Georgia
Featured
Georgia
Jun 2020
![Harris v. Georgia Department of Corrections](https://www.aclu.dev/wp-content/themes/aclu-wp/img/fallback-case-gavel.png)
Harris v. Georgia Department of Corrections
On October 3, 2018, the ACLU and the ACLU of Georgia, together with National Association of the Deaf and Weil, Gotshal & Manges, LLP, filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of deaf and hard of hearing people incarcerated in prisons supervised by the Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC). The complaint highlights GDC’s failure to provide incarcerated deaf and hard of hearing people with equally effective communication access to programs, services, and activities, including medical care, telecommunications, and prison programs. Further, due to lack of access to interpreters and other communication accommodations, deaf prisoners are also often unable to explain or defend themselves when GDC takes disciplinary action against them.
Status: Ongoing
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All Cases
18 Georgia Cases
Georgia
Jul 2024
![Gaines v. NCAA](https://www.aclu.dev/wp-content/themes/aclu-wp/img/fallback-case-gavel.png)
Gaines v. NCAA
The National Women’s Law Center is intervening in defense of transgender athletes in a lawsuit brought against the National Collegiate Athletics Association attempting to force the organization to implement a nationwide and categorical ban on the participation of transgender college athletes. Founded in 1972, NWLC fights for gender justice working across the issues that are central to the lives of women and girls.
Status: Ongoing
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![Gaines v. NCAA](https://www.aclu.dev/wp-content/themes/aclu-wp/img/fallback-case-gavel.png)
Georgia
LGBTQ Rights
Gaines v. NCAA
The National Women’s Law Center is intervening in defense of transgender athletes in a lawsuit brought against the National Collegiate Athletics Association attempting to force the organization to implement a nationwide and categorical ban on the participation of transgender college athletes. Founded in 1972, NWLC fights for gender justice working across the issues that are central to the lives of women and girls.
Jul 2024
Status: Ongoing
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Georgia Supreme Court
Feb 2024
![Tatum v. State](https://www.aclu.dev/wp-content/themes/aclu-wp/img/fallback-case-gavel.png)
Tatum v. State
This case at the Georgia Supreme Court involves the “independent source” doctrine, an exception to the exclusionary rule providing that evidence that is acquired through means genuinely independent of a prior unlawful search or seizure may be accepted by the court. The ACLU’s State Supreme Court Initiative, alongside the ACLU of Georgia, filed an amicus brief arguing that the independent source doctrine does not apply in this case because the police relied on information acquired from a prior, illegal search when they applied for a warrant to search the defendant’s cell phone. The Court’s opinion vacated Tatum’s conviction and remanded to allow the trial court to determine whether the state’s decision to seek the search warrant was “prompted” by the prior unlawful search.
Status: Closed
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![Tatum v. State](https://www.aclu.dev/wp-content/themes/aclu-wp/img/fallback-case-gavel.png)
Georgia Supreme Court
Criminal Law Reform
Tatum v. State
This case at the Georgia Supreme Court involves the “independent source” doctrine, an exception to the exclusionary rule providing that evidence that is acquired through means genuinely independent of a prior unlawful search or seizure may be accepted by the court. The ACLU’s State Supreme Court Initiative, alongside the ACLU of Georgia, filed an amicus brief arguing that the independent source doctrine does not apply in this case because the police relied on information acquired from a prior, illegal search when they applied for a warrant to search the defendant’s cell phone. The Court’s opinion vacated Tatum’s conviction and remanded to allow the trial court to determine whether the state’s decision to seek the search warrant was “prompted” by the prior unlawful search.
Feb 2024
Status: Closed
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Georgia
Nov 2023
![Geter v. Baldwin State Prison, et al.](https://www.aclu.dev/wp-content/themes/aclu-wp/img/fallback-case-gavel.png)
Geter v. Baldwin State Prison, et al.
The Prison Litigation Reform Act (“PLRA”) requires incarcerated plaintiffs to exhaust the prison’s internal grievance system before they can file suit in federal court. But these procedures may be difficult or impossible for people with mental disabilities to complete. The ACLU is working to ensure that the PLRA’s requirements don’t bar people with mental disabilities from court.
