CCRJ Center for Constitutional Rights Sign Up Information

In this issue:

Trump’s new public charge rule must be stopped. We’re asking a federal court to do just that. 

On Tuesday, we filed a motion in federal court to halt the Trump administration’s proposed public charge rule and prevent the rule from taking effect next month. Attorneys say the rule relies on vague and discriminatory criteria to prevent immigrants from obtaining lawful permanent residence (green card status) and would transform the family-based legal immigration system into one that grants permanent status only to the most well off. The filing was made on behalf of five community and legal services organizations in our case Make the Road v. Cuccinelli.

“It is immoral to penalize immigrants for low wages or disability, and the court should block the rule before it goes into effect,” said Center for Constitutional Rights’ Senior Staff Attorney Ghita Schwarz in our press release. Learn more on our case page.

Supreme Court allows Trump administration to start denying asylum applications at southern border while legal battle ensues 

All seemed well when a federal court reinstated a nationwide injunction blocking a Trump administration asylum ban that denies asylum to anyone at the southern border who had transited through a third country en route to the United States (East Bay Sanctuary Covenant v. Barr). The rule has the effect of denying asylum to virtually all non-Mexican migrants at the border. The Trump administration appealed the injunction to the Supreme Court, and Wednesday the Court handed down its decision to stay the injunction.

Justice Sotomayor, joined by Justice Ginsburg, dissented from the grant of stay, writing “the rule the Government promulgated topples decades of settled asylum practices and affects some of the most vulnerable people in the Western Hemisphere — without affording the public a chance to weigh in.” She also notes that appealing to the Supreme Court at this stage “sidesteps the ordinary judicial process” and “risks undermining the interbranch governmental processes that encourage deliberation, public participation, and transparency.”

We will continue to pursue legal action in the courts against this unlawful and patently racist rule.

Judge denies an independent medical evaluation for suicidal Guantánamo prisoner 

On Tuesday, a federal court refused to order an independent medical evaluation of Sharqawi Al Hajj (Al Hajj v. Trump), a prisoner at Guantánamo who recently attempted suicide. Al Hajj has been detained for more than 17 years and, for two years before his arrival at Guantánamo, was tortured in secret CIA detention. When his attorneys initially requested the evaluation and the release of Al Hajj’s medical records in 2017, medical experts warned he was “on the precipice of total body collapse.”

In our press release, Center for Constitutional Rights Senior Staff Attorney Pardiss Kebriaei said, “The court’s denial of an outside medical evaluation takes a chance with Mr. Al Hajj’s life.”

The same day as the decision, a coalition of human rights, civil liberties, and faith-based organizations wrote to the Secretary of Defense Mark Esper expressing concern over Al Hajj's suicide attempt and calling for an independent medical evaluation.

_{Illustration courtesy of by Christopher Noxon.}

Podcast: Rude Mechanical Orchestra 

On the 18th episode of The Activist Files, Center for Constitutional Rights Communications Coordinator Jen Nessel talks with Sarah Blust and Bronte Walker of the Rude Mechanical Orchestra. They discuss the activist street band’s mission to bring joy to resistance. Sarah and Bronte also talk about the challenges they’ve had with the NYPD, the changing protest landscape, and the band’s shared love of Janelle Monáe.

This episode highlights the important ways art can uplift social movements. Listen on our website and then go out and start a marching band!

Applications now being accepted for Bertha Justice Fellowship positions! 

The Center for Constitutional Rights is excited to announce that we are starting our search for the next group of Bertha Justice Fellowship.

The Bertha Justice Fellowship is a two-year program for emerging lawyers interested in gaining practical and theoretical experience working on cutting-edge social justice litigation and legal advocacy to create social change. We will host four Bertha Justice Fellows, starting September 2020. Fellows will also gain experience working on cases challenging oppressive, intersecting systems of power – including racial oppression, gender oppression including hetero-patriarchy, economic oppression, and abusive state power.

Learn more on our website.

Freedom Flicks: Always in Season 

The Center for Constitutional Rights is proud to present Sundance award-winning ALWAYS IN SEASON. The film centers on the case of Lennon Lacy, an Black teen who was found hanging from a swing set in Bladenboro, North Carolina, August 29, 2014. Despite inconsistencies in the case, local officials quickly ruled Lennon’s death a suicide. His mother, Claudia, believes Lennon was lynched. Claudia moves from paralyzing grief to leading the fight for justice for her son. As the film unfolds, Lennon’s case, and the suspicions surrounding it, intersects with stories of other communities breaking the silence of their own recent histories and leading the way to justice.

After the screening will be a discussion and Q&A with Director Jacqueline Olive and Center for Constitutional Rights Executive Director Vincent Warren.

You can purchase tickets at the Metrograph website for the 12 p.m. screening and talk-back on Sunday, September 22.

_{Photo: Claudia and Pierre Lacy. Photo credit: Phil Fonville.}

In this issue:

TONIGHT: Angela Davis in conversation with Executive Director Vince Warren and Board Member Amanda Alexander 

Join us for what promises to be an eye-opening conversation with the renowned Dr. Angela Y. Davis TONIGHT at Riverside Church in New York. Please arrive at least 30 minutes early to ensure entry.

Speakers
Derecka Purnell (attorney, writer, and organizer) and Vince Warren (executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights)

Moderator
Amanda Alexander (executive director of the Detroit Justice Center and Center for Constitutional Rights’ board member)

Learn more on our event page.

_{"©TRP-Bxl2013-3.jpg" by trp_int is licensed under CC BY 2.0.}

Guatemalans affected by human syphilis experiments must be allowed to hold the institutions behind them accountable 

From 1945 to 1956, in what has been called the off-shore companion to the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, American doctors and researchers carried out non-consensual medical experiments on unsuspecting Guatemalans. In the process, they infected hundreds with syphilis and other STDs, causing profoundly harmful effects. The experiments were kept largely under wraps until 2010 when records of the experiments resurfaced. In April 2015, 774 plaintiffs launched a case against Johns Hopkins University, The Rockefeller Foundation, and Bristol-Myers Squibb for the entities' roles in the experiments.

On Wednesday, we filed an amicus brief in support of Guatemalans and their families who were subjected to medical experiments. Our brief to the Fourth Circuit argues that the Supreme Court’s judgments in a recent case involving the Alien Tort Statute (Jesner, et al. v. Arab Bank) in no way precludes holding U.S. corporations accountable for international law violations, like the ones in this case.

Learn more about the case and read the brief on our website.

_{Photo: Tuskegee syphilis study doctor drawing blood from test subject courtesy of National Archives Atlanta, GA (U.S. government)}

A step forward: tomorrow’s historic Muslim Ban Congressional hearing 

Tomorrow, Congress will be holding its first hearing on Trump’s Muslim Ban. This will be a critical opportunity for individuals impacted by the Ban to share their stories with members of Congress, and allies will be on the ground in D.C. with a series of actions to demand that we #RepealtheBan. Join our partners at a community storytelling event at 8 a.m., and then pack the room for the hearing, which begins at 10 a.m. Find more details on the Facebook event page and on the No Muslim Ban Ever website. You can also stream the hearing live online.

Since the Ban went into effect, we have worked closely with Yemeni-American families to shine a light on their experiences, and assist where we can. We have taken two trips to Djibouti to meet with stranded individuals, filed two lawsuits – Alobahy v. Trump & Dobashi v. Trump – on behalf of a total of 16 families, published a report which was cited by Justice Breyer in his dissenting opinion, and done extensive work with the media highlighting the impacts of the ban on families.

Our advocacy has succeeded in reuniting many families, but our work will continue until we #RepealTheBan and all families can be together.

_{Photo: Our client, Tufaic Mohamed Nagi, who is a plaintiff in Dobashi v. Trump.}

We’re demanding answers for the recent surge in fines for people in sanctuary 

On Friday, we joined Austin Sanctuary Network, Free Migration Project, and Grassroots Leadership in filing a Freedom of Information Act request to demand records from the Trump Administration on a recent spate of exorbitant civil fines against people who have chosen to take sanctuary while pursuing their legal remedies to remain in the U.S.

This past summer, an unknown number of people in sanctuary started receiving notices for “failure to depart” in which the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) expressed intent to fine them within a matter of weeks to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars. DHS cited a seldom-used provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act to levy the fines.

We are proud to stand with immigrant communities in exposing the administration’s cruel and outrageous policies, including the fining of those who have chosen to take sanctuary.

This FOIA is part of our Open Records Project. Learn more about the case on our website.

Ella Baker legal intern applications now being accepted 

Since 1987, we've had the pleasure of training the next generation of social justice lawyers through the Ella Baker Summer Internship Program, created to honor the legacy of Ella Baker, a hero of the civil rights movement.

Through our program, interns gain practical experience and theoretical knowledge of the relationship between social change, organizing, and lawyering. They also become part of a global community of social justice law students and lawyers through our Ella Baker Alumni Network.

Past students have worked on a range of our cases, including, discriminatory policing, immigrants’ rights, international human rights, and gender and LGBTIA+ justice and various advocacy campaigns to experience the opportunities and challenges of doing social justice lawyering.

The deadline for applying as a 2L is October 16. More information for 1L applicants will be coming soon. Learn more and apply on our website.

In this issue:

Call to action: Tell the Supreme Court to defend the rights of LGBTQ workers  

Tomorrow, the Supreme Court will hear cases to decide whether LGBTQ people are protected from discrimination under existing civil rights laws.

In June, we filed an amicus brief with the Transgender Law Center highlighting the stories of 30 transgender individuals who have experienced discrimination in the workplace because of who they are, including prominent transgender rights activist and Stonewall veteran Miss Major Griffin-Gracy.

Now, we’re asking you to act. Change your Facebook profile picture to this picture frame. Post on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram using our graphics and messaging to draw attention to what will be one of the biggest LGBTQ cases to reach the Supreme Court.

We must let the Supreme Court know that we are watching. #NoPrideInPrejudice #NoRightToDiscriminate #RiseUpOct8

Could new evidence in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi clear the life sentence of a Muslim American torture survivor? 

