Court Cases

In March 2017, the Tennessee General Assembly exhibited an effort to block refugee resettlement in the state by filing a lawsuit against the federal government claiming that it violated the Refugee Act of 1980 and the Tenth Amendment.

Tennessee saw a surge in voter registrations during the 2018 midterms. Lawmakers passed a measure that creates criminal and civil penalties against those who submit “incomplete” applications. The threat of penalty will chill registration efforts and make ours the only state with such penalties.

Cyntoia Brown is a young woman serving a life sentence in the Tennessee Prison for Women. Ms. Brown was a sixteen-year-old who had been forced into prostitution when she killed a man more than twice her age, a stranger who had picked her up for sex. She was tried and convicted as an adult.

ACLU-TN has had an ongoing concern over police surveillance of Memphis residents engaging in protected free speech activities for many decades.

On July 26, 2016, ACLU-TN, along with Disability Rights Tennessee, filed a federal class action lawsuit challenging the Tennessee Department of Corrections’ systematic denial of treatment to inmates infected with Hepatitis C (HCV).

Sumner County Schools has a policy which prohibits transgender students from using the restroom or locker room facilities that correspond to their gender identity.