The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan and the ACLU's Criminal Law Reform Project filed a federal lawsuit in May of 2013, on behalf of Plaintiffs Gilbert Weber and Tyrone Hightower, challenging the Grand Rapids Police Department's longstanding practice of arresting innocent people for criminal trespass on commercial property without warning and without the business owner's knowledge. Even where those arrested are patronizing the business in question, police justify these illegal arrests by pointing to form letters signed by business owners months or years prior to the arrest agreeing to prosecute "trespassers."

The ACLU sued Immigration and Customs Enforcement in June 2017 after ICE agents arrested more than 100 Iraqis — including many who’ve been in the U.S. for decades — in raids throughout metropolitan Detroit.

The ACLU, the ACLU of Michigan, the National Women’s Law Center and the Women’s Sports Foundation sent a letter to the National Collegiate Wrestling Association (NCWA) urging it to change its discriminatory policy that prohibits women, like University of Michigan-Dearborn student and national wrestling champion Marina Goocher, from competing against male wrestlers when women wrestlers and teams are unavailable.

VICTORY: Federal Judge strikes down Michigan parole statute condemning youthful offenders to life in prison without the possibility of parole.