The ACLU of Maryland’s legal program works with residents and partners across the state to realize the promise of our Constitution and Bill of Rights, with a focus on using the courts to protect and expand the rights of Marylanders – especially those whose rights have not been respected in the past due to white supremacy ingrained in our justice system.
Over the years, legal staff have worked to build a more just Maryland one lawsuit at a time, with cases ranging from challenges to racially discriminatory election systems, leading to election of the first Black candidates to state and local offices on the Eastern Shore; to spearheading an innovative state constitutional challenge to underfunding of Baltimore’s education system that steals the futures of Black and Brown children; to filing the nation’s first civil lawsuit challenging police racial profiling on America’s highways; to working with people imprisoned since childhood for a second chance at freedom, long-since earned.
In all of our legal work, we center the voices and experiences of people and communities directly impacted by injustice.
Additionally, the ACLU responds annually to thousands of requests for legal advice and provides assistance short of litigation as we seek to ensure that every person in Maryland shares in the protections afforded by our Constitution and laws.
As 2024 moves forward, the ACLU of Maryland legal department continues its ongoing work toward justice with clients, colleagues and partners, through new projects as well as developments in long-running litigation.
In the report, we walk you through our recent and ongoing work in the courts, categorized by strategic priority, highlighting some of our memorable legal efforts. While this report focuses primarily on our work in the court system, litigation is just a part of what we do in the legal department.
Several Black voters and local organizations filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Baltimore under the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965 challenging the at-large component of the election system for...
On October 30, 2023, the ACLU and ACLU of Maryland filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit supporting the Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) in its efforts to ensure...
In 2016, Baltimore County Police Officer Royce Ruby shot and killed 23-year old Korryn Gaines, a Black woman, and in the process also critically wounded her son, five-year old Kodi Gaines. Young Kodi was...
ACLU is taking action. When the U.S. Department of Justice announced the indictment of Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins recently, it didn’t come as a surprise to see that Jenkins was charged with...
