Our Rights, Our Future

Supreme Court Slams Shut The Doors Of Justice

The Supreme Court recently ruled that Javaid Iqbal, an Arab-American detained and abused after 9/11, could not sue government officials for unconstitutional behavior. This decision, known as Ashcroft vs. Iqbal, has given rise to issues that will cause significant damage to US civil rights for years to come.

Ellen Chapnick Discusses Supreme Court Nominee Sonia Sotomayor On CNN

Professor Ellen Chapnick, Dean of Columbia's Social Justice Program and NCRCR Steering Committee Member, recently appeared on CNN to discuss President Obama's Supreme Court Nominee Sonia Sotomayor.

Supreme Court Cracks Down On Government's Abusive Anti-Immigrant Tactic

The Supreme Court unanimously ruled that federal prosecutors can't charge illegal workers with aggravated identity theft for submitting false social security numbers to keep their jobs. Charges of identity theft carry up to a two-year prison sentence, and it had become a "favorite tool of prosecutors" to threaten workers with a jail term to prod them into pleading guilty to lesser charges. Conservative Justice Samuel Alito explained that the government's policy amounted to a roll of the dice, as workers couldn't possibly know whether the numbers they were submitting were false or not.

Supreme Court Cases from April 6, 2009 to April 27, 2009

The following is a compilation of cases in which the Supreme Court granted, denied, or received a petition for cert.