• Donate

  Join Us in the Fight for Democracy, Civil Rights and Social Justice -- in the Courts and in the Streets

  Your urgently needed donations help us as we:
  
  *Defend Free Speech and the Right to Protest, including through our project, The Center for Protest Law & Litigation

  *Fight Back Against Illegal Government Surveillance
  
  *Demand Government Transparency
  
  *Hold Police Forces Accountable for Brutality and Misconduct
  
  Your donations are tax deductible in accordance with law. Thank you for your support!

  Prefer to make a tax-deductible contribution by check? 
  Make checks payable to PCJF.
  Partnership for Civil Justice Fund
  617 Florida Avenue NW 
  Washington DC 20001

  Donate

  ---

• Optional email code
  

Jane Fonda on the repression of Water Protectors and the legal challenge we are mounting to defend their constitutional and human rights

We are mounting a challenge to an extraordinary and dangerous new model of intense repression initiated against Water Protectors in Northern Minnesota that must be stopped before it becomes the nationwide model for movement and community suppression.

Small local Sheriffs' departments, and individual officers, were financially incentivized and paid to act against the opponents of Line 3 with huge sums of money flowing though the so-called "Public Safety Escrow Trust" funded by the Enbridge Corporation. The pipeline corporation paid more than $8.5 million dollars into funding not only Sheriffs’ departments but huge amounts of overtime for individual officers, paid only when they were acting in support of Line 3.

This financial structure essentially privatizes public police forces to act in service to the private pecuniary interests of this foreign corporation against its political opponents and the Indigenous community; to stop and disrupt peaceful organizing and expression that would educate the larger community and national audience about the environmental devastation being caused by the Line 3 pipeline.

We have been preparing the legal challenges to this structure in addition to our other affirmative litigation and defense support to protect and advance Water Protectors' constitutional rights.

Please visit our project the Center for Protest Law and Litigation to learn more about the Line 3 struggle and to support this work.

PCJF Files Federal Lawsuit Over D.C. Police Attack and False Arrest at Black Lives Matter Plaza

PCJF Files Federal Lawsuit Against DC for MPD’s Indiscriminate and Violent Use of Less Lethal Weapons Against Racial Justice Protests

PCJF Files Federal Lawsuit Against DC for MPD’s Indiscriminate and Violent Use of Less Lethal Weapons Against Racial Justice Protests

PCJF Sues D.C Police Department for Withholding Information on Police Violence Against Racial Justice Protests

PCJF Exposes Records on Trump's Unlawful 2020 Use of the Lincoln Memorial Chamber for FOX Interview; Secret Service Email Called it a "$#!t show"

In May 2020, Trump violated the rules governing the use of Lincoln Memorial in order to use the solemn chamber for his own vanity project: a prime time interview with FOX News. PCJF obtained FOIA records documenting this abuse of the Lincoln Memorial.

Major Free Speech Win by PCJF and CAIR: Court Rules Georgia’s Anti-BDS Law is Unconstitutional

A federal court in Georgia has ruled that the state’s anti-BDS law violates the First Amendment in the case the PCJF brought on behalf of journalist and filmmaker Abby Martin. 

Protesters Were Supposed To Hear Warnings Before Federal Police Moved In. They Didn't

NPR's Morning Edition talks to PCJF's Mara Verheyden-Hilliard about the clearing of peaceful protesters from Lafayette Park, and how the police violated previous agreements imposed upon them after their previous misconduct at Pershing Park in 2002.

Long-Awaited Win for Water Protectors

Standing Rock Civil Rights Class Action Moves Forward After Four Years. “We are litigating this case not only on behalf of the water protectors whose rights were so viciously violated at Standing Rock, but for the constitutional rights of all people fighting for climate and racial justice as our planet is in flames and paramilitary forces attack peaceful protestors across the land.” — Mara Verheyden-Hilliard.

Washington Post: A victory for free speech on the Mall

Washington Post editorial "A victory for free speech on the Mall" calls the total withdrawal of proposed anti-protest regulations: "a full retreat by the Trump administration and, more important, a victory for the First Amendment." "Their plan to suppress protest,” said Mara Verheyden-Hilliard of the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, “was met with the very force it was trying to suppress."

Huge Free Speech Victory: Trump Administration Rescinds Planned Anti-Protest Rules

In an extraordinary victory for the people, the Trump Administration has announced that it is fully withdrawing its massive anti-democratic plan to block free speech and assembly through proposed regulations that would have crushed protest on federal land in the nation's capital.

PCJF Opposes Trump's Dept of Interior Plan to Obstruct Access to Public Information

PCJF filed a challenge to Trump's Dept. of Interior plan to obstruct access to public information; calls proposed FOIA rules an "Obstructive Shell Game" and a "Political Gatekeeping Maneuver."