On Wednesday, we asked a federal court to vacate the conviction and life-without-parole sentence of Ahmed Abu Ali in light of new evidence stemming from the Saudi government’s cover-up of the torture and murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

In 2003, when Mr. Abu Ali was a 22-year-old university student, he was detained by officers of the Mabahith, a secret domestic police agency in Saudi Arabia – the same agency involved in the murder and cover-up of Khashoggi. During interrogations by the agency, Abu Ali “confessed” under torture to involvement in a Saudi Al Qaeda cell, which later served as the basis for his U.S. prosecution. At Abu Ali’s trial, the government’s chief witnesses attesting to the voluntariness of his statements were his Mabahith jailors and interrogators, who denied that he was tortured or that they ever torture.

We filed a motion that alleges fraud on the court by the Saudi government, and argues that the U.S. government relied on fraudulent testimony in violation of Mr. Abu Ali’s due process rights.

Learn more on our case page.

Victims of U.S. torture and indefinite detention file appeal to ICC ruling  

Last week, victims of U.S. torture appealed the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) rejection of the ICC Prosecutor’s request to open an investigation into alleged crimes in and related to the armed conflict in Afghanistan, including those of U.S. officials through the Bush-era torture program. The court has never before rejected a prosecutor’s request to open an investigation. The ruling prolongs the impunity U.S. political leaders, CIA officials, and private contractors have enjoyed for far too long. It followed a hostile campaign led by the Trump administration, including the administration revoking the visa of the ICC Prosecutor, threatening the visas of other ICC staff members, and promising economic sanctions. We serve as legal representative in the proceedings for two men who remain detained at Guantánamo – Guled Hassan Duran and Sharqawi Al Hajj.

“The Pre-Trial Chamber’s unprecedented decision effectively blocks any investigation into torture and other serious crimes committed during the Bush administration,” said Katherine Gallagher, senior staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights. “The Appeals Chamber must make clear that the ICC won’t be bullied.”

The Appeals Chamber has set a hearing in The Hague for December 4-6, 2019. Katherine Gallagher will be there to argue that the investigation should be authorized without further delay.

For more information, visit our case page.

Recap: Ninth Circuit arguments in immigration cases 

On Tuesday, the Ninth Circuit heard arguments on two border-related cases: East Bay Sanctuary v. Trump – commonly referred to as the “Asylum Ban” – and Innovation Law Lab v. McAleenan, which challenges the “Remain in Mexico” policy. Both policies have contributed to a worsening humanitarian crisis at the Southern Border. This fact was not lost on the panel, which questioned the government’s strained arguments, seeming to suggest that the government was returning asylum seekers to face persecution and torture, a violation of international law.

“These two cases, in addition to Al Otro Lado and East Bay II, represent some of the most egregious instances of government misconduct at the border. We are hopeful that the Ninth Circuit recognizes the dire situation that the government has created, cultivated, and exacerbated, and accordingly holds the Trump Administration accountable for its cruelty,” said Staff Attorney Angelo Guisado who is one of the attorneys in East Bay Sanctuary v. Trump.

Learn more about our immigration cases on our website.

In this issue:

Trump turned back thousands of families at the border. We’re not giving up on them.  

On Thursday, we filed a request for an injunction to block the Trump administration’s “third country” Asylum Ban from affecting tens of thousands of migrants who have already attempted to access the U.S. asylum process before the ban was implemented. With limited exceptions, the Asylum Ban prohibits anyone who traveled through a third country and did not seek protection there from even applying for asylum at the southern border, slamming the door in the face of virtually all non-Mexican asylum seekers.

The request we filed is part of our ongoing case, Al Otro Lado v. Nielsen, challenging the administration’s so-called “turnback policy,” which prevented asylum seekers from applying for asylum at ports of entry on the U.S.-Mexico border. This includes the “metering” policy that puts asylum seekers on endless waitlists to apply for asylum in the U.S.

“The government cannot be permitted to exploit one illegal Trump policy – the Asylum Ban – to attempt to extinguish our clients’ challenge to the prior illegal policy – the Turnback Policy,” said  Center for Constitutional Rights Legal Director Baher Azmy.

Learn more on our website.

Reparations are owed. Join us in conversation.  

The Center for Constitutional Rights and Race Forward present a necessary discussion and call to action on reparations: “Towards Reparations: An Evening on Repair and Historical Justice.”

Join us Tuesday, October 15, 6-9 p.m. at the Weeksville Heritage Center for an interactive and immersive evening with scholars, activists, and advocates on our collective obligation and capacity to achieve justice.

Reparations are urgent and possible.

Learn more about the event, panelists, and location on our event page. RSVP required by October 10.

Remembering Nigerian human rights activist Patrick Naagbanton 

The Center for Constitutional Rights is devastated to learn of the death of Patrick Naagbanton, a tireless and courageous champion of human rights and environmental justice, who passed on September 21. Patrick played an invaluable role throughout the 13-year-long legal battle of Wiwa v. Royal Dutch Petroleum, on behalf of human rights defenders who were imprisoned, tortured, and killed because of their vocal opposition to Royal Dutch/Shell’s devastation of Ogoni. We will sorely miss Patrick and the unparalleled passion, principle, and sense of humor he brought to extremely difficult work.

We echo the call by Amnesty International for a full investigation into Patrick’s death.

We’re hiring! – Capital Campaign Associate  

At the Center for Constitutional Rights, we believe it is a privilege to join philanthropic people who want to change the world.

We are currently looking for two top-notch individuals to join our Development team: a Capital Campaign Associate and a Senior Major Gifts Officer.

The Capital Campaign Associate will support our leadership, including the Director of Development, Executive Director, and Board Chair, in implementing all aspects of a capital campaign. The Senior Major Gifts Officer will develop and implement strategic plans for the cultivation, stewardship, and solicitation of a portfolio of our current and potential major donors. Both positions report to the Director of Development.

For more information and to see all of our job listings, visit our website.

In this issue:

Victory! Judge blocks “public charge” immigration rule 

On Friday, a federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s new “public charge” rule, which was scheduled to go into effect tomorrow, October 15, 2019. The rule would have radically transformed the test for determining whether someone might become a “public charge” and imposed an unprecedented wealth test on noncitizens seeking family-based adjustment of status. Friday's order issuing a preliminary injunction — the first to be granted nationwide on this issue — blocks the regulation and related application forms from taking effect until a final decision is reached in the litigation. Crucially, any benefits received while the injunction is pending cannot be used against individuals applying for adjustment of status.

The decision “stops the implementation of this arbitrary and discriminatory rule, which targets immigrants with medical conditions and low-income immigrants of color,” said Ghita Schwarz, Senior Staff Attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights. “The court rightly recognized that the rule flouts the law and cannot be enforced anywhere in the United States.”

Learn more on our website.

Recapping the Supreme Court hearing on LGBTQ workers’ rights 

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday in three key cases that will decide if LGBTQ people are protected under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex and other grounds.

During oral arguments, some Justices emphasized that the role of the courts and civil rights laws was to prevent invidious discrimination and remove barriers used to exclude certain groups from fully participating in society. Counsel agreed, pointing out there is no transgender exclusion to Title VII or civil rights laws.

In a particularly poignant moment, attorneys for the clients noted that transgender attorneys were present in the courtroom and that their very presence in the courtroom undercuts the suggestion that transgender people cannot exist in the workplace or civic life.

“The Trump administration has made a mockery of this nation’s civil rights laws by turning its back on LGBTQ people in the workplace,” said Chinyere Ezie, staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights. “There is no LGBTQ carve-out to generally applicable civil rights laws. Therefore, we urge the Supreme Court to affirm the rights of LGBTQ people to live and work free from invidious discrimination.”

Five appellate courts have already ruled that anti-transgender discrimination is prohibited sex discrimination, and the Supreme Court is expected to hand down their decision in summer 2020.

TOMORROW: Reparations are owed. Join us in conversation. 

The Center for Constitutional Rights and Race Forward present a necessary discussion and call to action on reparations: “Towards Reparations: An Evening on Repair and Historical Justice.”

Join us tomorrow, Tuesday, October 15, 6-9 p.m. at the Weeksville Heritage Center for an interactive and immersive evening with scholars, activists, and advocates on our collective obligation and capacity to achieve justice.

Reparations are urgent and possible.

Learn more about the event, panelists, and location on our event page. If you plan to join us, please be sure to RSVP by 10 p.m. this evening.

“The Activist Files”: Pushed out – The Anti-Eviction Mapping Project 

When technology and data meet storytelling strategies to help communities under threat, initiatives like the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project are born. Our Communications Director Chandra M. Hayslett talks about this important project with photographer Ariana Faye Allensworth and map maker and interactive media developer Sam Raby on the 19th episode of “The Activist Files.”

Ariana and Sam provide an overview of the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project, explain how the Ellis Act has impacted evictions in California, and the role oral history plays in the project. Ariana is a Laundromat Project fellow and she shares highlights on producing “Staying Power: A Youth Participatory Action Research Project”  that combines photovoice and oral history interviews to examine New York City Housing Authority histories through the lens of longtime residents.

Give it a listen on our website or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Freedom Flicks: Between War and the Ban 

Join us for for a discussion and screening of the Emmy-nominated news documentary, Between War and the Ban: A Yemeni-American Story. The film examines the devastating impact of Trump’s Muslim Ban on Yemeni-American families stranded in Djibouti and unable to reunite with their spouses and children in the U.S.

From the chaos and protests at airports in early 2017 to Supreme Court decisions that have upheld xenophobic and racist policies, we will hear from lawyers, storytellers, activists, and Yemeni-Americans impacted by the Ban about their experiences challenging the policy, including exposing the waiver process as a sham, and the work necessary to build solidarity within and across movements.

Doors will open at 6 p.m. and the program will begin in the auditorium at 6:30 p.m. The film is 25 minutes and will be followed by a panel discussion. Dinner will be served. This event is free and open to the public. RSVP on our website.

In this issue:

Join us in court and defend the right to boycott in Olympia, Washington 

Join us in court tomorrow in Olympia, Washington, as Center for Constitutional Rights Deputy Legal Director Maria LaHood argues in our case Davis v. Cox defending former volunteer board members of the Olympia Food Co-op in their decision to boycott Israeli products in line with the co-op's mission and long history of encouraging social justice.

Courts dismissed the lawsuit against our clients in 2012, 2014, and 2018, yet the plaintiffs have continued to pursue the case in an attempt to chill free speech and punish support for Palestinian human rights. We will continue to argue that the lawsuit brought against our clients is illegal and should be dismissed.

