Center for Constitutional Rights

 

Incorporation for the Civil Rights Legal Defense Fund was filed on September 9, 1966; in February, 1967, the name was changed to the Law Center for Constitutional Rights. In 1970, the name was shortened to the Center for Constitutional Rights.^[5] The founders, Morton Stavis, Arthur Kinoy, Ben Smith and William Kunstler,^[2] came together through their civil rights work in the American South.^[6] By 1970, according to one unaffiliated lawyer quoted at the time, CCR had become "the leading gathering place for radical lawyers in the country,"^[2]

The Center identified as a "movement support" organization; that is, an organization that concentrated on working with political and social activists to use the courts to promote the activists' work. Cases were chosen to raise public awareness of an issue, generate media attention, and/or energize activists being harassed by local law enforcement in the South. In this regard, the Center differed from more traditional legal non-profits, such as the ACLU, which was more focused on bringing winnable cases in order to extend precedents and develop the law, as well as pursuing First Amendment issues.^{[citation needed]}

In 1998, CCR merged with the National Emergency Civil Liberties Committee (NECLC),^[7] an organization originally formed in 1951 to advocate for the civil liberties embodied in the Bill of Rights of the US Constitution, notably the rights of free speech, religion, travel, and assembly.^[8]

Since 9/11, it has been known for bringing a variety of cases challenging the Bush administration's detention, extraordinary rendition, and interrogation practices in the so-called "Global War on Terror". When its president Michael Ratner filed Rasul v. Bush in 2002, this was the first lawsuit to challenge President George W. Bush's wartime detentions at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba in the early days of the "war on terror."^[9] "It was the first time in history that the Court had ruled against the president on behalf of alleged enemy fighters in wartime. And it was the first of four Supreme Court decisions between 2004 and 2008 that rejected President Bush's assertion of unchecked executive power in the "war on terror."^[9]

As of 2024^[update], CCR's issue areas are: abusive immigration practices, corporate human rights abuses, criminalizing dissent, discriminatory policing, drone killings, government surveillance, Guantanamo, LGBTQI persecution, mass incarceration, Muslim profiling, Palestinian solidarity, racial injustice, sexual and gender-based violence, and torture, war crimes, and militarism.^[10][11]

Dombrowski v. Pfister (1965): The CCR's first major case was a successful suit against the Louisiana Un-American Activities Committee to challenge the use of state anti-subversion laws to intimidate civil rights workers. CCR won the case in the Supreme Court, which ruled that such intimidation had a "chilling effect" on First Amendment rights and was therefore unconstitutional.^{[12][13][14][15]}

United States v. Dellinger (Chicago Seven) (1969): CCR attorneys William Kunstler and Leonard Weinglass defended a group of demonstrators arrested following the 1968 Democratic National Convention demonstrations and consequent forceful police response. The original eight defendants, David Dellinger, Rennie Davis, Tom Hayden, Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, and Bobby Seale, were anti-war, civil rights and human rights activists, and Students for a Democratic Society and Black Panther Party members. Seale's case was declared a mistrial and severed.^[16][17][18] The remaining seven were found not guilty of their conspiracy charges; five were found guilty of crossing state lines to incite a riot. CCR appealed and those charges were overturned.^[10][19][20]

Abramowicz v. Lefkowitz (1972): CCR'S Nancy Stearns challenged New York state laws that restricted abortion, and served as a model for challenges to similar laws in other states. This case marks the first instance of challenge to abortion statutes being argued by women as the plaintiffs in terms of women's right to choice rather than a doctor's right to practice.^[21][22]

Monell v. Department of Social Services (1972): This case began as a challenge to New York City's forced maternity leave policies. Its resolution created a precedent that established local government accountability for unconstitutional acts and created the right to obtain damages from municipalities in such cases. Since 1978, this precedent has been used by lawyers and non-profits as a tool to challenge police misconduct, civil rights violations, and other local unconstitutional acts.^[23][24]

State of Washington v. Wanrow (1972): A women's self-defense murder case, CCR became counsel when the appeal process reached the Washington Supreme Court. The appellate court reversal of the original conviction was upheld. The landmark Supreme Court decision had far-reaching effects on women's self-defense and the law.^[25]

