Court Cases

On May 1, 2017, the ACLU of Georgia and the American Civil Liberties Union filed an amicus brief in Henry County Board of Education v. S.G., in support of Plaintiff "S.G." S.G. is a high school student who was provoked into fighting a classmate on school grounds and defended herself under Georgia law. The Henry County Board of Education expelled S.G. from school for fighting on school grounds without giving her the opportunity to assert a defense for her actions. The State Board of Education agreed with the school's determination, but the Superior Court reversed, finding that S.G. was justified in using force because she acted in self-defense. The Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court's decision because the school board did not properly apply self-defense standards when expelling S.G. for fighting on school grounds. Henry County Board of Education has petitioned the Supreme Court of Georgia to overturn the Court of Appeals decision so that S.B., and other students who are defending themselves in school, would not have the option of claiming self-defense when they are provoked. The ACLU of Georgia supports S.G. because children, especially children of color, in Georgia public schools are at risk of losing their constitutional right to education because of the rote application of zero tolerance policies. These policies deprive students of a meaningful disciplinary hearing in violation of their constitutional right to due process. Children must be allowed to exercise their right to raise affirmative defenses in their disciplinary hearings to protect their right to education. The other organizations that signed onto the ACLU's amicus brief in support of S.G. include: Gwinnett SToPP and the Georgia Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

On April 10, 2017 the ACLU of Georgia and the American Civil Liberties Union filed a friend-of-the-court brief arguing that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act clearly prohibits workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The brief, filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, supports Lambda Legal client Jameka Evans’ request for a re-hearing in the case of Evans v. Georgia Regional Hospital, in which Evans, a lesbian employee, sued her employer for harassment in violation of Title VII. On March 10th, a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit, basing its decision on precedent that has been called into question by more recent Supreme Court rulings, held that the discrimination based on sexual orientation was not actionable under Title VII. Evans has filed a Petition for Rehearing en banc, asking that all of the judges of the 11th Circuit hear arguments on whether sexual orientation discrimination is a form of sex discrimination prohibited by Title VII. The ACLU of Georgia supports Evans’ petition because, as recent court rulings explain, Title VII’s prohibition against sex discrimination protects all employees, including lesbian, gay, and bisexual people. Employers who take sexual orientation into account necessarily take sex into account, because sexual orientation is defined by one’s sex in relation to the sex of the people to whom one is attracted. Evans is being represented by Lambda Legal. The other organizations that signed onto the ACLU’s amicus brief in support of the petition include: 9to5, National Association of Working Women; A Better Balance; California Women’s Law Center; Coalition of Labor Union Women; Equal Rights Advocates; Gender Justice; Legal Voice; National Association of Women Lawyers; National Organization for Women Foundation; National Partnership for Women & Families; National Women’s Law Center; Southwest Women’s Law Center; Women Employed; Women’s Law Center of Maryland, Inc.; and Women’s Law Project.