Learn more on our case page.

The NYPD needs more transparency, not less. Repeal 50-a. 

On Thursday, Center for Constitutional Rights Bertha Justice Fellow, Lupe Aguirre, will testify before the New York Senate urging the repeal of a law known as 50-a, the most restrictive police secrecy law in the country. The law is widely criticized for hiding crucial information about police misconduct and subsequent discipline, if any, from the public.

Her testimony will outline how the repeal of 50-a in the state legislature is a critical and meaningful step toward lifting the veil on systemic issues within the NYPD, which has long been shrouded in secrecy. The safety of New York’s communities — particularly communities of color who bear the brunt of abusive and unconstitutional police practices — is at stake.

“We have long recognized the public’s right to know whether police departments are behaving in ways that are lawful, ethical, and consistent with community values so that they may hold the department accountable for its abuses. We must uphold New York’s enduring commitment to transparency and accountability and protect New York’s most vulnerable communities by repealing 50-a,” said Lupe Aguirre.

Learn more on our website.

Widespread support for ICC Afghanistan investigation, as U.S. renews threats against the court 

Last week, the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court received a dozen requests to file amicus briefs that would support the opening of an investigation into crimes occurring in or connected to the armed conflict in Afghanistan, including torture and other serious crimes committed by the CIA and other U.S. actors. The potential amici include former international Prosecutors (including the  99-year old American former Nuremberg prosecutor, Ben Ferencz), former U.N. Special Rapporteurs, the former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes, international human rights and criminal law experts, and international, Afghan and American civil society and legal organizations. The Center for Constitutional Rights is hopeful that this strong showing of support for the victims we represent in the appeal will translate into a decision by the Appeals Chamber to authorize an investigation at or after a hearing scheduled for December, without further delay.

Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo renewed his threat that the U.S. would impose sanctions on “any and all ICC officials determined to be directly responsible for an ICC investigation of U.S. personnel, or of allied personnel without our allies’ consent." In response, prominent human rights advocates, attorneys, and academics stressed the seriousness of such a threat, stating that the U.S. government “sets a dangerous and highly damaging precedent” with its decision to impose visa sanctions against judges and prosecutors working for the ICC.

Center for Constitutional Rights Senior Staff Attorney Katherine Gallagher said, "This improper attack on a court of law and blatant attempt to intimidate independent judges echoes the wholesale disregard for the rule of law on full display by the Trump administration at home. We call upon the U.S. to act like a democracy, not a dictatorship, and the ICC to send a clear message that it won't be bullied."

Read the full press release on the Coalition for the International Criminal Court’s website.

In this issue:

“This attempt to chill our right to free speech should have ended long ago.” 

On Tuesday, Center for Constitution Rights Deputy Legal Director Maria LaHood urged a Washington appeals court to uphold a ruling that dismissed a lawsuit against former volunteer board members of the Olympia Food Co-op for the Co-op’s 2010 decision to boycott Israeli goods. The case was originally dismissed as a meritless Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) in 2012, before the Washington Supreme Court struck down the Anti-SLAPP statute. The trial court dismissed the case again last year, finding the Co-op had not suffered any injury following the boycott.

“We’re looking forward to a final resolution of this interminable case,” said defendant Grace Cox, who has been forced to defend against the lawsuit for more than eight years. “This attempt to chill our right to free speech should have ended long ago.”

Deputy Legal Director Maria LaHood said, “This eight-year-old, harassing lawsuit is a textbook attempt to stifle protected advocacy for Palestinian rights. We hope the court will put an end to this abuse of the judicial system once and for all.”

Learn more on our website.

Exhibition: The Pencil Is a Key: Drawings by Incarcerated Artists 

Our client Djamel Ameziane is exhibiting select artwork he created while imprisoned at the U.S.-run prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, as part of "The Pencil Is a Key" exhibition at the Drawing Center at 35 Wooster Street in SoHo, New York, running from October 11, 2019 to January 5, 2020.

"The Pencil Is a Key" is an exhibition of historical and contemporary drawings by incarcerated people from all over the globe. Works by artists who were or currently are prisoners will be juxtaposed with drawings by prisoners who became artists while incarcerated. Examples include drawings by political prisoners from the Paris Commune uprising of 1871, artists incarcerated during World War II as noncombatants, and Japanese Americans who were interned by the U.S. government. The exhibit also features artists from Apartheid-era South Africa, Central and South America, and the Middle East.

Learn more on The Drawing Center, including about additional programming that is part of the exhibition, on their website.

^{_{Photo: Carlos Conde. Untitled 1995. Pencil and colored pencil on envelope. Courtesy of Cavin-Morris Gallery, NYC.}}

In case you missed it: Noura Erakat in conversation with Katherine Franke & Diala Shamas 

On Thursday, Center for Constitutional Rights Staff Attorney Diala Shamas and Board Chair Katherine Franke sat down with human rights attorney, professor, activist, and former Center for Constitutional Rights Ella Baker intern Noura Erakat to discuss her new book “Justice for Some.” Grounded in 100 years of history, from the Balfour Declaration in 1917 to the present, and bolstered by careful inspection of legal documents, archives, and conversations with Palestinian negotiators, Erakat offers a compelling critical legal history, laying out how Israel — and the zionist movement before its founding — engaged in legal work to further the settler-colonial project. The outcome, she argues, was never inevitable and current legal frameworks may still be of use to the ultimate goal of Palestinian freedom.

As she, Shamas, and Franke explain, while limited, the law may still lend itself to opportunities for strategic interventions. However, just as a sail needs favorable winds to propel a ship forward, so too does the law require the backing of a political movement to achieve Palestinian emancipation.

If you didn’t have a chance to attend, you can also watch the full talk here.

In this issue:

We’re standing in solidarity with Louisiana climate justice protesters 

Reverend Gregory Manning and Sakura Kone were arrested Wednesday at the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, on the final day of the two-week march by the Coalition Against Death Alley from New Orleans to Baton Rouge.

We support the mission and goals of the Coalition Against Death Alley, which are to achieve justice for those who have been harmed by the petrochemical industry and to stop the further build-out of these facilities. The 85-mile stretch between New Orleans and Baton Rouge has been the site of a petrochemical invasion, where more than 100 petrochemical facilities are located in predominantly Black communities that are bearing the brunt of the devastating health and environmental impacts.

Read more on our website.

^{_{Photo: Chief Clara Soaring Hawk Deer Clan Chief Ramapough Lenape Nation Photo by Vlad Archin}}

Take pride in what we have achieved together! 

The Center for Constitutional Rights would not be able to fight for justice without the tremendous support of people like you. We are extremely grateful for the loyalty and generosity that our partners have shown over the years.

Last week we released our annual report, which details the issues we’re combatting, the vision we have for a world free from systemic oppression, and how it is we do the work that we do.  We invite you to check it out and learn more about how supporters like you make it possible for us to stand with communities on the front lines of some of the most pressing fights of our time.

You can read the report on our website.

In this issue:

We denounce Israel’s decision to deport Human Rights Watch director Omar Shakir 

In response to Israel’s Supreme Court decision upholding the order for human rights defender Omar Shakir, of Human Rights Watch, to leave Israel, we issued the following statement:

The Israeli court's decision to allow the deportation of human rights defender Omar Shakir because of his advocacy and support for human rights in Israel and Palestine is outrageous, but not shocking. The Israeli government, and now the courts, have increased their attacks on human rights advocates in the hope of silencing criticism of the country's human rights record. But each time advocates for Palestinian rights are silenced or punished, it instead draws more attention to—and multiplies—Israel’s long list of human rights violations. We stand in solidarity with Shakir, Human Rights Watch, and the many other human rights defenders – Palestinian, Israeli, and from around the world – standing up for justice in Palestine.

Read more on our website.

The story of the CIA’s torture program hits the big screen this Friday 

The feature length film The Report will make its theatrical release Friday in theaters across the country. Revolving around the true story of the CIA’s shadowy interrogation and detention program following the 9/11 attacks, the docudrama follows senate investigator Daniel J. Jones (Adam Driver) and Senator Dianne Feinstein (Annette Bening), whose search for truth and accountability for the CIA’s role in the torture and abuse of detainees, and in the cover-up, put them at odds with the powers that be in Washington.

Last week, we partnered with Amnesty International to host a screening of The Report, featuring a talkback with the film’s director, Scott Z. Burns, and subject of the film, investigator Daniel J. Jones. “When the film is over, the story is not,” said Advocacy Program Manager Aliya Hussain, during her introduction of the film. “[Our] job is about making sure the men in Guantánamo are not forgotten.” Victims continue to languish at Guantánamo where they have been imprisoned for more than a decade, including our clients, Majid Khan, Guled Hassan Duran, and Sharqawi Al Hajj.

While The Report brings this crucial topic back into the public eye, it is important to note that to date no high-level officials have been held accountable for these crimes. Long after the film leaves theaters, we will continue to demand accountability and pursue redress for our clients — in federal court, the Guantánamo military commissions, the International Criminal Court, and countries abroad.

We’re hiring! — Legal Worker 

This has been an exciting year for the Center for Constitutional Rights. As we continue to grow, we’re looking for an experienced and passionate Legal Worker to join us in our fight for justice.

Legal Workers are crucial to the work that we do to support communities fighting oppressive systems, providing administrative, programmatic, and paralegal assistance as part of case/project teams in the Legal Department. They work hand-in-hand with staff attorneys to challenge government and corporate abuses in areas such as immigration, solitary confinement, and racial and religious profiling, and stand with freedom fighters and social movements, including those working to achieve gender justice and LGBTQIA+ rights, Palestinian human rights, and environmental justice.

It's a competitively compensated and exciting opportunity for a proactive individual to work in a dynamic, values-driven, and innovative environment.

In this issue:

Stand up for Indigenous rights in Bolivia 

The Center for Constitutional Rights and co-counsel are headed to Miami to represent our clients in a federal lawsuit brought against the former president of Bolivia, Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada (“Goni”), and the former Minister of Defense, Carlos Sánchez Berzaín, in our case Mamani, et al. v. Sánchez de Lozada and Sánchez Berzaín. The case seeks accountability from the former officials for their roles in planning and ordering security forces in Bolivia to use deadly military force against unarmed civilians — almost all from the Indigenous Aymara community — to suppress popular protests against government policies.

