In October 2017, 14-year-old Kejuan Franklin was suspended from Rowe Middle School for an off-campus incident that nobody could verify. After a hearing that had no witness testimony, no person representing his interests, nor even his mother's knowledge that it was taking place, Kejuan was expelled.
Read MoreYesterday, Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and partner organizations submitted testimony before the Illinois House Elections & Campaign Finance Committee in support of two important bills under consideration: SB 2273 and HB 4469.
Read MoreOur infographic shows you everything you need to know about voting in the upcoming LSC elections on Wednesday, April 18 and Thursday, April 19.
Read MoreLast Thursday, the Education Equity Project together with members of the Transforming School Discipline Collaborative convened more than 150 educators, policy makers, administrators, student organizers, and advocates to reflect on progress since the passage of SB100, a bill that was intended to transform school discipline practices in Illinois and weaken the school-to-prison pipeline.
Read Morehese meetings will be important opportunities for community members to learn about the new law, get their questions answered, and advocate for strong, timely, and community-centered implementation of AVR.
Read MoreOne eligible voter called us after an election judge told him, "You can't vote today, just come back in November." That just shouldn't happen in Illinois.
Read MoreThe south suburbs of Chicago, whose demographics have changed rapidly in recent years, are home to many families struggling with the cost of housing.
Read MoreOur pro bono spotlight story this quarter is about Greg Schweizer, who has co-counseled two cases with our Hate Crime Project.
Read MoreWe are thrilled to welcome a new class of talented law students and undergraduates from across the country to intern this winter at Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights. This week, we asked about each person's inspiration in 2017.
Read MoreFormer President Obama, who served on our board as a young civil rights attorney, sounded the alarm in a recent speech in Chicago: “We have to tend to this garden of democracy or else things could fall apart quickly.”
Read MoreThe complaint asks the court to declare the Cook County Assessor’s assessment system unlawful, and to order Berrios’ office to adopt and implement a fair, accurate, transparent, lawful, and nondiscriminatory system. It also seeks the appointment of an independent monitor to oversee the process.
Read More“The FBI’s reporting system for hate crimes is like a sieve; it’s full of holes,” says Julie Justicz of the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee Hate Crime Project. “Unless we know which neighborhoods and people are impacted by hate crime, we can’t fully analyze or fund tools to combat it. And I fear this problem will continue to get worse.”
Read MoreIn 2017, IP lawyer Floyd Mandell and first-year Katten attorney, Bari Nathan, joined forces to help low-income plaintiffs in two cases referred to the federal court’s Settlement Assistance Program win just resolutions of claims brought against separate law enforcement agencies.
Read MoreAs part of our work to advance civil rights through police accountability, Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights filed an amicus brief in support of the class action lawsuit brought against the City of Chicago.
Read MoreOn Monday, civil rights and immigrant advocates were shaken by the Supreme Court’s 7-2 decision allowing President Donald Trump’s latest travel ban on six Muslim-majority nations to go into effect.
Read MoreOn Monday, the Illinois State Board of Elections (SBE) held a hearing in Springfield and Chicago to receive public comments on the implementation of the new automatic voter registration (AVR) law. Read our testimony here.
Read MoreChicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights has joined with other non-partisan voting rights groups in advocating to the Illinois State Board of Elections because of significant concerns about our state’s participation in a highly risky voter database program.
Read MoreI responded poorly to my students’ needs because of ‘compassion fatigue.’ Overwhelmed by work and stress, I had exhausted my resources for being patient and caring that week.
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