Active Cases

Since 1966, CCR has pioneered daring and innovative legal strategies in pursuit of its mission to advance and protect the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Our work began on behalf of civil rights activists, and since then CCR has lent its expertise and support to virtually every popular progressive movement.

Our current cases reflects our unwavering commitment to progressive principles, people’s movements and human rights as well as our creative use of the law as a positive force for social change.

The Descendants Project v. St. John the Baptist Parish

On November 9, 2021, on behalf of The Descendants Project, an organization founded to advocate for descendants of people once enslaved in Louisiana’s river parishes, the Center for Constitutional...

Updated: April 2, 2025

Gulino v. The Board of Education of the City of New York and the New York State Education Department

A class action lawsuit challenging the racially discriminatory impact of several standardized tests New York City used in a re-certification process for City public school teachers

Updated: September 23, 2020

Accountability for U.S. Torture: Spain

Actions on U.S. torture brought in Spain under the principle of universal jurisdiction.

Updated: November 13, 2019

Doe, et al. v. Nestlé USA, Inc./Cargill, Inc. (Amicus)

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear Doe, et al. v. Nestlé USA, Inc . and the companion case Doe, et al. v. Cargill, Inc. to decide the question of whether U.S. corporations can be held liable under...

Updated: June 17, 2021

Black Love Resists in the Rust v. City of Buffalo

In the summer of 2012, the Buffalo Police Department created a "Strike Force" Unit to aggressively patrol and conduct vehicle checkpoints in "high crime" areas of the city. While purportedly set up...

Updated: November 15, 2024

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Derek Lee

This case aims to end the state of Pennsylvania’s mandatory imposition of death-by-incarceration sentences, otherwise known as life without parole, for Derek Lee and others convicted of felony murder...

Updated: October 7, 2024

Austin Sanctuary Network v. Mayorkas

Leaders of the National Sanctuary Collective and allied organizations filed a challenge ICE’s practice of issuing exorbitant civil fines against people who have taken sanctuary in houses of worship,...

Updated: June 22, 2023

Houser v. Blank

In 2010, the U.S. Bureau of the Census hired over a million temporary employees to conduct census surveys and serve in clerical positions. The Bureau ran the names of all applicants through the FBI...

Updated: April 20, 2016

United States v. Jackson

For decades, residents of Jackson, Mississippi, have experienced threats to their health and wellbeing from an outdated, failing public water system. For the past three years, this predominantly...

Updated: May 16, 2025

Ramapough Mountain Indians, Inc. v. Township of Mahwah, Ramapo Hunt & Polo Club

The Ramapough Lenape Nation are descendants of the original people of the Ramapo Mountains, and many of them reside in the village of Mahwah. The Tribe owns a parcel of land in Mahwah which is a...

Updated: April 12, 2022

Bellant v. Snyder (Phillips v. Snyder)

Federal lawsuit challenging constitutionality of state-appointed “Emergency Managers” in predominantly black and brown communities of Michigan

Updated: July 25, 2018

Immigration Habeas: Venezuelan Immigrant Detained in CECOT

Edicson David Quintero Chacón filed an amended petition for writ of habeas corpus on April 16, 2025, challenging the legality of his detention at the infamous Terrorism Confinement Center (“CECOT”)...

Updated: April 16, 2025

State v. Henry / State v. Allen (Jim Crow Juries)

Rufus Henry and Matthew Allen were both convicted of murder in the second degree by non-unanimous juries and sentenced to life in prison following trials in which they argued that they acted in self-...

Updated: January 17, 2025

Inclusive Louisiana, Mount Triumph Baptist Church, RISE St. James v. St. James Parish, et al

Inclusive Louisiana, Mount Triumph Baptist Church, and RISE St. James brought this action against St. James Parish for its decades of environmental racism and discriminatory siting of industrial...

Updated: April 9, 2025

Amicus Brief in Glik v. Cunniffe, et al.

CCR has submitted an amicus brief in Glik v. Cunniffe before the First Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of Berkeley Copwatch, Communities United against Police Brutality, Justice Committee,...

Updated: September 6, 2011

Pages