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.
On April 28, 2016, ACLU-TN joined a lawsuit challenging the use of extended solitary confinement for juveniles, particularly for pretrial detainees and children who suffer from mental illness. The federal...
In April, Murfreesboro police arrested eleven children ages nine to twelve for allegedly witnessing an off-campus fight that had taken place several weeks earlier and not intervening. Four of the children...
Sumner County Schools has a policy which prohibits transgender students from using the restroom or locker room facilities that correspond to their gender identity.
In the spring of 2016, a local attorney reported to ACLU-TN that the Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency (MDHA) had recently begun a practice of evicting public housing tenants when someone in the...
(3:13-cr-00009, 6th Circuit Court of Appeals)
Amicus Curiae Parties: ACLU-TN, ACLU, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School...
During the 2015 - 2016 school year, students at Franklin County High School in Winchester, Tennessee formed a Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) at their school. They had followed the proper procedures and secured...