The trial was the first time that a former head of state faced his accusers in a civil human rights trial in a U.S. court. In April 2018, a U.S. jury in federal court unanimously found Sánchez de Lozada and Sánchez Berzaín, who had fled to the U.S. and taken up residence here after the massacre, liable for extrajudicial killings carried out by the Bolivian military and awarded the plaintiffs $10 million in damages. That May, the trial judge set aside the jury’s verdict. We appealed his decision, and oral argument will be held in Miami on Tuesday, November 19.

Learn more about the case on our website.

Black October's Legacy: Fighting Impunity with the Aymara Community of Bolivia @ The People’s Forum 

And for those of you near New York, please join us at “Black October's Legacy: Fighting Impunity with the Aymara Community of Bolivia” on Friday, November 22, at 6 p.m. at The People’s Forum. Hear Indigenous activists from Bolivia discuss their struggles for justice and accountability for their loved ones.

In 2003, a soldier shot the eight-year-old daughter of Eloy Rojas Mamani and Etelvina Ramos Mamani, Marlene, through the window of their home in the village of Warisata. As one of the first casualties in the government’s attacks to suppress popular protests, Marlene became a face for the “Black October” struggle for justice.

Learn more about the event and RSVP on our website.

Join us at CUNY Law School to hear about the upcoming ICC Appeals Hearing on U.S. Torture Accountability 

We're now just a couple of weeks away from a historic three-day hearing in The Hague on whether crimes arising out of the armed conflict in Afghanistan, including U.S. torture, can be investigated by the International Criminal Court. The Center for Constitutional Rights is proud to co-sponsor a panel on the ICC proceedings, From Guantanamo to The Hague: Accountability for U.S. Torture, at CUNY Law School on November 25th at 5:30 p.m. This is your chance to hear about this historic moment with Center for Constitutional Rights Staff Attorney Katherine Gallagher, among other panelists.

For information on this event, visit our website. To learn more about the ICC proceedings, and to read the eight amicus briefs filed Friday, visit our case page.

Join us for Transgender Awareness Week! 

This week marks Transgender Awareness Week, a weeklong observance that falls on November 13–19 of each year, leading up to Transgender Day of Resilience (TDOR), also observed as Transgender Day of Remembrance, on November 20. New Orleans-based trans justice organization BreakOUT! proposed “resilience” over “remembrance” in 2015, shifting away from memorializing transgender individuals only once they have fallen victim to transphobic violence, to acknowledging and celebrating the power of the transgender community while they are here.

Throughout Transgender Awareness Week, advocates and allies are raising awareness of the transgender community through education and advocacy activities, nurturing resilience, fostering connection, and envisioning a world in which trans folks are liberated. The week culminates in art, music, and dialogue on TDOR.

We are proud to be participating in TDOR celebrations and memorials across New York City, including the Translash TDOR Wellness Session, the vigil sponsored by DecrimNY and the TDOR event at the Center. Hope to see you there!

Visit our website to learn more about our LGBTQIA+ & gender justice legal and advocacy work.

Photo courtesy of The Gender Spectrum Collection.

The Activist Files Podcast Episode 20: Law, lawyering, and writing Palestine with Noura Erakat 

What’s the relationship between law and justice when it comes to the fight for Palestinian freedom? That’s one of the topics that our staff attorney Diala Shamas discusses with Noura Erakat — human rights attorney, assistant professor, and author of Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine — in “Law, lawyering, and writing Palestine,” the 20th episode of “The Activist Files.”

Linking Palestine’s struggle with other struggles, including the struggle for Black freedom, Noura discusses the tensions that arise in trying to use existing legal tools to create a completely new reality, cautions against wielding law without a political movement, and touches on the legal push-back that has come with increased advocacy for Palestine.

Listen to this thought-provoking episode on our website or your favorite podcast platform.

We’re hiring! — Graphic design associate 

Here at the Center for Constitutional Rights, we have a robust multi-channel communications program, including media relations, thought leadership, social media, email, video, and a user-friendly website. We’re hoping to bring on a part-time graphic designer who will assist in effectively communicating and delivering concepts through visuals in relation to our work.

The graphic designer will implement concept, layout design, artwork, and supervision of production for materials, including printed materials, such as reports, brochures, leaflets, one-pagers, newsletters, white papers, reports, and direct mail. They will also design materials for print and web, including ads, billboards, posters, and non-traditional out-of-home advertising, coordinating with outside vendors, art services, and printers to complete projects.

Head to our website to learn more!

In this issue:

Victory! Federal court blocks Trump’s asylum ban 

A federal judge Wednesday blocked the Trump administration’s asylum ban from being applied to thousands of asylum seekers who were unlawfully prevented from accessing the U.S. asylum process before the ban was implemented.

The case is Al Otro Lado v. Wolf, a class action lawsuit brought by the Southern Poverty Law Center, Center for Constitutional Rights, and the American Immigration Council on behalf of individual asylum seekers and the legal services organization Al Otro Lado (AOL).

“Today’s order will protect the lives of asylum seekers who were forced to endure extreme hardship while waiting in dangerous border cities for months for their chance to seek asylum in the United States,” said Erika Pinheiro, AOL director of litigation and policy. “These asylum seekers have a deep commitment to following our laws in seeking protection, and we are relieved to see that their decision to follow our government's instructions to wait in Mexico will not prejudice their chances for relief.”

Indigenous Bolivians urge the court to reinstate judgment against former Bolivian president and defense minister 

On Tuesday, Indigenous Bolivian families urged the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals to reinstate a judgement against Bolivia’s former president, Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, and former defense minister, Carlos Sánchez Berzaín, for the massacre of unarmed Indigenous civilians in 2003 (Mamani, et al. v. Sánchez de Lozada / Mamani, et al. v. Sánchez Berzaín).

A U.S. jury found the two former officials liable under the Torture Victim Protection Act in April 2018 and awarded the victims’ families $10 million in damages. The unanimous verdict came after a month-long trial that included six days of deliberations. The judge later set aside the jury verdict and entered his own ruling holding the defendants not liable.

“I was proud, during the trial, to be able to hold these two men to account in their adopted country,” said Teófilo Baltazar Cerro, a plaintiff in whose pregnant wife Teodosia was shot and killed while praying inside her sister’s home. “We have faith that the Court of Appeals will see what the Bolivian people and the American jury also saw: that Goni and Sánchez Berzaín are responsible for these killings, and that justice must be done.”

Learn more about this historic case and read our press release on our website.

Bloomberg’s stop-and-frisk apology is too little, too late 

After three terms as mayor, when Bloomberg used his power to champion a policy that encouraged police to unconstitutionally stop Black and Latinx people at an alarmingly high rate, his apology is way too little and far too late.

In 2011, the NYPD, under Bloomberg, reported a record 685,724 stops. Eighty-four percent of those stopped were Black or Latinx, and 88 percent of the people stopped were neither arrested nor received summonses.

Almost two decades after the policy began and six years after a federal ruling that found the NYPD’s stop and frisk unconstitutional and racially biased, Bloomberg’s discriminatory legacy is still felt by Black and Latinx communities.

To learn more about the latest developments in our case to hold the NYPD accountable for racial profiling and unconstitutional stop and frisks, visit our website.

The Trump administration’s shift on Israeli settlements violates norms established at Nuremberg 

Like its radical decision to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, the latest Trump administration decision reflects its total alignment with the Israeli government’s long-standing and racist aspirations to steal Palestinian land in service of Israeli profit and nativist ideology. This is a naked violation of basic international human rights and humanitarian law. The military theft and occupation of Palestinian land is a war crime — as measured by norms established in Nuremburg to prevent again the horrors of German occupation of other European states — as well as a crime against humanity; it is part of a systematic project to erase Palestinians, legally and physically. Two days after pardoning war criminals, Donald Trump again demonstrates that he, himself, as well as his obsequious Secretary of State, Pompeo, and his closest ally Netanyahu, are themselves war criminals. 

We stand in solidarity with our Palestinian partners and the global human rights community in condemning this latest act of lawlessness.

In this issue:

New Jersey Muslims meet with NYPD after landmark surveillance lawsuit 

Following a landmark lawsuit over the New York City Police Department’s (NYPD) blanket, discriminatory surveillance of New Jersey Muslims, Hassan v. City of New York, plaintiffs and members of the New Jersey Muslim community met face-to-face with senior City and NYPD officials on Monday to detail the harm caused to Muslim communities in New Jersey by the NYPD’s surveillance program and to demand accountability.

In 2011, Pulitzer Prize-winning AP reporting revealed that the NYPD was spying on Muslims at New York and New Jersey mosques, restaurants, schools, and university student associations simply because of their faith. The NYPD’s monitoring activities included video surveillance, photographing license plates, “community mapping,” and infiltration by undercover officers.

“Hassan v. NYPD proved once and for all that active participation by the citizenry is necessary to hold those in power accountable,” said Farhaj Hassan. “The value of 'equal justice for all' holds America together. That is a value American Muslims will always defend.”

Read our press release on our website.

Join us in The Hague via livestream for ICC appeals hearing on U.S. torture accountability 

This week, an historic, three-day hearing will be held at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, at which the five-judge Appeals Chamber will hear argument on why the ICC should open an investigation into crimes arising out of the armed conflict in Afghanistan, including U.S. torture. 

As part of its long-standing work to seek redress for victims of Bush-era “war on terror” crimes and to hold accountable senior U.S. officials and CIA contractors who designed, implemented, and covered up the “torture program,” Center for Constitutional Rights Senior Staff Attorney Katherine Gallagher represents two victims in the ICC proceedings, Sharqawi Al Hajj and Guled Duran, both of whom remain detained at Guantánamo without charge. She will be arguing that the ICC is the appropriate venue for the U.S. torture program due to the widespread nature of the crimes, the gravity of the harm done, and the unwillingness of the United States to investigate and prosecute the civilian and military leadership responsible for these serious violations. 

Donald Trump’s recent pardons — along with his prior appointment of Gina Haspel, who ran a CIA “blacksite,” as CIA Director — only support why it is necessary for the ICC to investigate.

To learn more about this precedent-setting moment, and to read the briefs, including eight recently filed amicus briefs, visit our case page. To watch the hearings live-streamed from the ICC court-room December 4 to 6, visit the ICC page.

Testimony on body-worn cameras before NYC council 

On November 18, 2019, Center for Constitutional Rights Senior Legal Worker Ian Head testified before the Public Safety Committee of the New York City Council.

