Court Cases

On January 13, 2026, the ACLU of Pennsylvania, Democracy Defenders Fund, and Hangley Aronchick Segal Pudlin and Schiller filed a motion to intervene in EEOC v. The University of Pennsylvania on behalf of five organizations affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania, which was later granted. The federal lawsuit was filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) after it issued a subpoena to the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) demanding that Penn create and turn over membership rosters for the Jewish Studies Program and Jewish and Jewish-affiliated campus organizations, plus personal contact information and addresses of the Jewish members, and Penn refused. The ACLU, and others, represent five organizations representing Penn’s Jewish faculty and staff. The intervening organizations are: The American Academy of Jewish Research (AAJR); The Jewish Law Students Association of the University of Pennsylvania Carey, Law School (JLSA); The American Association of University Professors (AAUP); The University of Pennsylvania chapter of the AAUP (AAUP-Penn); and Penn Association of Senior and Emeritus Faculty (PASEF). The groups seek to protect the privacy of their Jewish students, faculty, and staff by opposing the non-consensual release of Penn’s organizational membership rosters and members’ personal information based on the First Amendment right to associate confidentially. The ACLU-PA and co-counsel argue that if Penn were to comply, the subpoena’s impact would extend beyond Penn’s Jewish community, affecting all employees by chilling numerous freedoms across campus. In July 2026, EEOC withdrew its subpoena and settled with the University of Pennsylvania. On October 6, 2026, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit vacated the lower court's ruling that ordered the University of Pennsylvania to compile and disclose a list of Jewish employees and student groups to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

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.

Seven voters, the Center for Coalfield Justice, and the Washington Branch NAACP sued the Washington County Board of Elections for concealing from voters errors they had made on their mail ballot return envelopes that meant their votes would not be counted in the 2024 primary election.

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 Pennsylvania has filed a lawsuit on behalf of Luzerne County voters and an advocacy organization, In This Together NEPA, over the county’s removal of mail ballot drop boxes just weeks ahead of the 2024 general election.

On April 29, 2024, ACLU-PA, Public Interest Law Center, and the law firm Dechert LLP sued Butler County on behalf of two voters whose provisional ballots were rejected by the board of elections in the 2024 Pennsylvania primary election.

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.

In August 2022, two Philadelphia residents sued the city and, later, the Abortion Liberation Fund of Pennsylvania (ALF-PA) challenging a donation of $500,000 that the city made to ALF-PA.