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Welcome to the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law’s Newsroom. This page contains our press releases, news clips and blog posts.
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Lawsuit alleges county in Oklahoma running debtor’s prison
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A county in northeast Oklahoma routinely jails poor people because they can’t afford to pay court-ordered fees and fines, according to a civil rights lawsuit filed Thursday against three judges.
Too Poor To Pay- How Arkansas’s Offender Funded Justice System Drives Poverty & Mass Incarceration
Prison population rates, of which the United States has the highest in the world, are often cited as a defining feature of mass incarceration. Incarceration rates in local jails, however, are a lesser known but significant catalyst for mass incarceration. On any given...
Racist Standardized Testing Is On Full Blast After Elite NYC Public Schools Admit Few Black Students
The number of Black students entering New York City’s elite public schools hit a shocking low that renewed questions about the fairness of using standardized tests as the only measure for admissions.
Debtors’ prison faces Oklahoma defendants, lawsuit states
As she was released from a juvenile detention facility in 2013, Tulsa teenager Sharonica Carter still was facing a $2,700 fine imposed when Carter first pleaded guilty in 2011. Five years and two jail stays later, the amount that Carter now owes totals $5,000. On...
Closing of Argosy University Raises Concerns About For-Profit Institutions
Washington, D.C. – Today, in response to the closing of Argosy University, a nationwide chain of for-profit schools that closed after the U.S. Department of Education pulled its eligibility for federal aid programs the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law...
New York Specialized Schools Maintain Status Quo Admissions
Students of color admitted to Specialized New York Public Schools failed to Increase Washington, D.C. – Today, in response to reports that admissions at New York City’s specialized public high schools, failed to include a larger population that reflects the diversity...
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and the National Action Network Call on NY General Assembly To Tie NY Marijuana Legalization to Economic Equity Requirements
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and the National Action Network issued a joint call to leaders of the New York State General Assembly in support of the State’s fight to ensure that the legalization of marijuana in...
Civil rights group again faults punitive court fines in Arkansas
The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law has issued a new report on the punishing nature of fine systems in Arkansas courts that impoverish and jail people trapped with never-ending payments for "process" infractions. The report is said to be based on two...
Federal Court Strikes Down GOP Gerrymander Affecting African Americans in Mississippi
The State of Mississippi must redraw district lines for a state senate district in the Mississippi Delta that was gerrymandered by the Magnolia State GOP, according to a court order issued by a panel of federal judges late Friday night.
Civil Rights Group Releases Report Alleging Focus On Revenue-Generation By Arkansas’s Criminal Justice System Increases Poverty And Mass Incarceration
WASHINGTON, D.C. – A new report from the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, released today, alleges that the practice of incarcerating people who owe fees and fines as a method of “forcing” payment and thereby generating revenue for municipal budgets, has...
Mhany Management INC, New York Communities for Change (NYCC) and Nassau County Reach Monumental Settlement to End Fourteen Years of Litigation with Agreement to Foster Affordable Housing and Sweeping Policy Changes for Nassau County
On March 15, 2019, the parties to a lawsuit that was filed on May 12, 2005 will stand together in a press conference to announce a settlement that will result in the payment of over $5,000,000 to the Plaintiffs for the purpose of building affordable housing in the...
Senate Votes to Confirm Neomi Rao to Serve on D.C. Court of Appeals
Earlier positions on Affirmative Action, Civil Rights and Disparate Impact Standards Far from Mainstream America Washington, D.C. – Today, in response to the U.S. Senate voting to confirm Neomi Rao to serve on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of...
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law Releases Statement in Response to the DOJ’s Largest Ever College Admissions Prosecution
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, as federal prosecutors in Boston announced charges against fifty people in six states as part of an alleged large-scale college entrance bribery scheme, Kristen Clarke, President and Executive Director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil...
Marijuana legalization must make War on Drugs’ victims whole before companies profit
For Amazon-owned Whole Foods to get the right to sell a single pot brownie, every non-violent marijuana-related conviction must be thrown out.
Civil Rights Group Files Brief in Support of Recognizing Partisan Gerrymandering Claims
Washington, D.C. – The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and pro bono counsel Fish & Richardson P.C. and Robinson Bradshaw filed an amicus curiae or “friend of the court” on Friday with the United States Supreme Court in support of the Plaintiffs’...