Cases & Client Stories
- July 01, 2010 | from Voting Rights Project Valdez v. Herrera In July 2009, plaintiffs filed suit against New Mexico state officials based on their failure to offer voter registration at public assistance and motor vehicle offices in the State. This lawsuit is part of an ongoing coalitional effort by the Lawyers' Committee, Demos, and Project Vote to ensure that states fully carry out their responsibility under the NVRA to offer voter registration at public assistance offices. On July 1, 2010, the Lawyers' Committee settled the motor vehicles offices portion of this matter.
- March 24, 2010 | from CCJEF v. Rell The Connecticut Supreme Court recently ruled that a lower court erred in dismissing claims filed in 2005 by the Connecticut Coalition for Justice in Education Funding (“CCJEF”). CCJEF filed suit on behalf of students and families, contending that the state’s failure to properly fund public schools inadequately prepares students for higher education and employment opportunities. Relying on the state Constitution, which provides that “there shall always be free and public elementary and secondary schools in the state,” plaintiffs alleged that the state denied students “suitable educational opportunities.”
- October 20, 2009 | from Voting Rights Project Gonzales v. Arizona Oral argument was held on October 20, 2009. The Lawyers’ Committee and several other legal organizations represent a broad coalition of Arizonans in Gonzales v. Arizona, where we have challenged the voting-related provisions of Proposition 200 which disenfranchises qualified and eligible voters by requiring citizens to present documentary proof of their citizenship status when registering to vote, and further requiring qualified and registered voters to present additional identification at the polling place on Election Day.
- July 20, 2009 | from Voting Rights Project ACORN v. Murphy In July 2009, plaintiffs filed suit against Indiana state officials based on their failure to offer voter registration at public assistance offices in the State. The suit was brought on behalf of the class of all public assistance clients who are not registered to vote and who have been denied the opportunity to register to vote at Indiana public assistance offices.
- June 22, 2009 | from Voting Rights Project Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District Number One v. Holder On June 22, 2009, the Court released its opinion, in Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District No. 1 v. Holder. In an 8-1 decision, the Court declined to reach the question of the constitutionality of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, leaving the crucial piece of voter protection in place.
- January 14, 2009 | from Voting Rights Project Common Cause v. Billups In 2005, the Georgia legislature passed a statute requiring in-person voters to provide state-issued photo identification at the polls. The Georgia Legislature also doubled the cost of State Identity Cards from $10 to $20. On September 19, 2005, the Lawyers’ Committee and other advocates filed suit in federal district court in Rome, Georgia, alleging that the photo identification requirement violates multiple laws, among them the Twenty-Sixth and Fourteenth amendments and the Georgia Constitution.
- November 26, 2008 | from Voting Rights Project League of Women Voters v. Brunner In July 2005, a case was filed addressing the large-scale problems encountered by voters in Ohio in the 2004 election and preceding elections. The Ohio League of Women Voters, the Toledo League of Women Voters, and twelve Ohio voters alleged that the Governor and Secretary of State of Ohio are overseeing an election system that is grossly unequal and unfair to Ohio voters. After the plaintiffs brought the case, the state moved to dismiss. The District Court denied the motion on equal protection and due process claims. The defendants then appealed to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. The case has since been remanded to the district court for discovery.
- October 28, 2008 | from Voting Rights Project Harkless v. Brunner In September 2006, a lawsuit was brought against former Secretary of State Ken Blackwell and then-DJFS Director Barbara Riley by Carrie Harkless, Tameca Mardis and the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). It alleged that offices of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services failed to provide Ms. Harkless, Ms. Mardis and thousands of other low-income Ohioans with the opportunity to register to vote or change their voter registration address during visits to DJFS offices to apply for or recertify their eligibility for public assistance benefits.
- October 27, 2008 | from Voting Rights Project Morales v. Handel On October 9, 2008 the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the ACLU Voting Rights Project and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational fund filed a lawsuit in Georgia on behalf of Cherokee County resident Jose Morales against Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel, asking a federal court in Atlanta to halt the use of database matching procedures that inaccurately flag United States citizens as non-citizens, jeopardizing their attempts to register and vote.
- October 10, 2008 | from Voting Rights Project Republican Party of Ohio v. Brunner The Lawyers’ Committee and coalition partners took twin actions on October 10, 2008 to protect the right to vote of hundreds of thousands of Ohioans who registered to vote this year, and to halt recent efforts by law enforcement officials in one Ohio county apparently aimed at intimidating Ohioans who had legally cast absentee ballots in the county for the November 4 election.
