Court Cases

In September 2025, the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, together with the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, the ACLU of New Hampshire, the ACLU of Maine, the law firm Araujo and Fisher, the law firm Foley Hoag, and the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinic, filed a class action lawsuit in federal court to challenge the widespread denial of bond hearings to people detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. As the complaint demonstrates, this denial upends decades of settled law and established practice in immigration proceedings. The complaint alleges that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice recently and abruptly began to misclassify people arrested by ICE inside the United States. DHS and DOJ started systematically reclassifying these people from the statutory authority of 8 U.S.C. § 1226, which usually allows for the opportunity to request bond during removal proceedings, to the no-bond detention provisions of 8 U.S.C. § 1225, which does not apply to people arrested in the interior of the United States and placed in removal proceedings. This case is brought on behalf of Jose Arnulfo Guerrero Orellana and a putative class of similarly situated individuals. Mr. Guerrero Orellana has been living in the United States for over a decade. He brings this case to vindicate his own right to a bond hearing — where an immigration judge can determine whether his detention is justified to protect the community or ensure his appearance in court — and that of thousands of other detainees in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maine, and New Hampshire who will be denied the opportunity to seek release on bond under the new legal ruling adopted by the executive branch. The complaint alleges that the government's new policy violates constitutional and statutory due process rights as well as the Administrative Procedure Act.

Update: In March 2024, the Rural Justice Network and ACLU of Massachusetts announced a settlement in their lawsuit against the Town of North Brookfield, following an earlier announcement that a local Pride event will go forward as planned on June 29. In December 2023, the ACLU of Massachusetts filed a lawsuit against the North Brookfield Select Board and two of its members after they refused to grant permission for a 2024 Pride celebration on the Town Common because the event would include drag performance. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the Rural Justice Network. According to the complaint, the Select Board’s actions violate free expression and assembly rights, and unlawfully discriminate on the basis of gender. Furthermore, by denying this permit, the Select Board continues an alleged pattern of discriminatory treatment. In October 2023, the Rural Justice Network requested permission to host its fourth annual Small Town Pride celebration on the North Brookfield Town Common in June 2024. During a November Board meeting, after event organizers confirmed the celebration would include a drag performance that would not be hidden from public view in a tent, the Chair and Vice Chair refused to approve the Rural Justice Network’s request and explained that the decision meant that the application for the event permit “doesn’t go forward.” This followed the Chair and Vice Chair’s previous attempts to deny the Rural Justice Network the right to include any drag performance in its 2023 Small Town Pride celebration — simply because the officials personally believed that such performance is “wrong.” The 2023 event ultimately went forward as planned after the ACLU and North Brookfield’s legal counsel became involved. In the face of the clear legal advice previously provided, this lawsuit alleges that the latest action by the Chair and Vice Chair is a blatant and intentional violation of free speech, assembly, and anti-discrimination laws. The lawsuit, filed in Worcester County Superior Court, seeks relief to allow the Rural Justice Network to host its 2024 Small Town Pride celebration, including drag performance, and to prevent further obstruction in the future.

In May 2023, the ACLU of Massachusetts filed a public records lawsuit against the Office of the State Auditor for wrongfully withholding documents related to prisoner deaths and health care at the houses of correction in two counties.

The ACLU and Todd & Weld filed a lawsuit on behalf of Michael Okosi, seeking justice for the harm he suffered—including physical and emotional injuries—based on the lies of one police officer.

The ACLU of Massachusetts, together with law firm Wolf Greenfield, filed a lawsuit against two Massachusetts agencies for failing to produce public records regarding the state’s use of automatic license plate reader (ALPR) technology.

The ACLU of Massachusetts filed a public records lawsuit against the City of Pittsfield for failing to produce the Pittsfield Police Department’s policies, procedures, and records of street-level interactions.

The ACLU of Massachusetts filed a public records lawsuit to gather information about whether former President Donald Trump lied when he recently asserted the existence of a declassification “standing order” for materials he removed from the Oval Office.

The ACLU of Massachusetts, together with law firm Goodwin Procter LLP, filed a civil rights lawsuit on behalf of the family of Shayne Stilphen for his wrongful death while in the custody of the Boston Police Department.