Court Case

The Brennan Center for Justice and co-counsel submitted an amicus brief on behalf of retired military officers, urging the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to affirm the District Court’s decision to grant habeas review to three non-Afghan citizens apprehended outside Afghanistan and detained at Bagram Theater Internment Facility.

The League of Women Voters of Indiana and the League of Women Voters of Indianapolis challenged Indiana’s Voter ID Law under provisions of the Indiana State Constitution. The Indiana law is the most restrictive ID law in America, and will exclude many eligible voters from participating in our democratic process. On November 9, 2009, various parties filed amicus briefs in support of Plaintiffs. On June 30, 2010, the Supreme Court of the State of Indiana affirmed the decision of the trial court and granted the defendant’s motion to dismiss.

The Brennan Center has filed a FOIA lawsuit seeking the 2004 U.S. Office of Legal Counsel opinion stating that the anti-prostitution pledge requirement is unconstitutional.

The Brennan Center and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison filed an amicus brief, on behalf of 30 public interest organizations and law firms asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit for en banc consideration of the standard for awarding attorneys’ fees that the Court adopted in Lochren v. County of Suffolk.

The Brennan Center, along with the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys, the Connecticut Bar Association, and AARP, filed an amicus brief in a case challenging the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, a law that contains provisions imposing various restrictions on the speech and activities bankruptcy attorneys.

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that plaintiff’s have standing to challenge the constitutionality of the FISA Amendments Act. In December of 2008 and 2009, the Brennan Center for Justice filed supplemental amici in the case, urging the court to overturn the law.

The Brennan Center for Justice – serving as counsel for itself and several new media journalists – filed a supplemental amicus curiae brief in Citizens United v. FEC. The brief urged the Supreme Court to preserve landmark precedents that support limits on corporate spending in elections.

Simmons vs. Galvin was a challenge to the Massachusetts law which disenfranchises people with felony convictions from voting while they are incarcerated.In a 2–1 decision, the First Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that ruling and held that no claims can be brought against Massachusetts law under the Voting Rights Act.

The Brennan Center filed a brief amici curiae in Sampson v. Buescher defending Colorado’s reporting and registration requirements for ballot issue committees.

The Brennan Center filed an amici brief asking the D.C. District Court to allow Congress to proceed with its efforts to enforce the subpoenas issued against Joshua Bolten and Harriet Miers in the executive privilege case related to the contentious 2006 firing of nine U.S. Attorneys