Status: Closed (Judgment)
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![Geter v. Baldwin State Prison, et al.](https://www.aclu.dev/wp-content/themes/aclu-wp/img/fallback-case-gavel.png)
Georgia
Prisoners' Rights
Geter v. Baldwin State Prison, et al.
The Prison Litigation Reform Act (“PLRA”) requires incarcerated plaintiffs to exhaust the prison’s internal grievance system before they can file suit in federal court. But these procedures may be difficult or impossible for people with mental disabilities to complete. The ACLU is working to ensure that the PLRA’s requirements don’t bar people with mental disabilities from court.
Nov 2023
Status: Closed (Judgment)
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Georgia
Aug 2023
![GA](https://assets.aclu.org/live/uploads/2022/01/march-on-for-voting-rights-atl-2021-with-andrea-young-congressmember-nikena-williams-600x265.jpeg)
Sixth District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church v. Kemp
Civil rights groups filed a federal lawsuit on March 29, 2021, against Georgia’s sweeping law that makes it much harder for all Georgians to vote, particularly voters of color and voters with disabilities. This law spans all aspects of Georgia’s voting process, including imposing a criminal ban on providing food and water to voters waiting in line, limiting dropbox access and ballot return assistance, rejecting absentee ballots for forgetting to add a birthdate to an envelope or for failing to provide more restrictive identifying information or photo ID copies along with absentee ballots. Premised on low voter confidence and born out of the Big Lie about the 2020 election, this law targets methods of voting disproportionately used more and more by Black voters and others voters of color just as they began to exercise greater political power.
Status: Ongoing
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![GA](https://assets.aclu.org/live/uploads/2022/01/march-on-for-voting-rights-atl-2021-with-andrea-young-congressmember-nikena-williams-600x265.jpeg)
Georgia
Voting Rights
Sixth District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church v. Kemp
Civil rights groups filed a federal lawsuit on March 29, 2021, against Georgia’s sweeping law that makes it much harder for all Georgians to vote, particularly voters of color and voters with disabilities. This law spans all aspects of Georgia’s voting process, including imposing a criminal ban on providing food and water to voters waiting in line, limiting dropbox access and ballot return assistance, rejecting absentee ballots for forgetting to add a birthdate to an envelope or for failing to provide more restrictive identifying information or photo ID copies along with absentee ballots. Premised on low voter confidence and born out of the Big Lie about the 2020 election, this law targets methods of voting disproportionately used more and more by Black voters and others voters of color just as they began to exercise greater political power.
Aug 2023
Status: Ongoing
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Georgia
Nov 2022
![Cobb County Ballot](https://assets.aclu.org/live/uploads/2024/04/WEB20-Absentee-Ballot-SocialShare-1200x628-1-600x314.jpg)
Cook v. Cobb County
On November 4, 2022—the last day of early voting in Georgia and four days before the November 2022 midterm elections—Cobb County Elections Director Janine Eveler disclosed for the first time that approximately 1,036 absentee ballots marked as issued on October 13, 2022 and October 22, 2022 had never been mailed to voters, due to staff error. The ACLU and co-counsel sued on behalf of several affected voters to ensure that plaintiffs could vote in the 2022 midterm election and that no other voters were affected by Cobb County's error.
Status: Closed (Judgment)
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![Cobb County Ballot](https://assets.aclu.org/live/uploads/2024/04/WEB20-Absentee-Ballot-SocialShare-1200x628-1-600x314.jpg)
Georgia
Voting Rights
Cook v. Cobb County
On November 4, 2022—the last day of early voting in Georgia and four days before the November 2022 midterm elections—Cobb County Elections Director Janine Eveler disclosed for the first time that approximately 1,036 absentee ballots marked as issued on October 13, 2022 and October 22, 2022 had never been mailed to voters, due to staff error. The ACLU and co-counsel sued on behalf of several affected voters to ensure that plaintiffs could vote in the 2022 midterm election and that no other voters were affected by Cobb County's error.
Nov 2022
Status: Closed (Judgment)
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