Court Cases

When people in D.C. call 911 for a mental health emergency, it’s generally a Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officer who responds. The District’s reliance on police as its default first responders for mental health emergencies is not only unfair and unsafe but also unlawful.

In December 2022, we filed a complaint with the D.C. Office of Human Rights alleging discrimination based on family responsibilities and seeking compensation for our clients and changes to the DMV telework policy so it does not disadvantage parents and caregivers.

Immigrants have a right to legal representation in immigration proceedings, but do not have a right to government-appointed counsel. We filed this suit to challenge the failure to ensure compliance with constitutional requirements, federal law, and ICE’s own policies regarding access to counsel.

The government has long infringed on Americans’ fundamental rights and liberties under the guise of national security. We want to know DHS’s plan to safeguard civil liberties, civil rights, and privacy, or whether it even has one.

We filed this lawsuit, together with the ACLU National Prison Project and the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, asking the court to compel the BOP to release the requested records relevant to its care and housing of people with mental illness in BOP custody.

Deon Jones, a gay man, has been employed by the D.C. Dept. of Corrections for more than two decades, where he has endured pervasive acts of harassment based on his sexual orientation. The lawsuit describes how Sgt. Jones faced constant harassment from co-workers and incarcerated persons alike.

The ACLU-DC filed a lawsuit on behalf of two photojournalists against the District of Columbia and 8 D.C. Metropolitan Police Department officers for unleashing chemical irritants and stun grenades one month after the D.C. Council instilled a ban on the use of these weapons during demonstrations.