Our Rights, Our Future

Immigrants Becoming Targets Of Attacks

It has happened again.

In early December, less than a month after seven teenagers brutally attacked and killed Marcelo Lucero in Patchogue, N.Y., a group of three assailants beat Jose Sucuzhañay in Brooklyn while shouting anti-Latino and antigay epithets. Three days later, Sucuzhañay, a real estate entrepreneur, became the latest Hispanic to die at the hands of attackers motivated by anti-immigrant bias and hatred.

According to a recent FBI report on hate crimes, there has been a 40 percent surge in anti-Latino violence since 2003. Organizations that track hate crimes paint an even grimmer picture. The Southern Poverty Law Center is now tracking 888 organizations that it classifies as hate groups - including the Federation for American Immigration Reform - a rise of almost 50 percent since 2000.

Why is this happening?

The Supreme Court Makes It Harder To Hold Government Actors Accountable For Civil Rights Violations

The Supreme Court Makes It Harder To Hold Government Actors Accountable For Civil Rights Violations

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: CONTACT: The National Campaign to Restore Civil Rights: Cristóbal Joshua Alex (212.244.4664; 206.427.3679); Seth Galanter (202.887.6947)

The Supreme Court of the United States today overruled an important principle that played a critical role in clarifying government obligations and constitutional rights.

In Pearson v. Callahan, the Supreme Court overruled a principle established by Saucier v. Katz, which required courts to decide whether a government official violated the Constitution before deciding whether the government official was on notice that his conduct violated the Constitution. By overruling Saucier, courts will now be able to avoid determining whether a government actor’s conduct violated the Constitution. The Saucier rule helped to make sure that government actors are accountable for their actions.