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
Oklahoma
Feb 2020
Smart Justice
Criminal Law Reform
White, et al. v. Hesse, et al.
In Oklahoma cash bail is being used keep poor people behind bars. In Canadian County, Oklahoma if you have the money, you get out of jail. If you are poor, you stay in. That’s why we sued.
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Oklahoma
Feb 2020
Smart Justice
Criminal Law Reform
White, et al. v. Hesse, et al.
In Oklahoma cash bail is being used keep poor people behind bars. In Canadian County, Oklahoma if you have the money, you get out of jail. If you are poor, you stay in. That’s why we sued.
North Carolina
Nov 2019
Smart Justice
Criminal Law Reform
Allison, et al. v. Allen, et al.
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North Carolina
Nov 2019
Smart Justice
Criminal Law Reform
Allison, et al. v. Allen, et al.
Montana
Nov 2019
Smart Justice
Mitchell and Meuchell v. First Call Bail and Surety, Inc, et al.
The American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Montana, and Terrell Marshall Law Group filed a lawsuit on behalf of Eugene Mitchell, his wife Shayleen Meuchell, and their six-year-old daughter against private entities — bail bondsmen, bounty hunters and insurance companies — who profit off our country’s exploitative, for-profit bail system.
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Montana
Nov 2019
Smart Justice
Mitchell and Meuchell v. First Call Bail and Surety, Inc, et al.
The American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Montana, and Terrell Marshall Law Group filed a lawsuit on behalf of Eugene Mitchell, his wife Shayleen Meuchell, and their six-year-old daughter against private entities — bail bondsmen, bounty hunters and insurance companies — who profit off our country’s exploitative, for-profit bail system.
Court Case
Oct 2019
Smart Justice
ROBERT LOUIS HISKETT V. THE HONORABLE RICK LAMBERT
Requiring people to pay for GPS monitors is unconstitutional. We're fighting back.
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Court Case
Oct 2019
Smart Justice
ROBERT LOUIS HISKETT V. THE HONORABLE RICK LAMBERT
Requiring people to pay for GPS monitors is unconstitutional. We're fighting back.
South Carolina
Oct 2019
Smart Justice
Criminal Law Reform
Bairefoot v. City of Beaufort et al
In South Carolina’s municipal courts today, defendants are prosecuted, convicted, and jailed without ever having a lawyer appointed to their case or even being advised of their right to counsel. Hundreds of these defendants who were deprived of counsel—including Tina Bairefoot, Dae’Quandrea Nelson, and Nathan Fox—have been and are incarcerated in local jails and state prisons every year. Cities and towns can decide whether they have municipal courts—they are optional—but if they decide to have them they must follow the Constitution, which includes the right to counsel.
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South Carolina
Oct 2019
Smart Justice
Criminal Law Reform
Bairefoot v. City of Beaufort et al
In South Carolina’s municipal courts today, defendants are prosecuted, convicted, and jailed without ever having a lawyer appointed to their case or even being advised of their right to counsel. Hundreds of these defendants who were deprived of counsel—including Tina Bairefoot, Dae’Quandrea Nelson, and Nathan Fox—have been and are incarcerated in local jails and state prisons every year. Cities and towns can decide whether they have municipal courts—they are optional—but if they decide to have them they must follow the Constitution, which includes the right to counsel.