Litigation

The State of Florida sentenced Sadik Baxter, at the age of 26, to spend the rest of his life in prison without possibility of parole for an accidental death that he did not cause, intend, or play any role in bringing about. The MacArthur Justice Center is fighting alongside Mr. Baxter to bring an end to extreme sentences for felony murder that are wildly out of proportion to the person’s culpability.

Gabriel Bassford, proceeding pro se, sued police officers for arresting him simply for filming the police as they conducted an investigation at a gas station. The district court concluded that the officer arrested Mr. Bassford in retaliation for him exercising his First Amendment right to film the police.

We are representing the Estate of Atatiana Jefferson, who was tragically shot and killed in her own home by a Fort Worth Police Department officer.

While Matthew Locke was peacefully protesting, a county sheriff and his chief deputy used extreme and gratuitous “pain compliance” tactics on him, causing him severe pain and neurological injury. The district court threw out Mr. Locke’s excessive-force suit based on the judicially invented doctrine of qualified immunity. The MacArthur Justice Center is fighting to ensure...

The Miami Police Department (MPD) has a long-standing, widespread policy and practice of targeting community members with unlawful detentions and false arrests as well as a history of failing to hold accountable police officers who violate the law. MPD officers are accused of unlawful detentions and false arrests three times more often than police officers...

Can a police officer who frames an innocent person be held accountable in court? Before the MacArthur Justice Center won the landmark Supreme Court decision in Thompson v. Clark, the answer across most of the country was no: Once the innocent person got the false charges against them dismissed, the police officer who fabricated or falsified evidence against them was immune from a civil lawsuit. We took that issue all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and won.

The MacArthur Justice Center is fighting alongside Wayne Washington, who spent 14 years in prison for a crime he did not commit, to ensure that Illinois courts upholds the intent and purpose of the certificate of innocence statute to remove barriers that prevent innocent people from clearing their names and getting relief.

When Alex Adamowicz challenged his life-without-parole sentence he received as a struggling 21-year-old, arguing that it violated the Michigan Constitution’s ban on cruel or unusual punishment, the Court of Appeals chastised him for even attempting. Joining Mr. Adamowicz’s fight as amici, the MacArthur Justice Center is urging states with expansive Eighth Amendment analogues, like Michigan, to lead the charge in ensuring humane sentencing for youth and for all that offers meaningful opportunities for rehabilitation and release.

S.B. 2343 makes peaceful protests on public sidewalks and streets next to state government buildings in Jackson, Mississippi, illegal without receiving prior written permission from one of two government officials – a clear violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The MacArthur Justice Center is fighting alongside communities to ensure the right to peacefully gather and protest is preserved as a democratic pillar and constitutional right.

Andrew Finch, a 28-year-old father of two young children, was shot to death with a sniper rifle by Wichita Police Officer Justin Rapp less than 10 seconds after Andrew stepped out on his front porch. Andrew had committed no crime. He was not armed. He had not threated the officers or anyone else. In fact,...