Civil Rights

Case Status: Settled on Favorable Terms.

Cocina Cultura LLC v. State of Oregon et al.

November 20^th 2020

CIR has filed suit against the State of Oregon, Oregon’s Department of Administrative Services, and two Oregon non-profits, which established a coronavirus relief fund that exclusively provides federal grant money to black applicants, in violation of the Constitution and federal anti-discrimination law...

Case Status: Case settled on favorable terms

Swanigan v. University of Connecticut

June 4^th 2014

CIR is representing Pamela Swanigan, a graduate student in English at UConn. The suit alleges that Swanigan was not allowed to compete for a highly prestigious, merit-based scholarship despite being the top applicant the year she applied. Instead, Swanigan was routed into an academically less prestigious Multicultural Scholars Award, which is designed to increase diversity. This happened solely because of her race -- she is both African American and white...

Case Status: Victory. City agreed to eliminate racial quota.

Rau and Katapadi v. NYC Dept. of Ed.

January 14^th 2008

CIR filed a class action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York challenging the use of separate, lower admissions standards for white students at prestigious Mark Twain Intermediate School, a magnet school located in Coney Island, NY...

Case Status: Victory. Case settled on favorable terms.

Ng v. New York City Dept. of Education

November 19^th 2007

CIR filed a class action lawsuit challenging the New York City Department of Education ’s policy of excluding Asian American and white students from a test preparation course because of their race...

Case Status: Victory

Michigan Civil Rights Initiative Litigation: BAMN v. Russell et al.; Russell v. Brandon; Schuette v. BAMN

December 18^th 2006

CIR represented Eric Russell in his defense of the constitutionality of a state constitutional amendment sponsored by Ward Connerly and Jennifer Gratz to ban the use of racial preferences in state programs...

Case Status: Victory. Case settled on favorable terms

Smith v. Virginia Commonwealth University

September 26^th 2006

CIR successfully challenged a race-exclusive summer journalism workshop...

Case Status: Victory

Operation King's Dream v. Ward Connerly

August 3^rd 2006

The Center for Individual Rights represented the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative (MCRI) against a last-minute effort by opponents to keep it off the November 2006 ballot by challenging its legality under the federal Voting Rights Act...

Case Status: Loss

Worth v. Jackson

August 8^th 2002

CIR's challenge of employment goals and preferences for women and racial minorities at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development...

Case Status: Settled on favorable terms

U.S. v. New York City Board of Education

April 19^th 2000

Since 2000, the Center for Individual Rights has represented a group of New York City schools custodial engineers in a landmark challenge to efforts by the federal government to retroactively redistribute employment seniority on the basis of race and gender...

Case Status: Loss. U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit affirmed district court ruling granting defendants' motion for summary judgement.

Miami University Wrestling Club v. Miami University of Ohio

November 18^th 1999

CIR challenged the elimination of men's athletic teams to achieve parity in participation and spending on men's and women's teams...

Case Status: Settled. University of Minnesota agreed to abolish female-only pay raises and distribute salary equitably.

Maitland v. University of Minnesota

November 3^rd 1999

CIR challenged a 1989 consent decree whereby the University of Minnesota agreed to distribute $3 million to female faculty members to remedy alleged gender disparities in salary...

Case Status: Victory

Jacobs v. Independent School District No. 625

April 6^th 1999

The Center for Individual Rights filed a federal lawsuit challenging a racial preference policy that left available classroom seats unfilled in order to achieve the district’s desired racial balance...

Case Status: Partial Win: The Supreme Court struck down the UM undergraduate admissions system but upheld the law school system.

Gratz v. Bollinger; Grutter v. Bollinger

October 14^th 1997

CIR filed two lawsuits challenging the use of racial preferences at the University of Michigan and the University of Michigan law school...

Case Status: Victory. Case settled prior to trial.

Turner v. Browner

September 19^th 1997

Cir challenged an agency-wide affirmative action plan maintained by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency...

Case Status: Partial Victory. District court judge modified scholarship to include applicants of any race.

Tompkins v. Alabama State University

August 27^th 1997

The Center for Individual Rights agreed to represent Mr. Jessie Tompkins, a graduate student at Alabama State University, in his lawsuit challenging court mandated all-white scholarships at the historically black university...

Case Status: Loss

Smith v. University of Washington

May 3^rd 1997

CIR's 1997 lawsuit challenging racial preferences at the University of Washington on behalf of several law school applicants including Katuria Smith. Smith grew up in poverty, with an alcoholic father and step-father, and struggled through high school. In spite of this, she was able to pull her life together and submit an impressive application to UW's law school. However, because she was not a member of a preferred race, Smith's application was denied...

Case Status: Victory

Doe v. Department of Health and Human Services

February 14^th 1997

CIR successfully challenged the unconstitutional exclusion of "Michelle Doe," a sixteen year old high school girl, from a "minorities-only" summer study program solely because of her race...

Case Status: Victory

Coalition for Economic Equity v. Wilson

November 6^th 1996

In 1996, the Center for Individual Rights intervened in a lawsuit to defend the results of a popular vote on Proposition 209, the California Civil Rights Initiative, which prohibited the use of racial and gender preferences in public education, contracting, and employment...

Case Status: Settled on terms favorable to CIR's client

DynaLantic Corp. v. Department of Defense

December 15^th 1995

CIR successfully represented a small Long Island company whose ability to compete (and even stay in business) was hobbled by the federal government's extensive use of race preferences in awarding government contracts...

Case Status: Loss. Petition for Writ of Certiorari denied on June 29, 2000.

Boulahanis v. Board of Regents, Illinois State University

September 22^nd 1995

CIR challenged the elimination of Illinois State men's athletic teams to achieve identical rates of participation and spending on men's and women's teams, regardless of interest levels...

Case Status: Victory, later modified in Grutter v. Bollinger

Hopwood v. Texas

August 19^th 1994

CIR won a historic victory in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals case Hopwood v. Texas. The Fifth Circuit ruling barred all use of racial preferences in university admissions in the states under that court’s jurisdiction...

Case Status: Victory before D.C. Circuit, case settled on remand.

Lamprecht v. Federal Communications Commission

January 25^th 1991

One of the Center for Individual Rights' first clients was Thomas Lamprecht, a 28-year-old radio broadcaster whose application for a license had been denied by the FCC because he was a man...