Help When You Need It Most

Each year, FIRE reviews thousands of potential cases involving individuals and groups whose rights are threatened. FIRE’s team of legal and advocacy experts have decades of experience protecting free speech both on and off college campuses. Learn more about FIRE’s civil liberties cases.

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Pierce College Student Kevin Shaw

Case Archive

926Cases

Henderson v. School District of Springfield R-12

When civil rights plaintiffs sue the government under Section 1983 for violations of their constitutional rights, like suppression of free speech, they often face steep odds stacked against them. Suing the government is expensive and can take years, but many constitutional violations do not result in high-dollar damages that a plaintiff can win. This makes it difficult for civil rights plaintiffs to find attorneys willing to represent them. To fix this problem, Congress passed a law allowing Section 1983 plaintiffs to recover attorneys’ fees from the government when they win. Importantly, the reverse is not true: Government defendants can recover their attorneys’ fees only when plaintiffs file extremely frivolous, bad faith Section 1983 claims. But in the Western District of Missouri, a federal court recently flipped that logic on its head.

Amicus Brief

Uvalde School District Bans Parent for Criticizing School Security: Adam Martinez adv. Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District

Adam Martinez is a father of two children in the Uvalde, Texas public school district, one of whom was present at Robb Elementary during the shooting that resulted in the death of 21 people on May 24, 2022. After the shooting, Martinez became a vocal public critic of the school district’s security efforts. On February 13, 2023, he attended a school board meeting and approached the school district’s chief of police to discuss a recently hired officer who had been deemed ineligible for rehire by another department. The quiet conversation did not disrupt the meeting. However, in response to Martinez’s calm but impassioned criticism of the district’s hiring practices, the police chief asked Martinez to sit down. When Martinez refused, the police chief said Martinez would be banned from all school property and escorted him and his family from the building. The following day, the district’s interim superintendent sent Martinez a formal letter confirming Martinez’ ban from all district property, including board meetings, for two years.

Advocacy
Medical College of Wisconsin

Medical College of Wisconsin: College Reverses Grant of Venue Use for On-Campus Event Amidst Controversy Over Planned Panel Discussion

On May 4, 2023, the president of the Medical College of Wisconsin announced the college would not host the scheduled May 12 Wisconsin Association of Scholars’ Spring Symposium, featuring a panel discussion about diversity, equity, and inclusion issues, because discussions about the event and invited speakers had become “too disruptive” and were distracting from graduation planning. FIRE wrote MCW on May 8, urging the college to reaffirm its moral and legal commitment to academic freedom, which includes upholding faculty and students’ right to receive information from speakers invited to campus.

Advocacy

Gonzalez v. Trevino

Today’s criminal codes are bloated. Flip through them, and you’ll soon find that police can find a broad or vaguely worded law to arrest almost anyone for almost anything–including arresting their critics.

Amicus Brief
College professor city campus

Have your rights been violated?

If you are facing retaliation over protected speech, or if you are a college student or faculty member whose First Amendment rights may have been violated, reach out to FIRE to learn more about how we can protect your rights.

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