SOCIAL JUSTICE BLOG
Read and share the extraordinary stories from the frontlines of social change
Achieving Justice for Forced Labor Victims in Saipan
When I first met the plaintiffs, they were terrified of their employers, afraid to complain, and felt utterly disenfranchised. After learning of their legal rights, they protested in the streets of Saipan for their wages and told federal authorities that they would not return to China until they were paid. The mere act of bringing this forced labor case against very powerful, well-connected defendants is itself an act of incredible courage. And the plaintiffs’ willingness to persist with the litigation after returning to China—where they were harassed and threatened to drop or settle their claims—is further testament to their bravery.
Keeping Sewage Out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
Following a successful enforcement action by California Coastkeeper Alliance, Sacramento County is now required to repair its outdated sewage system, which has caused multiple sewage overflows over recent years. The County has agreed to invest $100,000 annually toward eliminating sewage discharge through assessments and inspections, cleaning the sewage lines, and repairing or replacing lines that experience repeat stoppages.
Housing Not Handcuffs: Victory In Boise Continues to Resonate Nationally
As stories of our country’s failure to adequately address homelessness make national headlines, with incidents like the murder of Jordan Neely on the New York City subway, elected officials are trying to make Americans see things simply, like homelessness as a personal choice, rather than the result of systemic failures. They want to make it a crime to be homeless, with police arresting those who simply don't have a place to live. That's ridiculous, and bad for our whole community. Because no matter your race or background, people don't choose to be homeless, and arresting people experiencing homelessness isn't the answer. The groundbreaking Martin v. Boise case has pushed communities toward the right answer—making sure everyone has a place to call home –since it was decided at the 9thCircuit in 2018.
Rather Than Sitting Silently, These Heroes Raised Their Voices To Fight For Better Health Care In West Virginia Jails
John, Earl, Joshua, Heather, and Donna all experienced significant barriers when trying to access the medical or mental health treatment they required while incarcerated in West Virginia’s regional jails. Rather than sitting silently and enduring this poor medical care, they raised their voices to fight for better care for themselves and everyone in the jails. Their words, like their commitment in this case, reflect the passion they have brought to this work from day one.
Class Action Heroes Take Courageous Stand For Economic Justice and Human Rights
Against the backdrop of a national public health and economic crisis, Congress passed the CARES Act, providing a stimulus payment of up to $1,200 for eligible individuals. Despite the clear statutory language, and the fact that incarcerated people disproportionately come from communities suffering from the greatest levels of poverty, the IRS invented an additional restriction excluding any incarcerated person from eligibility notwithstanding the predictable dire impacts on incarcerated people and their families. Plaintiffs Colin Scholl and Lisa Strawn courageously came forward to challenge those restrictions in a lawsuit resulting in one of the largest recoveries for an intentionally excluded economic class.
Google Employees Champion Equal Pay, Challenge Gender-Based Discrimination On Behalf Of 17,000 Class Members
Kelly, Heidi, Holly, and Kelli championed the claims of approximately 17,000 class members alleging that Google was paying women less than men performing substantially similar work and assigning women to lower salary levels than men with similar qualifications and experience. All four named plaintiffs took the risk that they would be blackballed in the tech field by putting their names on the publicly filed docket.
Three Brave Content Moderators Take On Facebook On Behalf Of Thousands In Historic Class Action
Selena, Gabriel, and Erin represented a class of over 14,000 content moderators who were denied protection against severe psychological and other injuries resulting from viewing objectionable postings while working on behalf of Facebook through third-party agencies. The role and plight of content moderators is endemic across the social media landscape. All of us need to monitor and support them.
Hunger Relief Heroes Ensure Most Vulnerable Households Receive Critical Food Benefits
Despite overwhelming bipartisan support for Emergency Allotments, the USDA and the Trump Administration were thwarting the intent of the COVID relief passed by Congress. They were playing politics with people’s hunger. That is why I decided to take a stand and together with my co-plaintiff Robin Hall sue the USDA to make Emergency Allotments available for everyone. As the fight to protect the safety net programs like SNAP ramps up, it should give us all hope that the Western Center on Law & Poverty and the Impact Fund are working to make sure that programs stay fair, just and equitable.
A Beginner’s Guide to Forced Arbitration: A Barrier to Social and Economic Justice
Concealed in the fine print of many standard-form contracts, arbitration clauses force workers and consumers to give up their right to sue a company in court. Most forced arbitration agreements also contain class action waivers, which ban people from bringing and joining class action lawsuits against companies. People who are subject to forced arbitration agreements are instead required to resolve disputes with companies through private, individual arbitration. Meaningfully addressing and remedying social and economic injustice requires an end to forced arbitration.
Receiving Medical and Mental Healthcare on the Inside
No one expects going to jail to be pleasant. In West Virginia, however, going to jail can be more than just an unpleasant experience, due in part to a major function of jails that many people who have never been to one may not consider: healthcare. Many people who end up in jails, particularly in West Virginia, aren’t only struggling with these types of conditions but may (also) be dealing with serious addiction or mental health issues. People enter jails in need of high quality medical and mental healthcare, provided in a timely and professional manner. What many people have received in West Virginia jails in recent years, however, is anything but that.
