Our latest accomplishments

California’s Ban on Legacy Admissions →

Applauding California's Ban on Legacy Admissions The Governor of California signed a bill that will prohibit legacy admissions preferences in California's private colleges and universities.  The bill eliminates these unfair and undeserved preferences -- which are based solely on familial ties, overwhelmingly benefiting white applicants and harming applicants of color. As the...

Enrique Delgado Garcia’s Death →

Statement on Enrique Delgado Garcia At Lawyers for Civil Rights, we are hearing alarming reports that Enrique Delgado Garcia may have been deliberately targeted due to his Latino identity, as one of the few people of color in the Massachusetts State Police Academy.  Mr. Delgado Garcia may have been intentionally...

New Report on Police Diversity →

New Report Shows Dramatic Impact of 1970s-Era “Consent Decree” on Police Diversity in Massachusetts Long-Running Federal Court Oversight to End Soon, Raising Concerns About Backsliding A comprehensive new study released by The Brattle Group analyzes the dramatic impact that a 50-year-old federal court case has had on police diversity throughout Massachusetts. The...

Saugus Sued Over School Policy →

Civil Rights Groups Sue Saugus Public Schools Over Exclusionary Admissions Policy Lawsuit Seeks Documents Showing Why Policy Was Created And How It Is Used To Harm Vulnerable Schoolchildren Lawyers for Civil Rights (“LCR”) and Massachusetts Advocates for Children (“MAC”) filed a lawsuit in Essex Superior Court against Saugus Public Schools, seeking to uncover...

Championing Housing Justice →

Advocates Champion Housing Justice for Communities of Color in Supreme Judicial Court Brief Filed Supporting Attorney General’s Enforcement of MBTA Communities Law in Milton Attorneys from Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) and Brown Rudnick LLP filed a friend-of-the-court brief before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in the Attorney General’s lawsuit against the...

Black Sisters Speak Out In Millbury →

“Black as fuck,” “ugly,” and “too dark”— Black Sisters Speak Out About Racial Bullying in Millbury Federal Intervention Needed to Address Pervasive Use of Racial Slurs and Unfair Discipline in Millbury Public Schools Following months of escalating racial bullying, threats of violence, and disproportionate surveillance and punishment targeting Black students in...

Harvard’s Black Enrollment Drops →

Harvard’s Black Student Enrollment Dips While Legacy Admissions Remain in Place As Harvard joins the ranks of elite colleges and universities reporting declining enrollment of Black students following the U.S. Supreme Court's anti-affirmative action decision, a key question remains: Why does Harvard continue to cling to unfair donor and legacy...

Racial Bullying Tools & Resources →

Lawyers for Civil Rights has created a toolkit of resources to help families through the process of navigating and responding to racial bullying, including a self-advocacy guide for students, a roadmap for parents, and an email template for reporting. These tools and resources are available here: Click here for the...

Urging AG to Investigate Saugus →

Escalating the battle over exclusionary student admissions policies, Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) and Massachusetts Advocates for Children (MAC) formally requested that the Massachusetts Attorney General open an investigation into Saugus Public Schools’ policies. LCR and MAC sent a letter to the Saugus School Committee, urging it to revise its Student Admissions Policy,...

Feds Launch Probe Against Brookline →

Federal Civil Rights Probe Launched Against Brookline Public Schools The U.S. Department of Education confirmed that it has launched a federal investigation in response to the civil rights complaint filed by Lawyers for Civil Rights (“LCR”) on behalf of MC, a Black student who experienced racial bullying at Amos A. Lawrence School in Brookline,...

Michelle Obama and Legacy Admissions  →

With Remarks on Affirmative Action, Michelle Obama Weighs in on Legacy Admissions   Michelle Obama reminded America that most people "will never benefit from the affirmative action of generational wealth." Yet, at Harvard and many other colleges, legacy and donor preferences in the admissions process remain firmly in place. This preferential treatment overwhelmingly privileges wealth...

Exclusionary School Policy in Saugus →

Saugus Public Schools Urged to Change Exclusionary Admissions Policy Pushing back against a recent wave of school districts seeking to illegally deny migrant children the right to attend school, Lawyers for Civil Rights and Massachusetts Advocates for Children demanded that Saugus Public Schools immediately revise its Student Admissions Policy. The policy, adopted in August...

Diversity in Public Safety Agencies →

Please join us for an upcoming event focused on the importance of diversity in public safety agencies. Please RSVP via email to reception@lawyersforcivilrights.org

George Floyd’s Murder Re-Enactment →

Brookline Public Schools Fail To Protect Black Student From Racial Bullying Classmates Call Black Eighth-Grader a “Cotton Picker” And Re-Enact George Floyd’s Murder Lawyers for Civil Rights (“LCR”) filed a federal civil rights complaint on behalf of a Black eighth-grader who was subjected to racial bullying at Amos A. Lawrence...

Trailer Park Residents File Class Action →

Mobile Home Residents File Class Action Lawsuit Against Landlord Challenging Exorbitant Rent Increases Lawsuit Alleges Parakeet Communities Deceived, Exploited Vulnerable Residents Residents of two mobile home parks in Auburn, Massachusetts filed a class action lawsuit against the parks’ owner, Parakeet Communities, Inc. (“Parakeet”). The plaintiffs are all senior citizens and...

Immigration Lawsuit for Fee Waivers →

Civil Rights Organization Sues Federal Immigration Agencies for Enhanced Transparency in Immigration Fee Waiver Process Lawsuit Seeks Clarity on Opaque Fee Waiver Determinations Lawyers for Civil Rights (“LCR”) filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) for failing to...

Mainvest Collapse Impacts Businesses →

With the abrupt closure of Mainvest, a national crowdfunding platform for small businesses, Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) is calling on the federal government to protect affected small business owners and investors. An estimated $2.4 million in capital is now frozen, with no clear plan for its release. Since 2018,...

Classmates Cut Off Black Girl’s Braided Hair →

Melrose Public Schools Fail Again To Protect Black Student From Racial Bullying White Classmates Call Fifth-Grader “Monkey” Repeatedly, Cut Off Her Braided Hair Lawyers for Civil Rights filed a federal civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights against Melrose Public Schools for the ongoing and persistent...

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