Court Cases

The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania and Catherine M. Harper of Timoney Knox, LLP filed a lawsuit against Upper Pottsgrove Township on behalf of Matthew Murray, a township resident who was advocating against the development of a piece of permanently protected public land. Mr. Murray filed a number of Right To Know requests to obtain township records regarding the development of the land. Using those records as evidence, Mr. Murray then successfully sued the township alleging that its development plan was in violation of the Pennsylvania Open Space Act. In retaliation, the township sued Mr. Murray in the Court of Common Pleas of Montgomery County, asking the court to issue an injunction to prevent Mr. Murray from filing additional Right To Know requests.That request was denied by the court and the township’s case was dismissed. The ACLU-PA’s lawsuit against the township draws on Pennsylvania’s 2024 law allowing a party to assert immunity or seek legal fees against another party for filing a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation or “SLAPP” litigation as a means to silence or intimidate critics. The lawsuit asks Upper Pottsgrove Township to reimburse Mr. Murray for the legal fees he incurred defending himself against the township’s meritless litigation. On March 3, 2026, the township agreed to a settlement that will reimburse Mr. Murray for his legal fees and establish a training protocol for new township managers to better understand Pennsylvania's Right-to-Know law.

The ACLU of Pennsylvania has filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Sloane Wolfe, a high school student who has been advocating to end her school district’s use of its “Raider” mascot based on its stereotypical depiction of North American indigenous people.

On April 15, 2025, the ACLU of Pennsylvania sued the University of Pittsburgh on behalf of Students for Justice in Palestine at Pitt (SJP-Pitt), a university-affiliated organization that the school placed on an indefinite, interim-suspension in March. With no obvious violation of Pitt’s policies, the university’s action was in apparent retaliation for a letter that SJP-Pitt organized with more than 70 other university-affiliated clubs and community organizations protesting the school’s repeated harassment of the club. The university also initiated disciplinary proceedings against the club in response to a silent “study-in” that club members attended in the university library. By suspending the club in retaliation for its speech, Pitt officials have violated the students’ right to free speech. The lawsuit accuses the university of violating the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. SJP-Pitt has been a registered student organization since at least 2009 and became more active after October 7, 2023, when Hamas fighters led an attack in southern Israel and the Israeli government subsequently began its military assault against Palestinians living in Gaza. Since then, the club has organized, co-sponsored, promoted, and advertised numerous demonstrations and educational events on and off campus to raise awareness of Palestinian people's suffering. But its suspension is severely limiting SJP-Pitt’s on-campus activism. The ACLU of Pa. is asking the court to order the university to lift SJP-Pitt’s suspension and to cease further disciplinary proceedings against the club over the library study group and the open advocacy letter criticizing the university. On August 28, 2025, Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania ruled that the University of Pittsburgh must lift the suspension of SJP-Pitt and reinstate the organization's full privileges on campus. The court affirmed that the open advocacy letter sent by SJP-Pitt is protected free speech under the U.S. Constitution.

The ACLU of PA and the law firm LeVan Stapleton Segal Cochran LLC filed a federal civil rights lawsuit on behalf of teacher Andrew Burgess against the Central Bucks School District.

The ACLU of PA filed a federal lawsuit against Montgomery County and several administrators at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility alleging that the administrators have denied ACLU-PA attorneys and attorneys working with ACLU-PA the right to visit with people detained at the jail.