The ACLU of Arizona undertakes litigation when doing so is the most effective way to advance a civil liberties concern. We file lawsuits that will have an impact on people’s rights by setting a legal precedent or affecting the policies and actions of public officials. We both provide direct legal representation to people and file amicus (friend-of-the-court) briefs addressing civil liberties in cases initiated by others. All of the ACLU’s legal work is on a pro bono basis; we never charge for our legal services. Along with our advocacy, legislative, and public education work, litigation remains one of the fundamental tools with which the ACLU of Arizona fights for equality and civil rights throughout the Valley of the Sun. See below for more information on the cases we’ve brought to the courts.
On November 20, 2014 the ACLU of Arizona together with the ACLU of San Diego and filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of local residents of Arivaca, Arizona challenging U.S. Border Patrol’s obstruction of efforts to monitor abuses at an interior checkpoint near the town of Arivaca.
Franco-Gonzalez v. Holder is a class action lawsuit in the Central District of California brought on behalf of immigration detainees with mental disabilities in Arizona, California, and Washington.
On July 29, 2014, the ACLU, along with attorneys for the family and the law firm of Morrison and Foerster, filed a federal lawsuit, Rodriguez v. John Does on behalf of Araceli Rodriguez, the mother of Jose Antonio.
In June 2014, the ACLU of Arizona, along with several co-counsels, filed a challenge to MCSO and Maricopa County Attorney’s Office (MCAO) enforcement of state laws passed by Arizona legislature in 2007 and 2008 that turn immigrants into felons for working to provide for their families.
In September 2013, the ACLU of Arizona made two records requests to the Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC) seeking information about the lethal injection drugs to be used in the October 2013 executions of Edward Howard Schad Jr. and Robert Glen Jones Jr.
The ACLU of Southern California, the ACLU of Arizona, and the law firm Kirkland & Ellis filed a federal lawsuit in Arizona on behalf of three migrant rights activists surveilled, detained, searched, and interrogated at the border by the federal government.