The ACLU of Tennessee stands up for equality, fairness and justice in the courts. Through our impact litigation and other legal advocacy, we’re fighting for you. ACLU’s legal advocacy in Tennessee spans from the historic Scopes “Monkey Trial” and representation of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the sanitation workers’ march in Memphis, to ensuring access to private prison records, protecting families’ religious freedom rights, advocating for gay and lesbian parents who were denied visitation with their children, defending voters’ right to have their ballots counted, and much more. You can learn more about specific cases below.
Samantha and Brian Williams of Nashville and their 15-year-old daughter, as well as two other anonymous families and Dr. Susan N. Lacy are challenging a Tennessee law banning gender-affirming care for...
Luc Esquivel is a 14-year-old freshman at Farragut High School in Knoxville, TN who has been looking forward to trying out for the boys’ golf team, but his plans were derailed when Gov. Bill Lee signed SB...
Christopher Bassett, Jr. was convicted for the murder in 2015 and in 2020, an amicus brief was filed on his behalf. The state introduced a drill rap music video featuring Bassett and six other men,...
In the summer of 2020, a bill was passed that effectively banned all abortions in Tennessee, causing ACLU-TN to file a lawsuit that would block enforcement of the bill that same day.
With the 2020 elections taking place amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the CDC recommended mail-in voting to inhibit the spread of the virus. Unlike other states, Tennessee restricted mail-in-voting with...
The Tennessee General Assembly passed a law that would require clinics that provide medication abortions to give their patients false and misleading information about a "reversal" to medication abortions,...