In his testimony, Head drew the Committee on Public Safety's attention to the importance of community input into current policies regarding the NYPD's implementation of body-worn cameras.

Read the testimony on our website.

In this issue:

Corporations have captured the legislative process around the country. We’re suing. 

On Wednesday, we joined community partners in filing a lawsuit against Arizona lawmakers who are participating in closed meetings of the corporate-led American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). ALEC brings together legislators, corporate leaders, conservative activists, and lobbyists to draft and promote model legislation across the country. In a brand new report we produced with Dream Defenders, The Red Nation, US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, and Palestine Legal, we take a close look at the devastating impacts of the activities of ALEC on communities of color.

The complaint filed Wednesday with our local partners asks the court to find that attendance by lawmakers who comprise a quorum of multiple committees of the Arizona legislature at closed-door meetings for the purpose of deliberation on legislation with corporations and lobbyists violates the state’s Open Meeting Law. The complaint further asks for all notes and materials from the secretive meetings to be made accessible to the public and that legislators be prohibited from attending these meetings in the future. We worked closely with members of Puente, Mijente, Arizona Palestine Solidarity Alliance (APSA), Black Lives Matter (BLM) Phoenix Metro, and local counsel The People’s Law Firm to file this case.

“The groups filing this suit today are asking the court for nothing more than transparency in the way Arizona’s laws are made,” said Dominic Renfrey, Advocacy Program Manager at the Center for Constitutional Rights. “ALEC’s pay-to-play model strikes at the very heart of democratic law-making. Unsurprisingly, its people of color and those on the margins that suffer the most from ALEC’s attacks.”

To learn more about the lawsuit, stop by our case page.

We’re urging the International Criminal Court to investigate the U.S. torture program 

During a three-day hearing last week, attorneys representing victims of the U.S. torture program argued before the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to reverse a decision that blocked the ICC Prosecutor from investigating the grave crimes committed under the program. Specifically, the prosecutor sought to investigate alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Afghanistan and on the territory of other States Parties implicated in the program, committed variously by U.S. armed forces and members of the CIA, the Taliban and affiliated armed groups, and Afghan government forces. This case is the first and only time the highest criminal court in the world has considered whether the United States will be investigated and called to account for its torture program.

“At a time when Donald Trump is using his power to pardon those who have committed war crimes, it is imperative that the ICC put an end to U.S. impunity for torture,” said the Center for Constitutional Rights Senior Staff Attorney Katherine Gallagher, lead attorney for the victims. “More than 15 years without accountability for serious international crimes by the Bush administration has only reinforced Trump’s belief that he can absolve and commit serious human rights violations without consequence. We ask the Appeals Chamber at this historic hearing to authorize the investigation into the U.S. torture program and finally bring an end to this era of impunity for torture.”

Learn more about work to demand accountability for the U.S. torture program on our website.

We’ll be in D.C. arguing on behalf of Guantánamo detainees 

On Wednesday, Center for Constitutional Rights Senior Managing Attorney Shayana Kadidal will be arguing before the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in Ali v. Trump, a federal habeas corpus petition brought on behalf of Abdul Razak Ali.

Abdul Razak Ali (also known as Saeed Bakhouch) has never been charged with a crime and is one of 40 men who remain detained at Guantánamo after more than a decade. He is one of 11 petitioners that collectively filed the first major challenge to the Trump administration’s Guantánamo policies in January 2018. Ali v. Trump proceeded before a district court judge who denied his motion for relief in 2018.

The argument will focus on whether the due process clause of the Constitution applies at Guantánamo, and whether Ali’s continuing non-criminal detention for more than 17 years violates substantive and procedural due process.

For details, head to the event page on our website.

Join us for an exclusive breakfast viewing of The Pencil is a Key 

Join the Center for Constitutional Rights and The Drawing Center on Tuesday, December 10 for a Human Rights Day breakfast and private tour of the exhibition The Pencil Is a Key: Drawings by Incarcerated Artists led by co-curator Isabella Kapur.

Center for Constitutional Rights Advocacy Program Manager Aliya Hussain will offer background on the history of art at Guantánamo and the conditions and political climate under which Djamel Ameziane and the other artists featured in the exhibition created their work. Julie Azuma and Mike Ishii will give context to art-making by Japanese-American artists imprisoned in internment camps during WWII and the work of Mine Okubo.

The drawings featured in this exhibition present powerful evidence of the persistence of human creativity in the most inhuman of circumstances and argue for the necessity of art to the life of every human being.

The tour and breakfast will be held from 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at The Drawing Center, at 35 Wooster Street, New York, NY, 10013.

Refreshments will be served. Kindly RSVP.

^{_{Sérgio Sister Impress your feelings with your fingerprint, 1970. Courtesy of the artist and Galeria Nara Roesler}}

In this issue:

We’re urging the court to change the ground rules for Guantánamo cases 

On Wednesday, our attorneys urged a federal appeals court to overturn a lower court ruling against Abdul Razak Ali (aka Saeed Bakhouch), who has been detained at Guantánamo without charge since June 2002, and to rule more broadly that the fundamental protections of the Due Process Clause apply to detainees and limit otherwise limitless detentions there. Mr. Ali had filed a petition for release together with ten other Guantánamo detainees, arguing that their ongoing detention is arbitrary and unlawful, particularly in light of Donald Trump’s stated policy that no one should be released from the prison regardless of the facts of their case. A lower court held that “the [Constitution’s] due process clause does not apply in Guantánamo,” which attorneys say defies Supreme Court precedent. Without due process, detainees face detention for life.

“During the Bush administration, the Supreme Court twice struck down attempts to gut Constitutional protections against arbitrary detention at Guantánamo, but since then the lower courts have made it effectively impossible to win a case in court no matter how weak the government’s evidence is,” said Shayana Kadidal, Senior Managing Attorney of the Guantánamo project at the Center for Constitutional Rights, who argued at the hearing. “[Wednesday’s] hearing asks the court to finally provide detainees the fair process the Supreme Court envisioned ten years ago.”

Learn more on our website.

ICYMI: International Human Rights Day with Nadia Ben-Youssef and Katherine Gallagher 

On Tuesday, International Human Rights Day, Advocacy Director Nadia Ben-Youssef and Senior Staff Attorney Katherine Gallagher sat down to talk about Katherine's appearance last week at the historic hearing before the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court, regarding an investigation of crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Afghanistan and States Parties with a nexus to the armed conflict.

“Over the last many years, first and foremost, we’ve worked to get the individuals, men, women, and children freed, and today there are still 40 men who are detained in Guantánamo. But in addition to freeing individuals, we’ve tried in various capacities to hold U.S. officials accountable for the harms, the serious harms, the international law violations, the constitutional violations, that these individuals were subjected to,” said Katherine during the live broadcast.

The livestream was recorded and can be viewed on our Facebook page. Katherine’s arguments to the ICC in The Hague can also be viewed on the ICC’s YouTube channel.

In this issue:

Plastics, pollution, and burial grounds in Louisiana 

Last week, we joined residents of St. James Parish, Louisiana, environmental justice groups, and legal organizations to urge the St. James Parish Council to rescind its decision to allow Formosa Plastics to build a massive petrochemical facility in a predominantly Black community. New and alarming information has been revealed about the levels of cancer-causing chemicals the facility would emit, the company’s failure to follow through on its promise to lessen exposure to school children and residents nearby, and its failure to alert parish officials and residents of the existence of graves of enslaved people on the land. 

The requests by RISE St. James, Louisiana Bucket Brigade, Earthjustice, and the Center for Constitutional Rights come after reports that the area where Formosa Plastics wants to build is already more toxic than 99.6 percent of industrialized parts of the country with cancer-causing chemicals. Reports also indicate the plant would triple the toxic levels of cancer-causing chemicals in the area. 

“We continue to fight for our lives against these toxic industries, and now we are fighting for our ancestors too,” said Sharon Lavigne, founder and president of RISE St. James.

Learn more on our website.

Be part of that story! 

What a year it has been! When historians write of this moment in history, about those who thwarted the resurgence of white supremacy, you will be a part of that story.

When future generations ask, “What did you do?”, you can answer that you helped migrants fighting for the right to asylum. When they ask who fought for the liberation of LGBTQIA+ communities, you can say that you did! When they ask who supported Indigenous organizers protecting their ancestral land, advocated for marginalized communities worldwide, and held corporations accountable for human rights abuses, the answer will be you!

The fight for justice may have gotten harder, but you make it possible for us to respond swiftly to the clear and immediate danger presented by the White House, and to sustain the longer fight for justice. Thank You!

If you haven’t already, please give today and be part of that story!

In this issue:

A proposed Louisiana chemical plant may be building on the graves of formerly enslaved people. We’re saying “no.” 

RISE St. James, a faith-based grassroots community group, recently learned that graves of enslaved people have been found on the proposed site of Formosa Plastics in St. James Parish, a fact the company did not bring to the community’s attention while it was seeking a land use permit.

They discovered the presence of graves on the proposed site after reviewing the company’s submissions to the permitting agencies, which they obtained from a public records request. The records also revealed that Formosa representatives have considered the possibility of removing remains if found on certain portions of the property, because preserving them in place would be a “difficult option” for the company.

“We are going to fight for the respect [our ancestors’] resting places—and our community—deserve as we continue our fight to stop Formosa Plastics from being built at all. Governor John Bel Edwards should join us and protect our communities,” said Sharon Lavigne of RISE St. James.

Learn more on our website.

Trump’s “Public Charge” rules are an attack on poor, non-white immigrant families. We’re suing. 

On Thursday, along with The Legal Aid Society and the National Immigration Law Center, we filed Make the Road New York v. Pompeo, the first federal lawsuit seeking to jointly block three interrelated “Public Charge” rules promulgated by the Trump administration. These rules seek, independently and together, to wholly transform the United States’ long-standing family-based immigration system, which allows all immigrants to seek a new and better life in the United States regardless of their means, into a system that favors the wealthy and discriminates against people of color. These radical proposed changes violate immigration statutes and the Constitution.

“Unsurprisingly, like so many other Trump policies, these immigration rules harm people of color the most. The courts should not allow the administration to circumvent numerous court injunctions, based on determinations that the public charge criteria are likely unlawful and unconstitutional, simply by applying that criteria via different agencies,” said Senior Attorney Ghita Schwarz.

