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15 cities and counties send letter urging federal law enforcement agencies to issue guidance restricting federal cooperation with state-level abortion bans.
“I am reminded of the power of people from all walks of life to come together for a shared purpose, to share hopes and aspirations for a more inclusive society that works for everyone, not just the privileged few.”
“[The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative] is supporting Public Rights Project’s work to bring balance to the justice system, leveraging a greater breadth of legal tools to help communities where they need it most.”
Georgetown Law’s Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection and the Oakland-based Public Rights Project will represent the city and defend its ordinance.
“If the CFPB is not going to pursue these kinds of cases, I am willing to go at it alone,” Mr. Shapiro said.
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Press Archive
New independent report highlights financial and social impacts of Oakland’s affirmative litigation efforts
Coalition argues that the decision to dismiss criminal charges against an election inspector who allegedly stole voter information jeopardizes the integrity of Michigan elections, voter privacy, and public confidence in the election system
Ahead of Wisconsin Supreme Court arguments on May 13, the amicus brief, led by clerks in Madison and Milwaukee Counties calls drop boxes, which were banned in 2022, a critical, secure, and essential tool for voters, election officials, and free and fair elections.
New lawsuit argues that Georgia’s anti-democratic commission overrides the will of voters, threatens prosecutorial independence, and violates federal and state constitutions.
Current and former elected leaders file an amicus brief challenging Governor DeSantis’s 2022 redrawn congressional maps that violate Florida’s Fair Districts Amendments and dilute Black voting power
Coalition of current and former election officials argue that legal challenges to Arizona’s Election Procedures Manual could disenfranchise voters and undermine the integrity of Arizona elections.
Current and former elected leaders file an amicus brief challenging Governor DeSantis’s 2022 redrawn congressional maps that violate Florida’s Fair Districts Amendments and dilute Black voting power
As election workers face increasing threats and harassment in smaller, less-resourced jurisdictions, PRP aims to ensure free and fair elections by providing them with free legal services and other resources.
New lawsuit argues that Georgia’s anti-democratic SB 92 law overrides the will of voters, threatens prosecutorial independence, and violates federal and state constitutions.
The implications of this case go beyond just Florida. DeSantis’s decision to remove Warren is part of a troubling and growing trend of states seeking to override the will of the people to elect leaders who represent their values when it comes to civil rights, workers rights, and public safety.
15 cities and counties send letter urging federal law enforcement agencies to issue guidance restricting federal cooperation with state-level abortion bans.
Nine Civil Rights Organization Join Amicus Brief Challenging Ballot Initiatives that Would Strip Massachusetts Gig Workers of Important Rights and Benefits
Yesterday, the Gainesville City Commission voted to file a complaint against the Combating Violence, Disorder, and Looking and Law Enforcement Protection Act, also known as HB 1. Passed and signed into law in April 2021, the massive law erases the ability of local governments to pass budgets responsive to their communities’ needs, in addition to undermining the free speech and assembly of all Floridians.
Ashoka recently announced its newest elections to the Ashoka Fellowship in the United States. These extraordinary changemakers bring actionable, breakthrough ideas for the common good. They deeply understand the problems they're tackling and create ways for everyone to contribute to the solution.
Public Rights Project partnered with Cook County, the County of Santa Clara, and the City of Seattle—joined by 15 other local governments, and supported by pro bono counsel from Kaplan Hecker & Fink, LLP—to file an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold California’s regulation permitting limited, temporary access—with notice to the employer—to employee-only spaces on agricultural growers’ property to support worker organizing.
The Local Solutions Support Center (LSSC) is expanding its legal and state expertise, ensuring that the national hub working to counter the abuse of preemption and strengthen local democracy is poised to effectively and nimbly aid the work of the many national, state, and local organizations combating preemption.
Standing up for the urgent and critical need for racial justice initiatives at all levels of government, the City of Seattle and Public Rights Project filed on Thursday an amicus curiae brief on behalf of a nationwide coalition of local governments in support of a lawsuit challenging President Trump’s Executive Order 13950, which attempts to ban the use of comprehensive diversity trainings by federal contractors.
Yesterday, the cities of Portland and Oakland, represented by co-counsel at Public Rights Project, filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump Administration’s new policy and practice of unlawfully deploying federal law enforcement under the guise of protecting federal property. The purpose of this new policy and practice is to control, or overtake, progressive cities’ responses to protests.
Public Rights Project announced the third cohort of its flagship Public Rights Project Fellowship along with its fellowship in partnership with Justice Catalyst, an organization which supports early-stage projects that combat systems of injustice and builds upon or expands protections for oppressed communities.
The County of Santa Clara and Public Rights Project filed an amicus curiae brief on behalf of a nationwide coalition of local and tribal governments opposing recent U.S. Postal Service (USPS) changes that have slowed critically important mail delivery.
Public Rights Project sheds light on Handy, an online home services marketplace, for ignoring sexual harassment claims filed by their misclassified and unprotected gig workers.
A coalition of seven cities, including New York City and Oakland, in partnership with the nonprofit Public Rights Project, filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for records from the Trump Administration related to the threatened and actual deployments of federal agents to progressive U.S. cities.
Leading a coalition of more than 120 public interest organizations, Public Rights Project issued a powerful public letter to the National Board of Bar Examiners and 34 state boards overseeing their bar examinations in response to the ongoing problems and systematic unfairness resulting from efforts to administer the bar exam during a global pandemic.
Public Rights Project collaborated with the City of Chicago in filing a local government amicus brief in defense of the Massachusetts eviction moratorium. Two landlords sued to stop the moratorium. The amicus brief defended the decision of the Massachusetts Legislature to impose a temporary moratorium on all nonpayment evictions in the state.
Public Rights Project announced the second cohort of its Affirmative Leaders Fellowship, a program created to help attorneys in state and local governments across the country expand their capacity to protect residents’ legal rights. The 2020 fellows began their one-year program with a two-day virtual convening and training June 9-10, 2020, which featured sessions around leadership and community-based enforcement.
Public Rights Project, partnering with the Oakland City Attorney’s Office, filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down two Trump Administration rules that would permit employers to refuse to provide contraceptive coverage to their employees and plan beneficiaries. Submitted earlier today, the brief was co-led by the cities of Oakland and St. Paul, and was joined by 32 cities and counties from across the country.
PRP partnered with NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Seattle to call on United Parcel Service (UPS), Fed Ex Corporation and XPO Logistics to expand worker protections to address the public health crisis. After learning that workers are being forced to show up to work despite showing COVID-19 symptoms due to fear of retaliation, these cities urged the delivery companies to revise their sick leave policy to address public health concerns.
Public Rights Project today launched the application for its third cohort of Public Rights Project Fellows. Public Rights Project will conduct a national search for full-time attorney fellows to place in local and state government law offices for two years. Fellows will work on a range of cutting-edge civil rights, criminal justice, economic justice, and environmental protection issues that directly impact vulnerable populations locally and nationwide.
Responding to repeated insistence by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) that it will not provide influenza vaccinations to migrant children held at the border, Public Rights Project and the Office of the County Counsel for Los Angeles County sent a forceful letter late yesterday urging a court-appointed monitor to compel the border agency to provide potentially life-saving vaccines.
Today Public Rights Project released a new guide for district attorneys – those elected this week as well as those in office for many years – outlining how to crack down on corporate crimes that are hurting so many Americans. The guide explores tools prosecutors already have to support and protect vulnerable people.
