Alabama
Allen v. Milligan
Whether Alabama’s congressional districts violate Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act because they discriminate against Black voters. We succeeded in winning a new map for 2024 elections which, for the first time, has two congressional district that provide Black voters a fair opportunity to elect candidates of their choosing despite multiple attempts by Alabama to stop us at the Supreme Court. Despite this win, Alabama is still defending its discriminatory map, and a trial was held in February 2025 to determine the map for the rest of the decade.
In May 2025, a federal court ruled that Alabama's 2023 congressional map both violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and was enacted by the Alabama Legislature with racially discriminatory intent.
Status: Ongoing
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22 Alabama Cases
Alabama
Mar 2015
Smart Justice
Immigrants' Rights
Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama v. Bentley
The Alabama state legislature passed a draconian anti-immigrant law in June, 2011, the toughest of several state laws modeled after Arizona’s SB 1070. Like the Arizona law, SB 56 authorized police to ask for proof of citizenship or immigration status during a traffic stop based on “reasonable suspicion” that the person was an undocumented immigrant. The law went even further than Arizona’s, with provisions that required public school officials to verify the immigration status of children and their parents, that made it a crime for undocumented immigrants to solicit work, and criminalized Alabamians for ordinary, everyday interactions with undocumented individuals like renting a mobile home or offering a ride.
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Alabama
Mar 2015
Smart Justice
Immigrants' Rights
Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama v. Bentley
The Alabama state legislature passed a draconian anti-immigrant law in June, 2011, the toughest of several state laws modeled after Arizona’s SB 1070. Like the Arizona law, SB 56 authorized police to ask for proof of citizenship or immigration status during a traffic stop based on “reasonable suspicion” that the person was an undocumented immigrant. The law went even further than Arizona’s, with provisions that required public school officials to verify the immigration status of children and their parents, that made it a crime for undocumented immigrants to solicit work, and criminalized Alabamians for ordinary, everyday interactions with undocumented individuals like renting a mobile home or offering a ride.
Alabama
Jun 2014
LGBTQ Rights
Aaron-Brush v. Bentley - Freedom to Marry in Alabama
The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Alabama have filed a federal lawsuit challenging Alabama's ban on marriage for same-sex couples. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of April and Ginger Aaron-Brush of Birmingham. The couple was wed in Massachusetts, but their marriage is not recognized in their home state.
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Alabama
Jun 2014
LGBTQ Rights
Aaron-Brush v. Bentley - Freedom to Marry in Alabama
The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Alabama have filed a federal lawsuit challenging Alabama's ban on marriage for same-sex couples. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of April and Ginger Aaron-Brush of Birmingham. The couple was wed in Massachusetts, but their marriage is not recognized in their home state.
Alabama
Sep 2013
Smart Justice
+3 Issues
Henderson et al. v. Thomas et al.
A federal judge has ruled that the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) can no longer discriminate against prisoners living with HIV by housing them separately from all other prisoners and categorically denying them equal access to prison rehabilitative programs, according to a landmark decision in a lawsuit filed by the ACLU National Prison Project, the AIDS Project, and the ACLU of Alabama. This ruling paves the way for prisoners living with HIV to have access to needed and appropriate services, and to the classes and training available to other prisoners.
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Alabama
Sep 2013
Smart Justice
+3 Issues
Henderson et al. v. Thomas et al.
A federal judge has ruled that the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) can no longer discriminate against prisoners living with HIV by housing them separately from all other prisoners and categorically denying them equal access to prison rehabilitative programs, according to a landmark decision in a lawsuit filed by the ACLU National Prison Project, the AIDS Project, and the ACLU of Alabama. This ruling paves the way for prisoners living with HIV to have access to needed and appropriate services, and to the classes and training available to other prisoners.
U.S. Supreme Court
May 2011
Smart Justice
+2 Issues
Maples v. Thomas
Whether the defendant's failure to file a timely appeal in state court should bar all subsequent federal court review of his death sentence when the reason for the missed deadline was that Alabama officials made no effort to inform him of an adverse decision from the state courts after it was returned unopened by his lawyers' former law firm.
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U.S. Supreme Court
May 2011
Smart Justice
+2 Issues
Maples v. Thomas
Whether the defendant's failure to file a timely appeal in state court should bar all subsequent federal court review of his death sentence when the reason for the missed deadline was that Alabama officials made no effort to inform him of an adverse decision from the state courts after it was returned unopened by his lawyers' former law firm.
Alabama
Nov 2009
LGBTQ Rights
Russellville, Alabama School Prom Discrimination
Cynthia Stewart, a junior at Tharptown High School in northern Alabama, wanted to bring her girlfriend to prom. Rather than let her, the school announced that it would cancel prom for everyone.
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Alabama
Nov 2009
LGBTQ Rights
Russellville, Alabama School Prom Discrimination
Cynthia Stewart, a junior at Tharptown High School in northern Alabama, wanted to bring her girlfriend to prom. Rather than let her, the school announced that it would cancel prom for everyone.