Civil Rights

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A Brown County man recently won the right to withdraw his guilty plea after the Court of Appeals held that drug task force investigators used impermissible coercion to gain entry to his home.

“This case is a classic example of law enforcement tactics that deeply undermine individual rights and ultimately undercut the state’s interest in investigating and prosecuting crimes,” said defense attorney and Wisconsin Justice Initiative President Craig Johnson.

The District 3 per curiam (nonprecedential) opinion issued from the

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Continue Reading Officers’ Coercive Tactics Rendered Search of Residence Invalid

The Indiana Supreme Court (the “Court”) upheld a trial court’s Order for Temporary Commitment, reaffirming the new mootness standard for temporary civil commitment appeals first established earlier this year in In re Commitment of J.F., 256 N.E.3d 1260 (Ind. 2025). In re Commitment of M.C., 262 N.E.3d 836 (Ind. 2025).
Background
In J.F., the Court held that an appeal from a temporary civil-commitment order does not become moot merely because the order has expired. See In re Commitment of…
Continue Reading Indiana Supreme Court Reaffirms Mootness Standard in Temporary Civil Commitment Appeals

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By Attorney Emily Dudak Leiter

The Law Center for Children & Families

Madison, WI

Here is a summary and our opinion regarding the petition for review by Kim Davis and Liberty Counsel to SCOTUS.

Kim Davis is the former Kentucky county clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses in 2015 to same-sex couples on religious grounds. Her attorneys in the petition for review are Liberty Counsel, which is a right-wing Christian organization designated as a “hate group” by the…
Continue Reading Summary of Davis v. Ermold and Moore

A joint statement has been issued by the major LGBTQ+ legal advocacy non-profits, reaffirming their advice for LGBTQ+ families after the election: get a court order regarding your child. Before the election and after, for 20+ years, actually, this has been our advice at The Law Center. Even post-marriage equality, we felt a birth certificate alone is not enough. Nearly all LGBTQ+ legal advocacy non-profits have agreed with us for years. Now, several non-profits have just put out a…
Continue Reading Protecting Your LGBTQ+ Marriage and Family: A Comprehensive Resource

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Lavinia Goodell, October 1879

In the fall of 1879, Lavinia Goodell wrote an article for the Woman’s Journal titled “How it Looked to a Lawyer Half a Century Ago.” In it, she lauded the progress women had made during her lifetime (Lavinia was born in 1839) in gaining more rights.

Lavinia noted that in 1837, Timothy Walker, a professor at the Law Department of Cincinnati College delivered a course of lectures on American Law that were published in book…
Continue Reading ‘Married women today are not the abject slaves they were fifty years ago’

Can You Sue a Police Officer for Using Excessive Force?
 Posted on October 08,2024 in Civil Rights
Most people know that when you get injured in a car accident that is caused by someone else’s negligence, you can pursue compensation from the responsible person or an insurance company. Likewise, if someone breaks into your house, kills your spouse, and steals your property, you can pursue a claim against that person in civil court for the losses you experience.

But…
Continue Reading Can You Sue a Police Officer for Using Excessive Force? 

a man speaking at a podiumHon. Jeh Charles Johnson, former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security and ABA Task Force for American Democracy co-chair, speaks on “The Threat to Democracy.”

July 11, 2024 – A dozen speakers recently gave sobering presentations on the threat to democracy during a nonpartisan event from the American Bar Association’s Task Force for American Democracy, in partnership with the State Bar of Wisconsin.

The program, called
Wisconsin: Elections in the 21st Century (watch now) was held in-person July

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Continue Reading American Bar Association Brings Democracy Listening Tour to Wisconsin

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Closeup of a Vote by Mail envelope, official balloting material - business reply mail, USPS first class mail.

The Democratic Party of Illinois may not intervene in a suit relating to mail-in voting, according to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. The case, Bost v. Illinois State Board of Elections, arose when Congressman Michael Bost and two voters challenged an Illinois law that permits completed mail-in ballots to be counted as long as they are sent on or before election day and are received within two weeks after election day. ___ F.4th ____, 2023…
Continue Reading Seventh Circuit Reiterates the Low Bar for Intervention in Voting-rights Litigation

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Athletic running track with lane numbers at a stadium

Enacted in 1972, Title IX prohibits discrimination based on sex in educational activities that receive federal funds and requires public elementary and secondary schools, as well as colleges and universities, to effectively accommodate the athletic interests and abilities of students and provide equal opportunity in the benefits, opportunities, and treatment provided for athletic teams.

While Title IX does not directly address gender identity, the Department of Education recently released a notice of proposed rulemaking related to a transgender student’s…
Continue Reading All Tied Up: OCR Issues New Resources on Equal Athletic Opportunity Under Title IX

b2ap3_thumbnail_fhjrjsr.JPGBy: Attorney Jorge Fragoso 
On November 8, 2022, Tony Evers was reelected as Governor of the state of Wisconsin. Since he was originally elected in 2019, Governor Evers has made efforts to grant clemency to people who have been convicted of crimes and are deserving of a second chance. He has granted a total of more than 600 pardons during his time in office, and he has stated that he will continue to pardon convicts during his next term.
Continue Reading Governor Evers to Continue Accepting Pardon Requests in Wisconsin

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In 1975, The United States Supreme Court held that a criminal defendant has a constitutional right to waive counsel and self-represent in a criminal case. Faretta v. California, 422 U.S. 806 (1975). While the trial court has a responsibility to discourage self-representation, it cannot prohibit it. The result can be (and usually is) the circus occurring in the Waukesha trial of the Christmas parade driver Darrell Brooks.

Dealing with a pro se defendant creates a variety of challenges…
Continue Reading The right to self-represent

What Should a Student Do if They Receive a Notice of Investigation for Sexual Assault or Sexual Harassment on a College Campus?
They need to contact experienced counsel.  Title IX is not an easy process for anyone to navigate, particularly when it could affect their academic status.  New regulations issued in the spring of 2020 changed a student’s rights with respect to these investigations, including their right to a hearing and to cross-examine witnesses.  It is imperative that they…
Continue Reading Changes to Title IX Take Effect August 14, 2020