Court Cases

Defending Anton's Law in Montgomery County Update April 7, 2026, in a key win for police accountability, Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge J. Bradford McCullough issued a sweeping opinion late Friday demanding government transparency in a long-pending lawsuit brought by an anonymous police officer and the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), John Doe v. Montgomery County. The ruling forcefully rejects FOP efforts to undermine and invalidate Anton’s Law – the public information act reform that opens access to police misconduct records. Update: On February 24, 2023, Judge Karla Smith granted the right of the Maryland Coalition for Justice and Police Accountability to intervene in the Montgomery County FOP lawsuit. The judge vacated Montgomery County’s agreement with the FOP to litigate the case in secret, saying it was improper.

Several Black voters and local organizations filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Baltimore under the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965 challenging the at-large component of the election system for the Wicomico County Council and Board of Education.

On October 30, 2023, the ACLU and ACLU of Maryland filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit supporting the Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) in its efforts to ensure that its English curriculum is LGBTQ-inclusive.

In 2016, Baltimore County Police Officer Royce Ruby shot and killed 23-year old Korryn Gaines, a Black woman, and in the process also critically wounded her son, five-year old Kodi Gaines. Young Kodi was left without a mother.

ACLU is taking action. When the U.S. Department of Justice announced the indictment of Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins recently, it didn’t come as a surprise to see that Jenkins was charged with crimes related to abuse of power.

Seven Black voters joined the Caroline County Branch of the NAACP and the Caucus of African American Leaders to file suit against Federalsburg in federal district court in Baltimore under the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965.

For over a decade, Maryland’s DHS and SSA have failed to exercise adequate oversight of children in foster care who are given potentially dangerous psychotropic drugs.

A group of Baltimore County voters filed a federal lawsuit, Baltimore County NAACP et al. v. Baltimore County et al., challenging the racially discriminatory and unlawful redistricting plan approved by the Baltimore County Council.

ACLU of Maryland filed a lawsuit challenging Calvert County Sheriff Evan's onerous use of fees to block our request for access to public policing records.