Read more about our efforts to combat the administration's racist public charge rules on our website.

The NYPD is not doing enough to end its racist policing practices. 

On Monday, the court-appointed monitor in our landmark stop-and-frisk case, Floyd v. City of New York, released his latest status report. Senior Attorney Darius Charney responded to the content.

Six years after a federal court found the New York City Police Department’s stop-and-frisk practices racially discriminatory, it is clear the NYPD has failed to meaningfully address this ruling.The court-appointed monitor’s 10th report shows that significant racial disparities persist, with Black and Latinx New Yorkers much more likely than whites to be subjected to illegal stops...

Continue reading on our website.

The Activist Files Podcast: Brooklyn to Buffalo — Resisting discriminatory policing in New York 

What does police accountability and racial justice work look like across New York State? That’s what senior attorney Darius Charney discusses with Anthonine Pierre of the Brooklyn Movement Center and Marielle Shavonne Smith of the Buffalo-based Black Love Resists in the Rust, two leaders of Black-led grassroots organizations doing critical racial justice work on opposite ends of New York State. They discuss the striking similarities in police abuses taking place in New York City and in Buffalo, their work to divest from harmful institutions and instead invest funds into their communities, the need for further transparency and accountability for police misconduct, and how action from New York’s legislators and Attorney General could address these issues.

Head to our website to learn more about our work partnering with grassroots organizations in NYC and Buffalo to challenge unconstitutional, discriminatory policing. While you’re there, stream the episode!

In this issue:

Federal judge stops Trump’s new public charge rule in its tracks 

On Wednesday, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals denied the Trump administration’s request for a stay of the preliminary injunction blocking a Department of Homeland Security rule that would dramatically change the rules on public charge. This is the only nationwide injunction protecting low-income clients from the destructive policy nationwide.

The lawsuit, Make the Road New York v. Cuccinelli, was filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights, The Legal Aid Society, and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP on behalf of Make the Road New York, African Services Committee, Asian American Federation, Catholic Charities Community Services, and Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC).

The Make the Road New York v. Cuccinelli litigation team and lead plaintiff Make the Road New York released the following statement:

“The court rejected the Trump administration’s claims that it cannot wait to implement its dangerous and discriminatory public charge policy change. We are pleased that the Second Circuit upheld Judge Daniels’ decision, which is grounded in the clear intent of Congress and the consistent history of the Immigration and Nationality Act. We look forward to continuing our fight in court until a final decision is reached on the legality of the rule change, and we are thrilled that immigrants across the country remain protected.”

Read more about the administration’s public charge rule on our case page.

Landowners challenge oil pipeline companies’ eminent domain claim 

Attorneys representing Louisiana landowners, whose property was taken by an oil pipeline company, argued Wednesday before the Third Circuit Court of Appeal for the State of Louisiana, urging the court to reverse a decision allowing expropriation of the land despite having found the company had unlawfully trespassed. The Bayou Bridge Pipeline Company (BBP) trespassed onto privately-owned land in the ecologically sensitive Atchafalaya Basin and began constructing a pipeline—including clearing trees and trenching—before beginning any legal process to obtain the land. A judge found that BBP had unlawfully entered and damaged the land, but nonetheless allowed the company to take the land using the state power of eminent domain.

“Bayou Bridge’s action against me and my fellow landowners should alarm all Louisiana property-owners,” said Katherine Aaselstad. “It demonstrated that the corporation can take anyone’s land, even in the environmentally precious Atchafalaya Basin, if they can line their own pockets, exporting energy abroad.”

Learn more on our website.

The assassination of Soleimani is Trump’s latest bid for a fraudulent war 

In a terrifying replay of the fraudulent grounds for starting wars in Iraq and continuing them across the globe, the Trump administration has, with characteristic callousness towards human suffering, taken another step in the pursuit of endless war.

While we have seen, and should always be alarmed when a president of the United States justifies unlawful military aggression and demands public loyalty for false patriotism, our communities are particularly threatened by a desperate Trump administration seeking to advance its authoritarian agenda: repressing dissent and opposition, surveilling and criminalizing immigrants, and rewarding corporate entities who profit from war-making and human devastation. It is the people of Iran, Iraq, and throughout the region who have and will continue to endure the untold violence of U.S. militarism, as well as the multiple other forces repressing their just struggles for liberation.

We reiterate the call to end all war and expresses our solidarity and commitment to the people of Iran, Iraq, and around the world demanding justice, human rights, and self-determination.

In this issue:

Never stop fighting Guantánamo 

This coming Saturday will mark the 18th anniversary of the Guantánamo Bay prison, and the Center for Constitutional Rights will be co-sponsoring two events in Washington, D.C.  Marking this anniversary is always bittersweet: our clients are among the forty men who remain detained at Guantánamo; many were tortured, most have never been charged or convicted of any crime. Under the current administration, their futures remain even more uncertain. At the same time, more than a decade after the end of the CIA torture program, the full Senate Torture Report remains classified and not a single high-level official has been held accountable within the U.S. for these horrific crimes. But the anniversary is also a time to celebrate the community of movement partners and grassroots activists who have fought alongside us for years and stand in solidarity with the men at Guantánamo as we ensure that the prison never disappears from the public consciousness. 

On Saturday, we will join Witness Against Torture, Amnesty International USA, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, and others to rally for justice and demand the closure of Guantánamo and accountability for torture, and to connect the brutality, lawlessness, and impunity that defines the prison to so many of today's horrors. Following the rally, we will march from Lafayette Square to the Trump International Hotel. 

But first, on Thursday, January 9, we will join Justice for Muslims Collective and Witness Against Torture at D.C.'s Festival Center to bring the offshore "War on Terror" prison into a larger conversation on resistance within and to the United States' carceral society. Reflecting on Japanese-American incarceration during WWII, mass incarceration, migrant detention, and the prison at Guantánamo Bay, we will explore the criminalization of communities and the state's use of confinement as a tool of social control. The discussion will center the ways in which prisoners and detainees have resisted their captivity, and how advocates have organized against those systems. The speakers are Dr. Maha Hilal, Co-founder of Justice for Muslims Collective; Mike Ishii, Co-chair of Tsuru for Solidarity; Robert Saleem Holbrook, Director of Community Organizing at the Abolitionist Law Center; and Aliya Hussain, Advocacy Program Manager at the Center for Constitutional Rights. The event is free and open to the public. Dinner will be served. Please RSVP.

Please join us!

For more information, visit our events page.

Welcome our first-ever Technology Director, Ken Montenegro 

Today, the Center for Constitutional Rights welcomes Ken Montenegro as our first-ever Technology Director. He will lead and develop the organization's technology to advance our mission and align with our long-term strategic goals. He will also lead the organization’s internal technology team in management of day-to-day technology operations, as well as plan and execute new technology projects and initiatives.

"I look forward to leading and learning with the technology team about how technology can be used to appropriately support and advance mission-driven liberation work," he said. "It's an honor to join the Center for Constitutional Rights, and I look forward to applying what I have learned related to technology, the law, and community-based work as another tool in the Center for Constitutional Rights' arsenal."

Ken joins the Center for Constitutional Rights from Asian Americans Advancing Justice in Los Angeles, where he was the Information Technology Director. He is a long-time activist with grassroots communities and movements, in particular around immigration and racist policing. Montenegro is also the current Executive Vice President of the National Lawyers Guild.

Welcome, Ken!

In this issue:

FILED: We’re suing to block the three latest public charge rules 

We filed a petition in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) Tuesday for a preliminary injunction in Make the Road New York v. Pompeo, the first federal lawsuit seeking to jointly block three interrelated public charge rules promulgated by Trump and the State Department.

Attorneys from The Legal Aid Society, Center for Constitutional Rights, National Immigration Law Center, and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP are litigating the case on behalf of Make the Road New York (MRNY), African Services Committee (ASC), Central American Refugee Center New York (CARECEN-NY), Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC), Catholic Charities Community Services (CCCS), and individual plaintiffs.

These interrelated rules seek to wholly transform the United States’s longstanding family-based immigration system into a system that favors the wealthy and discriminates against people of color. These radical proposed changes violate the immigration statutes and the Constitution.

“The Trump administration’s public charge tests are racist and unlawful,” said Javier H. Valdés, Co-Executive Director of Make the Road New York. “We urge the court to put a full stop to any attempts to impose these racist wealth tests on our immigration system.”

Learn more on our website. This case is related to a similar case, Make the Road v. Cuccinelli, in which we are challenging a Department of Homeland Security rule that would impose the wealth test on immigrants in the U.S. seeking lawful permanent resident status (i.e., green cards).

Residents and experts call on St. James Parish Council to rescind Formosa Plastics land use decision 

On Tuesday, residents of St. James called on the St. James Parish Council to rescind its decision to allow FG LA, a member of the Taiwanese-based company Formosa Plastics Group, to build a massive chemical facility in a predominantly Black community. At the Council’s regular meeting, lawyers from the Center for Constitutional Rights and Earthjustice representing the community group RISE St. James and advocacy organization Louisiana Bucket Brigade pointed to new and alarming information about the proposed complex. Among the issues raised were the levels of cancer-causing chemicals the facility would emit; the company’s failure to follow through on its promise to alter its layout to lessen exposure to school children and residents nearby; and its failure to alert Parish officials and residents of the existence of graves of enslaved people.

“It is no exaggeration to say that this facility presents an existential threat to the surrounding communities, who have already borne a heavy toxic burden,” said Senior Staff Attorney Pam Spees. “It’s not too late — the council must do the right thing now to prevent irreparable harm in the present and to begin to reckon with the past in ways that honor those who suffered immeasurably in the past under slavery.”

The Parish Council meeting can be watched on RISE St. James’s Facebook page.

For more information, visit our case page.

Welcome to our three new board members! 

We are happy to announce the addition of three new members to our board of trustees: Amna Akbar, Jumana Musa, and Vincent M. Southerland.

“Three new board members join our growing family at an auspicious moment in the arc of our organization’s history and at a crucial social and political juncture for this country,” said Katherine M. Franke, board chair. “I am certain that the addition of these exceptional people will strengthen our capacity to act with agility and compassion in support of our partners on the front lines.

