The ACLU of Michigan files lawsuits that impact people’s rights by setting a legal precedent, or affecting the policies and actions of public officials. Our current Fall 2024 Legal Docket details our legal cases and actions taken in 2023-2024.
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May 1, 2018
Retaliatory Election Fraud Prosecution
Voting Rights
Status: Closed
Rev. Edward Pinkney is a longtime community activist in Benton Harbor who has waged crusades against gentrification and what he regards as abuses of power by the Whirlpool Corporation and emergency managers...
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May 1, 2018
Only Christians May Own Homes in Northern Michigan Community
Religious Liberty
Status: Defending liberty
Bay View Association near Petoskey owns more than 300 acres of land on Lake Michigan with 30 public buildings, 450 cottages, and two inns. Under Michigan law, Bay View is a unit of government vested with...
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Apr 16, 2018
Students Suspended for “Unapproved” Political Speech
Free Speech
Status: Victory!
Following the mass school shooting in Parkland, Florida in February 2018, hundreds of thousands of high school students across the country planned a nationwide walkout for 17 minutes in an effort to urge...
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Apr 13, 2018
Censorship of Classic Book on Racism
Prisoners' Rights
Status: Defending liberty
The 1952 book Black Skin, White Masks by Frantz Fanon is a political and psychological critique explaining the reason people of color sometimes experience feelings of dependency and inadequacy by virtue of...
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Apr 12, 2018
Flint Town Hall Arrests
Flint Water Crisis
Status: Won
In April 2017 the City of Flint invited members of the public to a town hall at House of Prayer Missionary Baptist Church to discuss the city’s response to the continuing water crisis.
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Mar 27, 2018
Prisoners Excluded From Civil Rights Act
Prisoners' Rights
Status: Won
A civil rights lawsuit was filed in state court on behalf of young men who had been sent to adult prisons in Michigan when they were under the age of 18 and were sexually assaulted by adult male prisoners and...