Legal Program

Leadership

Informacion en Español

The ACLU of Texas legal program works in courts to defend the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights:

Your First Amendment rights-freedom of speech, association and assembly. Freedom of the press, and freedom of religion supported by the strict separation of church and state.
Your right to equal protection under the law – equal treatment regardless of race, sex, religion or national origin.
Your right to privacy – freedom from unwarranted government intrusion into your personal and private affairs.

We work also to extend rights to segments of our population that have traditionally been denied their rights, including people of color; lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgendered people; women; mental-health patients; prisoners; people with disabilities; and the poor.

Types of cases we litigate
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Before accepting a case, the ACLU Foundation of Texas considers:

(1) Does the case raise a civil liberties or civil rights issue?
Civil liberties include freedom of speech, press, religion, and association; due process; equal protection; and privacy. Civil rights include, for example, voting rights; discrimination based on disability, race, sex, sexual orientation, religion or national origin, and police reform.

Because of the nature of civil liberties claims, only rarely does the ACLU Foundation of Texas take a case that does not involve the government.

If you would like to find out more about what kind of cases the ACLU will take, please see the national ACLU website.

(2) How likely is it that a court will reach the civil liberties issue? Generally, the ACLU takes cases that do not involve complicated disputes of fact, and prefers cases that involve questions of law only. An example of a factual dispute is an employment discrimination case in which the employer claims he fired the employee because of poor job performance and has credible evidence to support that claim, but the employee disputes the evidence and has credible evidence of her own. Because employment claims are usually very fact dependent, it is not often that the ACLU Foundation of Texas takes this kind of case.

We often decide not to accept cases involving factual disputes because: (1) if a court resolves the facts against the client, it may never reach the civil liberties or civil rights issues; (2) if the decision rests upon the specific facts of a case, the case is less likely to have broad impact on many people; and (3) we have so few volunteer and staff attorneys that it is difficult for us to devote attorney time to resolving factual disputes.

(3) The potential impact, including:

Will the case set a civil liberties precedent?
Will the case strengthen an existing but ignored precedent?
What are the prospects of success and the risks of losing?
How likely is the issue to recur?
What educational opportunities does the case present?

(4) The allocation of resources, including:
What costs and administrative burdens will the case impose in relation to available ACLU Foundation of Texas staff and funds?

Are volunteer attorneys available?

The ACLU Foundation of Texas does not generally accept this kind of case:

A person has been fired from a job without a good reason or just cause;
Domestic matters (divorce, child custody, wills, etc.);
A person is being denied benefits, such as workers’ compensation, unemployment benefits, or Social Security;
Landlord / tenant disputes;
Immigration matters; and,
Criminal cases or complaints about a person’s attorney in a criminal case — the ACLU considers accepting criminal cases only in limited instances, such as, for example, when a person is being prosecuted for engaging in activity protected by the Constitution – such as participating in a political demonstration ? or where the statute or ordinance under which the person is charged is subject to constitutional attack.

Please consider the above before filing a complaint. Even if your complaint falls within the above guidelines, filing a complaint does not guarantee that the ACLU Foundation of Texas will provide legal assistance. Before any legal assistance can be offered, a written agreement must be entered into and signed by an ACLU Foundation of Texas representative.

If you would like to file a complaint, click here to continue.

There may be deadlines that might affect your lawsuit or grievance. If you are concerned about whether the time for bringing your complaint is about to pass, you should not rely on filing an ACLU complaint to protect you; you should consult with an attorney of your choice. The ACLU is not an attorney referral service. For a list of attorneys, and/or for information about organizations who assist low-income Texans with legal matters, we recommend you consult:

Texas Bar Lawyer Referral Service (click on “find a lawyer”) or call 1-877-9TEXBAR (toll free)
Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid or call 1-888-988-9996 (toll free)
Texas Access to Justice Commission (click on “find legal assistance”) or call 800-204-2222 ext. 2155
Texas Law Help