Reforming Police
Featured
Arizona
Oct 2023
Fund for Empowerment v. Phoenix, City of
Fund for Empowerment is a challenge to the City of Phoenix’s practice of conducting sweeps of encampments without notice, issuing citations to unsheltered people for camping and sleeping on public property when they have no place else to go, and confiscating and destroying their property without notice or process.
Status: Ongoing
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All Cases
28 Reforming Police Cases
U.S. Supreme Court
Jul 2020
Baxter v. Bracey
In early 2014, Alexander Baxter was bitten by a police dog that was unleashed on him while he was sitting with his hands in the air, having surrendered to police. He sued for excessive force, but in late 2018, a federal appeals court ruled that his claim should be thrown out under the doctrine of “qualified immunity.”
Status: Closed (Dismissed)
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U.S. Supreme Court
Reforming Police
Baxter v. Bracey
In early 2014, Alexander Baxter was bitten by a police dog that was unleashed on him while he was sitting with his hands in the air, having surrendered to police. He sued for excessive force, but in late 2018, a federal appeals court ruled that his claim should be thrown out under the doctrine of “qualified immunity.”
Jul 2020
Status: Closed (Dismissed)
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Michigan
Feb 2020
Hightower v. City of Grand Rapids
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."
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Michigan
Reforming Police
Criminal Law Reform
Hightower v. City of Grand Rapids
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."
Feb 2020
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U.S. Supreme Court
Oct 2019
Torres v. Madrid
Whether the Fourth Amendment applies to a police officer's intentional use of physical force against a fleeing person, if that use of force does not succeed in terminating her movement.
Status: Closed (Judgment)
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U.S. Supreme Court
Reforming Police
Torres v. Madrid
Whether the Fourth Amendment applies to a police officer's intentional use of physical force against a fleeing person, if that use of force does not succeed in terminating her movement.
Oct 2019
Status: Closed (Judgment)
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Wisconsin
Jul 2019
Collins et al. v. The City of Milwaukee et al.
The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Wisconsin, and the law firm of Covington & Burling LLP filed a class-action lawsuit today against the City of Milwaukee over its police department’s vast and unconstitutional stop-and-frisk program. The department targets tens of thousands of people without reasonable suspicion of criminal activity, the legal requirement for a police stop. The department’s repeated violations of Milwaukeeans’ constitutional rights are driven by racial profiling, with preliminary data showing significant disparities between police stop rates for white people and for Black and Latino people.
Status: Ongoing
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Wisconsin
Reforming Police
Racial Justice
Collins et al. v. The City of Milwaukee et al.
The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Wisconsin, and the law firm of Covington & Burling LLP filed a class-action lawsuit today against the City of Milwaukee over its police department’s vast and unconstitutional stop-and-frisk program. The department targets tens of thousands of people without reasonable suspicion of criminal activity, the legal requirement for a police stop. The department’s repeated violations of Milwaukeeans’ constitutional rights are driven by racial profiling, with preliminary data showing significant disparities between police stop rates for white people and for Black and Latino people.
Jul 2019
Status: Ongoing
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U.S. Supreme Court
Feb 2019
Nieves v. Bartlett, 17-1174
Whether a plaintiff who claims that a police officer retaliated against his First Amendment-protected expression by arresting him for a misdemeanor is barred from suing if the police had probable cause for his arrest.
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U.S. Supreme Court
Reforming Police
Criminal Law Reform
Nieves v. Bartlett, 17-1174
Whether a plaintiff who claims that a police officer retaliated against his First Amendment-protected expression by arresting him for a misdemeanor is barred from suing if the police had probable cause for his arrest.
Feb 2019
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