News and Commentary

Fill the Courtroom for the Brooklyn Bridge Mass Arrest Lawsuit

Court of Appeals Hearing Monday April 22 at 10 am
The NYPD is seeking to overturn Judge Rakoff’s ruling in favor of the protestors — attend the hearing at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. more >>

New Documents Reveal: DHS spying on Peaceful Demonstrations and Activists

Monitoring Peaceful Demonstrations and Activists as a Matter of Policy
Government documents obtained by the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF) through its FOIA records requests reveal that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), an agency created after the September 11 attacks under the rubric of combating terrorism, conducts daily monitoring of peaceful, lawful protests as a matter of policy. more >>

PCJF Files Appellate Brief to Uphold Brooklyn Bridge Ruling

The PCJF has filed a major brief before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in this matter. The brief is in opposition to the efforts by the NYPD to overturn U.S. District Court Judge Jed Rakoff's ruling in favor of the protestors in this case. more >>

Mara Verheyden-Hilliard discusses Occupy monitoring on 'Law and Disorder' Radio

In this comprehensive interview Mara Verheyden-Hilliard provides a broad perspective explaining how the FBI and other police agencies collaboration with Wall Street against the Occupy Movement is part of an historic tug-of-war between grassroots movements’ for change and the institutions of power and privilege. She also explains how government documents obtained by the PCJF show in detail that when the people of the United States rose up against the economic suffering caused by the biggest banks and corporations the FBI and other law enforcement agencies functioned as partners with the same banks and corporate entities in opposition to the Occupy movement and the labor movement and others fighting for justice. more >>

FBI Documents Reveal Secret Nationwide Occupy Monitoring

See the released documents here
FBI documents just obtained by the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF) reveal that from its inception, the FBI treated the Occupy movement as a potential criminal and terrorist threat even while acknowledging that organizers called for peaceful protest and did “not condone the use of violence.” more >>

Federal Court Strikes Down D.C. Political Postering Law as Unconstitutional

The Partnership for Civil Justice Fund's five-year-long free speech battle to overturn poster regulations used to target grassroots organizations has resulted in a historic federal court ruling striking down the law as unconstitutional. more >>

New Federal Lawsuit Filed Against NYPD for Occupy Arrests

PCJF Challenges Unlawful Police Tactics, Sidewalk Arrests, Orange Netting Corral
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of individuals who were falsely arrested on September 24, 2011 in the first week of the Occupy Wall Street movement, including one plaintiff who was subject to Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna’s notorious pepper spray attack. more >>

PCJF Obtains More Heavily Redacted Documents on OWS from Homeland Security

Homeland Security releases third round of documents to PCJF
The Partnership for Civil Justice Fund has obtained a third round of documents from the Department of Homeland Security in response to our Freedom of Information Act request made in November 2011. more >>

Federal Judge Rules that Brooklyn Bridge Class Action Lawsuit Can Proceed

US District Judge Jed Rakoff ruled that New York Police Department officers are not entitled to qualified immunity from the arrests on the Brooklyn Bridge. more >>

PCJF Opposes Blatantly Unconstitutional Anti-Protest Law

Executive Director to Testify at D.C. Council Hearing Today
Opposing Bill 19-645: Criminal Code Amendments Act of 2012 that targets demonstrators and the Occupy movement in Washington, D.C., Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, Executive Director of the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund is testifying before the D.C. Council today more >>