Executive Director Vincent Warren said, “We are so fortunate and thrilled to be in community with these three renowned advocates. Few are more aligned with our core values and our mission of radical, movement lawyering. Their deep commitment to social movements, innovative ideas, and tireless pursuit of justice will be a guiding light in our future work.”

In this issue:

Muslims put on No-Fly List by FBI agents as a coercion tactic are asking SCOTUS to allow lawsuit to go forward 

On Wednesday, Muslim men who were placed or kept on the No-Fly List in retaliation for refusing to spy on their communities for the FBI urged the Supreme Court to affirm a ruling that they may sue FBI agents for attempting to coerce the men into becoming informants. The Court will consider whether the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) allows the men to sue agents for damages for the harm the men suffered as a result of being on the list. RFRA already allows for injunctive relief.

“No one should be harassed and forced to spy on their religious community. The FBI agents knew I was vulnerable and that I needed to fly to see my family,” said Muhammad Tanvir, the lead plaintiff. “This kind of harassment shouldn’t go unaccounted for — I am continuing in this fight because I want to make sure that others don’t go through what I went through.” 

The Supreme Court will hear the case on March 24, 2020. Learn more about this historic case on our website.

Prada blackface scandal results in landmark settlement 

Staff Attorney Chinyere Ezie announced Wednesday she had reached an agreement with the luxury fashion house Prada over the brand’s advertising and sale of products featuring blackface imagery. Ezie voiced her surprise and concern about the “Pradamalia” blackface line on Facebook in December 2018 after encountering the products in the window of Prada’s flagship SoHo store. The post quickly went viral and led to the fashion company pulling the items from its shelves. Ezie later filed a complaint with the New York City Human Rights Commission over the racist imagery, which resulted in the agreement announced today.

“When I spoke out about Prada’s blackface line one year ago, I feared that racism in fashion was just a bitter pill we collectively had to swallow,” said Ezie. "Now I know that speaking truth to power can lead to meaningful change.”

The terms of the agreement, which can be read on our website, order the creation of a first-ever scholarship and paid internship program at Prada, racial equity training and training on equal employment opportunity laws for Prada employees, including executives in New York City and Milan, and the appointment of a permanent diversity officer, among other terms.

In this issue:

REJECTED! Court says no to Hunt & Polo member’s case harassing the Ramapough Lenape Nation 

A New Jersey court dismissed an attempt by Thomas Powers, a member of the Ramapo Hunt & Polo Club homeowners’ association, to dismantle a settlement reached last year between the Ramapough Lenape Nation and the Township of Mahwah regarding the Ramapough’s use of their land. The settlement followed years of harassment, including litigation and heavy fines, by Mahwah and the Hunt & Polo Club against the Ramapough for religious gatherings on land they own, which neighbors the Hunt & Polo Club property. The club declined to join the settlement agreement and went to trial. They lost, and the court dismissed the Hunt & Polo Club’s case in its entirety. Mr. Powers then filed on his own behalf — without counsel — seeking to dismantle the settlement between the Ramapough and the township. Following an argument, the court dismissed Powers’ case in its entirety. 

“Mr. Powers raised the same issues a court already considered and rejected after a full trial. Filing yet another lawsuit seeking to infringe on the Ramapough’s right to religious practice was pure harassment. The court was right to dismiss the case and prohibit Powers from filing again,” said Bertha Justice Fellow Brittany Thomas, who argued. 

Read more on our website.

We condemn the Trump administration’s racist travel ban expansion 

On Friday, the Trump administration announced that it has expanded its travel ban to six additional countries (Nigeria, Eritrea, Myanmar Kyrgyzstan for all immigrant visas, and Sudan, Tanzania from the diversity visa lottery program).

Trump is marking the anniversary of his first unlawful, discriminatory act as president — the Muslim Ban — with an expansion of that Ban to even more countries. With that, he’s sending a message that the xenophobic platform that he ran on is one that he will continue to deliver on regardless of legal and human consequences. But the Muslim Ban was unlawful then, and it remains unlawful now. We will continue to fight alongside communities, as we have been. 

This New Muslim Ban makes it clear: separating families and peddling white supremacy are this administration’s preferred modes of dividing this country. Once again, most of the countries Trump added today are Muslim or have substantial Muslim populations. They also include Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation. From Trump’s earliest days in office — from vitriol on the campaign trail, to collective detention at Guantánamo, to mass visa denials for immigrants from specific countries — Muslims have been a consistently targeted group. Coupled with the targeting of immigrants and asylum seekers at the U.S. Southern border, new powers to block pregnant people from visiting that reek of misogyny, and Trump’s rapidly spreading immigration wealth test, this administration’s key immigration goal is this: to end all non-white immigration to the United States.

Here it is — the latest report on the decriminalization of sex work 

On Thursday, 28 organizations working on a range of human rights and public health issues released a report, Decriminalizing Survival: Policy Platform And Polling On The Decriminalization Of Sex Work, advocating for the decriminalization of sex work in the United States. The 27-page report defines the issue, describes policing and criminalization patterns, and proposes a united policy platform for decriminalization. The report also contains two new national polls by Data for Progress/YouGov, one on the decriminalization of sex work and the other on ending vice policing. The report is authored by Data for Progress Fellow and Decrim NY organizer Nina Luo. 

A full copy of the report can be found at on DecrimNY’s website.  

Join us at “Community as Classroom: Reparations & Building Coalitions” 

On Saturday, February 8, 2020, join Bertha Justice Fellow Brittany Thomas in a discourse around reparations and how we might build a coalition across nations and cultural spheres to have our justice claim fully addressed.  The discussion is a part of the Weeksville Heritage Center's celebration of Black History Month. Joining Brittany will be representatives from National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA), National African American Reparations Commission (NAARC), Regional Council for Africans in the Americas (RCAA), scholars, and artists. The audience will engage in a Story Circle led by Ebony Noelle Golden, Founder and CEO of Betty’s Daughter’s Art Collaborative.

For more information of the exciting full day of activities and to register, visit the event page.

Black History Month: Activism through artists, lawyers, and storytellers 

As an organization that stands with social movements and communities resisting oppression, we know that change is possible when artists, storytellers, and lawyers dream together. This Black History Month, we celebrate the extraordinary Black artists, storytellers, and lawyers who have challenged the world we have and helped us imagine the world we want to see. We are proud to highlight this special group of creatives, allies, and movement partners who are using their tremendous gifts to advocate for racial justice, human rights, and social and political transformation.

Stay tuned!

29th Annual Jazz for Justice celebrates the 52nd anniversary of the Association of Black Law Students 

Join us as Center for Constitutional Rights Executive Director Vincent Warren is honored at the Association of Black Law Students' annual flagship gala, Jazz for Justice. Every year the legal community is invited to come and celebrate with Rutgers Law students, alumni, faculty, and community partners in an evening full of jazz, art, and food. 

This year’s event will also honor Nexus Sea, Litigator and Trial Lawyer at Orrick, Herrington, & Sutcliffe, and Rhasheda Douglas, Assistant Dean of the Minority Student Program at Rutgers Law School.

For more information and to purchase tickets, visit the eventbrite page.

In this issue:

Victory! Migrant Justice settles with ICE-colluding Vermont DMV 

Human rights organization Migrant Justice and the Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles have reached a settlement in a federal anti-discrimination lawsuit. The case, Migrant Justice v. Nielsen, stems from the DMV’s practice of information-sharing and collaboration with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), targeting Latinx drivers license applicants. 

“With this settlement, the state of Vermont makes good on its promise to guarantee access to driver’s licenses without discrimination,” said Migrant Justice leader and suit plaintiff Enrique Balcazar. “Though justice delayed is justice denied for the many whose lives have been ruined by the DMV’s harmful collaboration with ICE, we firmly believe that this settlement will put an end to that abuse of power going forward. Vermont’s immigrant community can now safely exercise this hard-fought right.”

Read more about this victory on our website.

Trump’s “desperate” appeal to get the Supreme Court to lift block on public charge immigration rule 

After losing on an emergency stay motion in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, the Trump administration filed a motion with the Supreme Court asking that the injunction barring implementation of its public charge rule, also known as the “immigration wealth test,” be lifted before the injunction is due to be argued in the Second Circuit on expedited appeal. 

The Trump administration is grasping at straws in their desperate attempt to expedite implementation of their racist wealth test for immigrants even before the government’s appeals have been heard by the circuit courts. We hope that the Supreme Court sees this motion for what it truly is and immediately denies it. Now, more than ever, it is critical that the public charge policy, which the lower courts called ‘repugnant to the American Dream of prosperity and opportunity through hard work and upward mobility,’ continues to be blocked.

Every day our injunction remains in effect it protects millions of hard-working immigrant families across the nation.

Read our full statement on our website.

Freedom Flicks – "A Bitter Legacy" 

On Thursday, January 30, we’re partnering with Tsuru for Solidarity, New York City Day of Remembrance (NYC DOR), and the Japanese American Citizens League – New York to bring you a free screening of "A Bitter Legacy," a feature documentary on the history of Japanese-American detention during WWII. 

"A Bitter Legacy" investigates the "Citizen Isolation Centers," harsh and secret prisons created within the Japanese-American incarceration camp system to separate citizens deemed “trouble-makers” by the U.S. government from their peers. These secret prisons have been called precursors to Guantánamo.

The screening will be held at the Helen Mills Theater at 7 p.m. Following the film, Advocacy Program Manager Aliya Hussain will moderate a discussion with Staff Attorney Diala Shamas, filmmaker Claudia Katayanagi, and ACLU Senior Staff Attorney Carl Takei, about the legacy of Japanese-American incarceration during World War II and the criminalization of other communities in the name of national security.

For more information and to RSVP, head to our events page.

The Activist Files Podcast: Restitution and repair — a discussion on reparations with Dr. Ron Daniels and Marbre Stahly-Butts 

“There is no path to justice without adequate remedy to repair the material harms and the perpetual legacy of slavery.” On the 22nd episode of “The Activist Files,” our Associate Executive Director Donita Judge, talks about reparations with Dr. Ron Daniels, president of the National African American Reparations Commission and past executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, and Marbre Stahly-Butts, executive director of Law 4 Black Lives and a member of the leadership team of the Movement For Black Lives Policy Table, who helped develop the Vision for Black Lives Policy Platform.

