Court Cases

The federal government threatened to withhold billions of dollars in research funding from Harvard University after the school refused to adopt the government’s preferred ideological approach to who it admits to study, who it employs to teach, and what classes and other programs it offers.

The government cannot ban people from public events just because elected officials can't handle their jokes. We’re suing the federal government for retaliating against our client by blocking her from an official, taxpayer-funded public event simply because she criticizes Vice President Vance online.

As federal agents continue to deploy reckless immigration operations across Maine and the country, the ACLU of Maine is fighting back in court, and helping others do the same.

In September 2025, the ACLU of Maine, together with several partners, filed a class action lawsuit in federal court to challenge the widespread denial of bond hearings to people detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. As the complaint demonstrates, this denial upends decades of settled law and established practice in immigration proceedings.

We’re suing Sanford for refusing to comply with Maine’s Freedom of Access Act. We’re asking the Cumberland County Superior Court to order Sanford to turn over public information about their police department’s cooperation with ICE and CBP – something 112 other Maine agencies have already done.

The State of Maine has a troubling history of failing to protect children with disabilities. After the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) launched an investigation that found Maine was discriminating against children with disabilities, the DOJ sued the state. The state and DOJ reached a settlement agreement that strengthened protections for Maine’s children under federal disability rights law. The ACLU of Maine and its partners are now fighting to ensure that settlement remains in place and its protections are upheld.

We filed an amicus brief urging a federal appeals court to apply the correct test to determine if a Massachusetts police officer’s comments are protected by the First Amendment.

The ACLU of DC is representing dozens of federal workers – including a plaintiff from Maine – who were targeted in Trump's purge of federal employees associated with DEI initiatives.

On April 11, 2025, the ACLU and ACLU of Maine filed a lawsuit on behalf of two human rights advocates who, because of an executive order signed by President Trump, have been forced to stop humanitarian work with the International Criminal Court.