United States v. Banks and Means (Wounded Knee Occupation) (1974): CCR's Kunstler and Mark Lane represented Russell Means and Dennis Banks, against charges of conspiracy and assault. Means and Banks had been leaders of the American Indian Movement occupation of Wounded Knee, which culminated in a standoff with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). After an eight-and-a-half-month trial, the US District Court of South Dakota dismissed the charges.^[26][27]

Filártiga v. Peña-Irala (1980): Filártiga established a precedent for the use of the Alien Tort Statute to allow foreign victims of human rights abuses to seek justice in US courts. CCR represented the family of Joelito Filártiga, the son of a left-wing Paraguayan dissident who had been tortured and killed by Paraguayan police. The precedent created by this case has facilitated subsequent international human rights cases, including Doe v. Karadzic and Doe v. Unocal. These cases have established that multinational corporations and other non-state actors can be held responsible for their complicity in human rights violations.^[28][29]

Crumsey v. Justice Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (1982): CCR file for damages against the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) on behalf of five black women in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The women had been shot at, and four injured, by KKK members. It was the first civil rights suit filed against the KKK. The plaintiffs won $535,000 in damages. An injunction was served on the KKK prohibiting them from engaging in violence and from entering the black community.^[30][31]

Paul v. Avril, (1994): In 1991, on behalf of six Haitian political activists, including Evans Paul, Mayor of Port-au-Prince, and under the Alien Tort Statute, the CCR sued former military dictator Prosper Avril for human rights violations. The suit sought compensation for damages that the plaintiffs suffered under Avril's rule. In November 1993, CCR attorneys moved for a default judgment. In July 1994, in an unprecedented decision in which a Haitian dictator or member of the military was held accountable for human rights abuses, a federal magistrate awarded a $41 million damage judgment to the victims of Prosper Avril.^{[32][better source needed]}

Daniels, et al. v. the City of New York (1999): CCR filed a class action lawsuit challenging the New York City Police Department (NYPD) policy of stop-and-frisk without reasonable suspicion of criminal activity, and alleging the police used racial profiling for targeting. The case was settled, with the NYPD agreeing to a number of NYPD requirements, including a written anti-profiling policy and ongoing audits of the reasonable cause basis for stop-and-frisk activities.^{[10][33][better source needed]}

Doe v. Karadzic (2000): In 1993, the Center for Constitutional Rights and co-counsel filed a lawsuit seeking compensation for victims and survivors of Serb leader Radovan Karadzic's campaign of genocide and torture in Bosnia. Karadzic defaulted in 1997. On September 25, 2000, the jury decided on a verdict of $4.5 billion.^[34][35]

Rasul v. Bush (2004): CCR represented Guantanamo detainees seeking fair trials and an end to their indefinite imprisonment without charge. The US Supreme Court case established precedent for US courts' jurisdiction over the Guantanamo Bay prison camp, affirming detainees' right to habeas corpus review, including legal representation.^[36][10] This right was later putatively revoked when President Bush signed the Military Commissions Act into law. CCR brought many of the same habeas corpus petitioners to the Supreme Court again in Boumediene v. Bush (2008), in which the Supreme Court declared the relevant parts of the MCA unconstitutional and restored the rights won in Rasul.^{[37][38][10][39]}

Floyd, et al. v. City of New York, et al. (2013) CCR filed a federal class action lawsuit against the New York City Police Department (NYPD) and the City of New York that challenges the NYPD's practices of racial profiling and "stop-and frisk." These NYPD practices had led to a dramatic increase in the number of suspicion-less stop-and-frisks per year in the city, with the majority of stops in communities of color. On August 12, 2013, a federal judge in a historic ruling found the New York City Police Department (NYPD) liable for a pattern and practice of racial profiling and unconstitutional stop-and-frisks. On January 30, 2014, the City agreed to drop its appeal of the ruling and begin the joint remedial process ordered by the court.^[40][10][41]

Center For Constitutional Rights Inc., operates as a 501(c)(3) non-profit. For 2023, it had $14,848,424 in revenue (including $13,040,969 in contributions), $12,468,239 in expenses, and net assets of $42,978,051.^[42]

• European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights
• Gitanjali S. Gutierrez
• Hamdi v. Rumsfeld
• International Federation of Human Rights
• Stolen Lives Project

• Official website
• Civil Rights Greensboro
• Center for Constitutional Rights Collected Records from Swarthmore College Peace Collection
• Center for Constitutional Rights Records at Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Archives