Court Cases

We're challenging the federal government’s attempt to access Maine’s unredacted voter file – including information like voters’ Social Security and driver’s license numbers.

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.

The Trump administration upended decades of standard immigration procedures and defied the plain language of federal law by denying bond hearings to people jailed on civil immigration charges. In September 2025, the ACLU of Maine and several partners filed a class action lawsuit challenging this unlawful and cruel policy. The government cannot indefinitely jail people without providing them with a hearing before a judge.

The federal government has targeted noncitizen students and faculty by arresting, detaining, and deporting them in retaliation for their pro-Palestinian activism. This is a coordinated attempt to chill their First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and assembly.

We filed five administrative claims against the federal government on behalf of people who suffered abuse at the hands of rogue federal immigration agents. The filings are part of a coordinated nationwide effort by the ACLU involving 54 claims across 17 states and Washington, D.C.

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.

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.

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.