Smart Justice
Singleton v. Cannizzaro
The ACLU Trone Center for Justice and Equality, ACLU of Louisiana, and Civil Rights Corps, filed suit against District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro, his office in Orleans Parish, Louisiana, and several Assistant District Attorneys for systematically breaking the laws of Louisiana and of the U.S. Constitution.
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Mississippi
Mar 2017
Smart Justice
Prisoners' Rights
Dockery v. Hall
The ACLU, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), the Law Offices of Elizabeth Alexander, and the law firm of Covington & Burling LLP, filed a petition for class certification and expert reports for a federal lawsuit on behalf of prisoners at the East Mississippi Correctional Facility (EMCF). The lawsuit, which was filed in May 2013, describes the for-profit prison as hyper-violent, grotesquely filthy and dangerous. EMCF is operated "in a perpetual state of crisis" where prisoners are at "grave risk of death and loss of limbs." The facility, located in Meridian, Mississippi, is supposed to provide intensive treatment to the state's prisoners with serious psychiatric disabilities, many of whom are locked down in long-term solitary confinement.
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190 Smart Justice Cases
U.S. Supreme Court
Dec 2012
Smart Justice
Criminal Law Reform
Alleyne v. United States
Whether the quantity of drugs involved in a crime must be decided by the jury before it can be the basis for a mandatory minimum sentence.
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U.S. Supreme Court
Dec 2012
Smart Justice
Criminal Law Reform
Alleyne v. United States
Whether the quantity of drugs involved in a crime must be decided by the jury before it can be the basis for a mandatory minimum sentence.
U.S. Supreme Court
Dec 2012
Smart Justice
National Security
Rumsfeld v. Padilla
Reviewing the President's authority to designate an American citizen an 'enemy combatant' and detain him indefinitely in an American military brig without charges, trial, or private access to counsel.
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U.S. Supreme Court
Dec 2012
Smart Justice
National Security
Rumsfeld v. Padilla
Reviewing the President's authority to designate an American citizen an 'enemy combatant' and detain him indefinitely in an American military brig without charges, trial, or private access to counsel.
Louisiana
Oct 2012
Smart Justice
Capital Punishment
Damon Thibodeaux: A Case of False Confession
Damon A. Thibodeaux was exonerated in 2012 after 15 years on death row in Louisiana. DNA and other evidence proved he did not commit the crime of raping and murdering his young cousin to which he originally confessed. His confession came at the end of nine hours of police interrogation; he was exhausted when it began and beyond confused by the time he issued a confession riddled with mistakes of fact, and containing only information he had received from the police or conjecture.
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Louisiana
Oct 2012
Smart Justice
Capital Punishment
Damon Thibodeaux: A Case of False Confession
Damon A. Thibodeaux was exonerated in 2012 after 15 years on death row in Louisiana. DNA and other evidence proved he did not commit the crime of raping and murdering his young cousin to which he originally confessed. His confession came at the end of nine hours of police interrogation; he was exhausted when it began and beyond confused by the time he issued a confession riddled with mistakes of fact, and containing only information he had received from the police or conjecture.
Court Case
Mar 2012
Smart Justice
Criminal Law Reform
Barnes v. Camden
In July 2010, the ACLU and the ACLU of New Jersey filed a lawsuit on behalf of an innocent Camden, New Jersey man, Joel Barnes, who was jailed for more than a year as the result of having drugs planted on him by police officers later implicated in a large-scale evidence-planting conspiracy affecting nearly 200 other Camden residents. Mr. Barnes is seeking compensatory damages, as well as injunctive relief designed to prevent such conduct among Camden police officers from occurring in the future.
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Court Case
Mar 2012
Smart Justice
Criminal Law Reform
Barnes v. Camden
In July 2010, the ACLU and the ACLU of New Jersey filed a lawsuit on behalf of an innocent Camden, New Jersey man, Joel Barnes, who was jailed for more than a year as the result of having drugs planted on him by police officers later implicated in a large-scale evidence-planting conspiracy affecting nearly 200 other Camden residents. Mr. Barnes is seeking compensatory damages, as well as injunctive relief designed to prevent such conduct among Camden police officers from occurring in the future.
Court Case
Feb 2012
Smart Justice
Women's Rights
A.N.A., et al. v. Breckinridge County Board of Education, et al.
This class action suit challenges the lawfulness of a Kentucky school district’s policy of segregating its students by sex and thus exposing them to a learning environment that is fundamentally unequal in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, Title IX, the Equal Educational Opportunities Act, and KY sex equity law.
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Court Case
Feb 2012
Smart Justice
Women's Rights
A.N.A., et al. v. Breckinridge County Board of Education, et al.
This class action suit challenges the lawfulness of a Kentucky school district’s policy of segregating its students by sex and thus exposing them to a learning environment that is fundamentally unequal in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, Title IX, the Equal Educational Opportunities Act, and KY sex equity law.