Bill, Restoration of Civil Rights Protections
More than 50 groups send letter to House Energy and Commerce leadership calling for postponement unless civil rights issues fixed WASHINGTON —The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and the...
Lawyers’ Committee Opposes New Draft of American Privacy Rights Act, Urges Representatives to Vote No
Current draft bill strips out civil rights protections and weakens privacy. WASHINGTON—- The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law released the following statement in response to the most recent draft of the American Privacy Rights Act (APRA). The...
Federal Court Partially Halts Oklahoma’s Classroom Censorship Law
OKLAHOMA —A federal court granted a partial preliminary injunction that will blunt the impact of Oklahoma’s classroom censorship law, HB 1775, which sought to severely restrict teachers and students in K-12 public schools and public universities from...
Supreme Court Rejects Attempt to Restrict Access to Abortion Medication Mifepristone
WASHINGTON—On Thursday, the Supreme Court in FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, rejected an attempt by anti-abortion groups to block the Food and Drug Administration's actions loosening restrictions on the abortion medication mifepristone. Though the Court...