California Racial Justice Act Could Be a Check on Racist Gang Injunctions
Gangs are commonly associated with organized crime and terror. However, young people typically join gangs to find community, not to commit violent crime. The concept of a gang has racial implication as well, due to historical discrimination of young Black and Brown men. When we think of white supremacist organizations that commit violent crime, they are usually called “groups,” a word with much less stigma surrounding it. Because of the negative and violent associations pushed by the media and government around gangs, the public fear of gang violence increased from the late 20th century to the early 21st century. In an attempt to curb gang violence and reduce fear surrounding gangs, local governments across the country have implemented gang injunctions.
Love in Activism
The May 24 mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas elementary school has shaken up the country, sparking intense debates where both sides of the political spectrum rose up in anger and fear. Whether it is anxiety about sending one’s kids to school or the panic of many who believe their second amendment rights will be taken away, there is a common thread of fear that underlies the country and political landscape.
Class Action Challenges San Diego's Criminalization of Homelessness
A lot is at stake in this case. Punitive approaches to sheltering in vehicles are reflective of the larger, nationwide policy shift toward criminalizing visible poverty in a harmful, expensive, and futile effort to police our way out of the growing homelessness crisis. When inherently innocent survival conduct, like sheltering, is treated as a punishable offense, the rights and freedoms of all human beings are threatened. It is critical to fight for protection of our freedoms in the courts.
Winning in Environmental Litigation: Outlast the Polluters to Defend the Environment
The PolyMet/Glencore copper-nickel sulfide mine is a dangerous project and a formidable adversary. This mine would be located in the headwaters of the St. Louis River, the largest U.S. tributary to Lake Superior, upstream of the Fond du Lac Reservation and Minnesota’s third largest city, Duluth. The PolyMet/Glencore mine would destroy more than 1,000 acres of wetlands¾the largest wetlands destruction ever approved in the history of our U.S. Army Corps region. The project would release sulfate and toxic metals into waters already impaired due to mercury, contaminating drinking water, decimating wild rice, and increasing toxic mercury contamination of fish. Unfortunately, the Minnesota Legislature has taken PolyMet’s side for more than a decade, sweeping away laws that would pose hurdles in permitting and spending millions in taxpayer funds for outside mining-industry lawyers to represent the agencies granting PolyMet permits.
Pursuit of Water Protection: Clean Water Access for Communities in the San Joaquin Valley
The Clean Water Project, which spanned our legal, training, and grantmaking programs, focused on bringing communities together to advocate for and gain access to potable water and on funding impact cases that address clean water issues faced by residents of unincorporated communities in the San Joaquin Valley in California. Although we have distributed all the Clean Water Project funds, the Impact Fund remains committed to funding environmental justice cases through our Just Earth program. We will continue to fund cases working to ensure that people’s right to clean water is protected.
Youth Plaintiffs' Suit For Climate Justice Heads To Historic Trial In Montana
“Going to trial means a chance for me and my fellow plaintiffs to have our climate injuries recognized and a solution realized. It means our voices are actually being heard by the courts, the government, the people who serve to protect us as citizens and Montana’s youth. Knowing that we have the dates for the first youth constitutional climate case ever, I feel hopeful that finally our government may begin to serve our best interests.”
Class Action Brings Justice and Healing to Foster Children in Kansas
I remember talking to children and families early in our work in Kansas and being shocked by the stories they told. How children were regularly dropped off at a new foster home night after night without being offered so much as a warm meal or a shower before being picked up the next morning. They would then spend their day in a case worker’s office with nothing to do. Some children cycled through upwards of ninety placements due to this horrifying practice. This is an experience that we know devastates youth emotionally and psychologically, and interferes with child brain development. It was impossible for me to fathom how we could be doing that to any child.
Class Action Hall of Fame, Class of 2022: Title IX Champions for Equality in Women's Sports
As the case worked its way through the legal system, my teammates and I learned more and more about the history of women and sports, Title IX, the promises that had been made yet not fulfilled and the injustices that exist(ed) everywhere. We realized that this case was about much more than just getting our gymnastics team back. We became Title IX warriors.
SCOTUS Should Not Allow Students To Be Pressured To Pray To Play!
Joseph Kennedy was an assistant football coach at Bremerton High School, a public school in the State of Washington. For years, Kennedy led his team in prayers, both before and after games. When the School District learned what he was doing, it asked him to stop. The District made sure to let Kennedy know that it would find ways to accommodate his religious practice that did not make students feel pressure to participate. But Kennedy’s lawyers made clear that he would accept nothing less than capitulation by the School District: He must be allowed to continue to pray at the 50-yard line at the end of every game, joined by students. The district court and Ninth Circuit rightly rejected that demand—twice—but the Supreme Court has now granted cert.
Victory for Unhoused People in Ocala, Florida - Court Rules City Ordinance Unconstitutional
After Patrick McArdle’s eighth arrest in early 2019 for sleeping on public property in Ocala, Florida, he could no longer accept the injustice of being arrested merely because he was unhoused. When he was unable to make bond, he decided to spend his time in jail in the library, researching constitutional caselaw about sleeping ordinances. When he stumbled upon Martin v. Boise, he felt vindicated — he was now sure the City’s efforts to arrest and incarcerate unhoused residents in Ocala for sleeping outside were, like Boise’s, in violation of the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.