Historic 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.

Many of the Center’s historic victories have established major legal precedents – from Filártiga v. Peña-Irala, which opened U.S. courts for victims of serious human rights violations from anywhere in the world to Rasul v. Bush, which established the right of Guantánamo detainees to challenge their detention.

Abramowicz v. Lefkowitz

In Abramowicz v. Lefkowitz, attorneys at CCR brought the first challenge to the constitutionality of abortion statutes in which women were the plaintiffs and the issues raised were those of a woman...

Updated: January 25, 2010

Abdullah, et al. v. Local 46, et al.

In April 1999, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) filed a case on behalf of 40 plaintiffs charging the Metal Lathers Local 46 Union with discrimination that violated Title VII and the Civil...

Updated: January 25, 2010

Baruch College Black and Hispanic Alumni Association v. Baruch College

Baruch College is a branch of the City University of New York (CUNY) that specializes in preparing students for careers in business. In 1982, a group of Black and Latino alumni sought official...

Updated: January 25, 2010

Conyers v. Reagan

In October 1983, President Ronald Reagan announced that he had ordered a pre-dawn invasion of Grenada by nearly 1,900 Marines and armed airborne troops under the code name “Urgent Fury.”...

Updated: January 20, 2010

Bowoto v. Chevron

A suit on behalf of unarmed residents of the Niger Delta, who protested at Chevron's offshore Parabe Platform. On the morning of May 28, Nigerian human rights protestors were shot and some killed by...

Updated: January 20, 2010

Bandele v. City of New York

Bandele v. City of New York was a federal civil rights lawsuit brought against the City of New York and three NYPD officers in 2007. It charges that the defendants falsely arrested and imprisoned the...

Updated: January 20, 2010

Tummino, et al. v. von Eschenbach

A lawsuit against the Food and Drug Administration to challenge the failure to approve the Morning-After Pill (also known as "emergency contraception" or "Plan B") with over-the-counter access for...

Updated: January 20, 2010

Bari v. Held

Bari v. Held is a lawsuit that charged the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), former FBI agent-in-charge Richard Held, and the Oakland Police Department with violating Judi Bari and Darryl...

Updated: January 13, 2010

Arthur Lewis v. City of Chicago (Amicus)

The NAACP represented a class of over 6,000 African Americans in Chicago who applied to become firefighters. They won the case in 2005 when a federal court found that the hiring exam had illegally...

Updated: December 15, 2009

Doe v. Constant

The case was filed on behalf of three Haitian women who were brutally tortured by FRAPH. Two of the three plaintiffs were gang-raped in front of their families. A third was attacked by two FRAPH...

Updated: December 15, 2009

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