Court Cases

On March 2, 2021, the ACLU of Pennsylvania filed a federal constitutional lawsuit against Allegheny County Judge Anthony Mariani, on behalf of Abolitionist Law Center and with co-counsel from the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at Georgetown University Law Center.

McKeesport residents and members of Take Action Mon Valley were denied the ability to attend, both in-person and virtually, a meeting of the McKeesport City Council in which residents were planning to address the actions of police in December during the search for a shooting suspect.

On January 5, 2021, the ACLU of Pennsylvania, the law firm of Langer, Grogan & Diver P.C., and Seth Kreimer, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania, filed a class action lawsuit against the Montgomery County court administration for illegally charging defendants duplicative court costs.

On November 9, 2020, President Trump’s campaign filed a federal lawsuit against Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar and the boards of elections of six counties - Philadelphia, Allegheny, Delaware, Chester, Montgomery, Northampton, and Centre.

In June 2020, the Pennsylvania Democratic Party sued Secretary of State Kathryn Boockvar in Commonwealth Court, seeking to challenge several aspects of the commonwealth’s election laws. The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania agreed to hear the case, using its King’s Bench power.

In the lawsuit Trump for President v. Boockvar, President Trump’s campaign sued the commonwealth and all 67 counties and is challenging several election administration practices, including the use of drop boxes for voters who vote by mail, which some counties used during Pennsylvania’s primary elect

On June 5, the ACLU of Pennsylvania concluded that the city had surpassed its legal authority, unless it could produce evidence that would prove a public safety justification for the curfew.

On May 20, 2020, the ACLU of Pennsylvania and the Farmworker Legal Aid Clinic at Villanova University filed a federal lawsuit against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), seeking documents under the federal Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA).

Voting rights groups filed a motion to intervene in the federal lawsuit, Judicial Watch v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. By filing a motion to intervene, the groups seek to protect eligible Pennsylvania voters who are at risk of being wrongfully purged from the rolls.