Civil and Human Rights

Securing the Constitution’s guarantees of liberty and equality for all

Summary

The Constitution–in particular, through amendments ratified in the wake of the Civil War and Reconstruction–provides broad guarantees of liberty and equality. CAC works to ensure that the civil and human rights protected by the Constitution are realized for all.

Civil and Human Rights in Brief

Plaintiffs in U.S. v. Windsor walking down the steps of the Supreme Court | Judith Schaeffer

Major victories have been achieved in recent years, such as the Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges guaranteeing marriage equality for all Americans, and the Court’s ruling in Riley v. California that warrantless searches by police of the digital contents of an arrestee’s cell phone violates the Fourth Amendment. However, our civil and human rights are increasingly under attack — by the Trump administration and in the states — and CAC is working tirelessly to defend those rights.

Featured Case

Immigration and Citizenship June 18, 2020

Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of the University of California; Trump v. NAACP; and McAleenan v. Vidal

In June 2012, the Department of Homeland Security established the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy, which authorizes the temporary deferred removal of “certain young people who were brought to this country as children.” Over the past seven years, almost 800,000 people have obtained protections under DACA, which also allows qualified recipients to apply for work permits. In September 2017, however, the Trump Administration announced that it was ending DACA, citing the policy’s supposed “legal and constitutional defects.” Soon after, Respondents in these cases filed three separate federal lawsuits in California, Washington, D.C., and New York, arguing that the...

Case Timeline

Current

The Supreme Court issues its decision
The Supreme Court hears oral arguments
CAC files an amicus brief

Civil and Human Rights

Summary