Court Cases

The ACLU of Kentucky, along with pro bono co-counsel Covington & Burling, filed a brief on Friday January 17, 2025, appealing the lower court’s dismissal of their clients’ claims. The brief argues Kentucky’s one-year statute of limitations is too short to be consistent with the federal principles underlying Section 1983. In May 2020, the Wright family was together in their home when six Louisville Metro Police Department (“LMPD”) officers demanded they exit, ransacked their home, held them at gunpoint, and took them into custody based on a faulty search warrant. The Wrights filed suit, in a timely manner, for the physical and mental trauma resulting from this unlawful execution of the warrant under the federal remedy purposely designed to hold state actors accountable for such civil rights violations. The Wright family meanwhile attempted to uncover the names of the officers who invaded their home and amend their complaint to list them as defendants. But despite eventually doing so, the district court dismissed the Wrights’ amended complaint based on expiration of the one-year limitations period. The statute of limitations in Kentucky is tied with Tennessee and Puerto Rico for the shortest in the nation. The people of Kentucky are entitled to defend their civil rights in court, and should be afforded a reasonable amount of time to do so.

After initially refusing to provide her with care, the Department of Corrections eventually acknowledged Ms. Marcum’s diagnosis in 2016 and recognized the medical necessity of prescribing Hormone Therapy for her condition. She now brings the suit on behalf of herself and a class of current and future individuals in the Kentucky Department of Corrections’ custody because she, and sixty-six other current prisoners are being, or will soon be denied access to that gender affirming care as a result of Senate Bill 2, which passed the General Assembly in 2025.

The killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor sparked demonstrations advocating for the elimination of racist and violent policing across all 50 states.

The ACLU of Kentucky and cooperating counsel Tom Pugh, Pugh & Roach, are representing two journalists who were arrested while covering a protest in Northern Kentucky at the Roebling Bridge. The case is ongoing.

Summary The ACLU of Kentucky and cooperating counsel Tom Pugh, Pugh & Roach, are representing two journalists who were arrested while covering a protest in Northern Kentucky at the Roebling Bridge. The case is ongoing.

Students in Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) schools on military bases sued on April 15, 2025, arguing that DoDEA’s book removals and curricular changes following several executive orders from President Donald Trump violate their First Amendment rights.

A Kentuckian filed a lawsuit in Jefferson County Circuit Court challenging two of the Commonwealth’s abortion bans on behalf of herself and all pregnant Kentuckians seeking an abortion.

A Kentuckian filed a lawsuit in Jefferson County Circuit Court challenging two of the Commonwealth’s abortion bans on behalf of herself and all pregnant Kentuckians seeking an abortion.

We're suing in federal court to prevent the gender-affirming healthcare ban portion of Senate Bill 150, one of the worst anti-trans laws in the nation.