Ron and Marbre discuss their respective platforms that demand for reparations for Black people — how they overlap and differ; the shifts in H.R. 40, the Commission to Study and Develop Reparations Proposals for African-Americans Act; how tools, such as The New York Times’ 1619 Project and Ta-Nehisi Coates’s “The Case for Reparations” published in The Atlantic, have caused a surge in the reparations movement; and the obligation to continue the work for reparations for Black people based on the legacy of activists who have been in this space since before the Civil War.

Listen to the episode on our website.

In this issue:

California prisoner class reps issue public report 

Last week, the “four main reps”—Todd Ashker, Arturo Castellanos, George Franco, and Sitawa Nantambu Jamaa—issued a “public report on the current state of California prisons from prisoners.” The reps planned and led the three historic 2011-2013 California mass hunger strikes that had 30,000 participants across the state. They are also our clients in Ashker v. Governor of California, the class-action lawsuit challenging long-term indefinite solitary confinement. Together we achieved a landmark settlement in 2015 and have been monitoring the situation since. In their report on the state of California prisons today, they point out, “No voice has more expertise about the experience and impact of incarceration than the voice of prisoners.” Read their statement in the San Francisco Bay View.

Event: The Past, Present, and Future of Reparations  

Join us in NYC for the NYU Review of Law & Social Change's 50^th Anniversary Colloquium to explore a topic that lies at the heart of America's identity, but is too often ignored by the legal world: reparations for Black Americans. For hundreds of years, the law has maintained racial injustice and curtailed meaningful remedies for reparative justice in the United States. This colloquium will bring together scholars, legal practitioners, community activists, and policymakers to imagine the possibilities—and limits—of the law in facilitating truth, reconciliation, and meaningful reparations.

Center for Constitutional Rights Senior Attorney Omar Farah will be moderating a discussion with former Center for Constitutional Rights Executive Director and convener of the National African American Reparations Commission Ron Daniels; Center for Constitutional Rights Board President, Columbia Law School Professor Katherine Franke; and Tulane University Law School Professor Robert Westley.

For more information on the full day of events and to register and RSVP, visit the event page.

Join us in NYC for a live podcast recording! 

As part of our Black History Month celebration, we will be recording an upcoming episode of our podcast, "The Activist Files," before a live audience. For "How it Would Feel to Be Free: Southern Resistance to Race and Gender Oppression," we will be in conversation about the fights for racial, gender, and LGBTQIA+ justice that Southern leaders are spearheading. Podcast guests include Lakeesha Harris—Reproductive Justice and Sexual Health Program Manager at Women With a Vision—Valencia Robinson—CEO and founder of Mississippi in Action—and Quita Tinsley—Deputy Director of Access Reproductive Care-Southeast. 

          How it Would Feel to Be Free: Southern Resistance to Race and Gender Oppression

          Live podcast recording

          Friday, February 28, 2020, 6-9PM
          Studio Arte
          265 West 37^th Street
          New York, NY 10018

Register here.

In this issue:

Justice for Breonna Taylor requires the transformation of the society and system that killed her 

In response to the announcement that only one of the officers involved in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor was indicted, and on a wanton endangerment charge that had nothing to do with her murder, we issued the following statement:

The sole indictment announced – not for the murder of Breonna Taylor, but for shots into a neighbor’s apartment – falls dramatically short of any semblance of accountability for the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department. While no charges for the three officers involved in her killing could ever begin to address systemic deadly state violence against Black people, the announcement serves as a reminder that law enforcement and the state are deeply invested in the denial of justice to survivors of such violence. The meager charges announced illuminate the urgent need to uproot systems of anti-Black racism, colonialism, and misogynoir that killed Breonna Taylor and denied her and so many others the possibility of justice.

Continue reading on our website.

We already know what we’ll get with a Trump SCOTUS nominee 

Even before the Supreme Court nominee is announced, current political dynamics and the coalescence of racist, right-wing ideology reveal what any Trump nominee will portend: votes to reverse Roe v. Wade; expand religious exemptions from basic anti-discrimination laws and other maneuvers to target the LGBTQIA+ community; rubber stamp Republican-led voter suppression of Black, Brown, and poor communities and gerrymandering efforts to institute a one-party state; develop constitutional doctrines that invalidate basic regulations protecting public health, consumer safety, and environmental devastation; and, more broadly, dismantle social welfare protections rooted as far back as the New Deal.

Read our full statement on our website.

Mourning the loss of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg 

In response to the passing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, we issued the following statement:

As advocates committed to a movement-based justice mission, we will continue to fight in the courts. But as the courts become a less friendly forum, we will double down on this oppressive system of power just as we did when we worked with Fannie Lou Hamer and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party in the 1960s; with reproductive justice advocates in the 1970s; with freedom fighters struggling against repressive governments in Central America in the 1980s; with relatives of murdered activists who were fighting for human rights and environmental justice in Nigeria in the 1990s; with detainees who have been indefinitely confined and tortured at Guantánamo in the 2000s; with Black and Brown New York City residents who were unconstitutionally stopped and frisked in the 2010s; and with transgender Black women for access to healthcare and release from prison today. 

Continue reading on our website.

We're looking for our Ella Baker class of 2021! 

We created the Ella Baker Summer Internship Program in 1987 to honor the legacy of Ella Baker, a hero of the civil rights movement, and to train the next generation of social justice lawyers. Through our program, interns gain practical litigation experience and sharpen their theoretical understanding of the relationship between social change, organizing, and lawyering. Ella Baker Interns also become connected to a global community of social justice law students and lawyers through our Ella Baker Alumni Network.

For more information and to apply online, head to our website.

In this issue:

We’re suing to end cruel and unconstitutional death-by-incarceration sentences 

People in Pennsylvania serving death-by-incarceration sentences (commonly known as “life without parole”) filed a lawsuit Wednesday challenging the state’s prohibition on parole eligibility for those serving life sentences after convictions under the felony murder rule. In Pennsylvania, people convicted under that rule are mandatorily sentenced to life imprisonment, even though they did not take a life, or did not intend to take a life in the course of the crime. A separate provision of the law prohibits parole eligibility for any individual serving life. This lawsuit, Scott v. Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole, which we filed with the Abolitionist Law Center and Amistad Law Project, is the first challenge of its kind in the country. We argue that mandatory life without parole sentences for those who did not kill or did not intend to kill are unconstitutionally cruel. We’re joining a movement of advocates currently and formerly incarcerated in referring to life without parole as death by incarceration.

The complaint is on behalf of six plaintiffs serving death by incarceration sentences after being convicted of felony murder in their late teens or early 20s. They have all spent between 23 and 47 years in prison. Despite their sentences, none caused or intended the death of the victim.

Learn more about this historic filing on our website.

NY court refuses to order investigation into NYPD’s racially discriminatory social distancing and curfew enforcement practices 

Last week, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York issued a ruling regarding an emergency motion and supplemental submission filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights, the law firm of Beldock, Levine, & Hoffman, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), and The Legal Aid Society. These measures sought immediate court action in response to the New York City Police Department (NYPD)’s violation of prior court orders prohibiting racial discrimination against Black and Latinx New Yorkers. The court’s decision, in Floyd v. City of New York and Davis v. City of New York, permits the NYPD to continue discriminatory enforcement of social distancing orders unabated, which has been widely criticized.

“We are disappointed that when faced with evidence of racially discriminatory and violent police behavior that it acknowledged was covered by its prior orders in this case, the court chose to take no action to stop it," said Senior Staff Attorney Darius Charney.

Read more on our website.

Anti-BDS lawsuit should be dismissed as SLAPP, academics argue 

On Tuesday, academics who were sued over the American Studies Association’s (ASA) resolution to boycott Israeli academic institutions asked the D.C. Court of Appeals to reverse a decision that declined to dismiss the claims under a D.C. law prohibiting SLAPP suits, or Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation. Among those appealing is Dr. Steven Salaita, an outspoken advocate for Palestinian rights, who is represented by the Center for Constitutional Rights in Bronner v. Duggan. Salaita was sued for the ASA’s decision to participate in the boycott despite having not joined the ASA board until two years after the vote. The trial court dismissed many of the claims but declined to dismiss those and others under the D.C. anti-SLAPP law, even though it found that plaintiffs’ claims arose from advocacy on an issue of public interest. Salaita and other defendants asked the appellate court to reverse that ruling.

“I'm hopeful that the Court of Appeals will affirm what we've known all along: that the purpose of this lawsuit was to harass us merely for exercising our rights of speech and expression,” said Steven Salaita. “I look forward to continuing the work of seeking justice and equality for all people in the Middle East.”

Continue reading on our website.

UN Report on corruption warns of corporate capture in the U.S. 

On Thursday, the United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights held an interactive dialogue to present a report on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations to the 44th session of the Human Rights Council. In the report, they highlight how corporations “exercise undue influence on legislative and regulatory processes to advocate for policy that undermines respect for human rights,” making reference to our ongoing work combatting corporate capture. When corporations and their representatives work with lawmakers they have influence over to privately draft legislation, the result is laws and policies that benefit corporations, often at the expense of the rights of Black and Brown communities, women, LGBTQIA+ folks, low-income communities, and the well-being of the environment. This was well documented in our December 2019 report, ALEC Attacks. into the activities of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and subsequent litigation, Puente, et al. v. Arizona State Legislature, we filed against lawmakers collaborating with ALEC in Arizona. We applaud the UN Working Group for incorporating analysis of corporate capture into their report to the Human Rights Council.

The report can be read on the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights website. Learn more about our corporate capture work on our website.

“The Activist Files” Podcast: America Disrupted - Vince Warren and Angela Glover Blackwell reimagine civil rights 

What is necessary to reimagine civil rights in America? Our Executive Director Vincent Warren and PolicyLink's Founder in Residence Angela Glover Blackwell are in conversation about what equity looks like in this moment in a special joint, cross-promoted edition of “The Activist Files” and “Radical Imagination,” the organization’s respective podcasts.

Using the pandemic within a pandemic framework, Vince and Angela discuss COVID-19 and the need for police divestment. They offer deep reasoning for a call for radical ideas and solutions because to reimagine civil rights requires a fundamental disruption of our nation’s foundation, from the Black/white paradigm and anti-Blackness to the colonially-based power grab of social control to the killing of Black people.

Their analysis leads to a push for solidarity that is not afraid of the issues; solidarity that allows space to talk about and eliminate the problems; solidarity that is transformative.

Listen to the episode on our website.