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Toussaint Ridgeway, Released after 29 Years of Incarceration

October 13, 2023

LOUISIANA —Decades after being sentenced to life without parole in Louisiana, Toussaint Ridgeway has been released from custody. “Toussaint is a remorseful, talented, calm, and focused father and grandfather,” said Emily Lubin,...

Court Refuses to Lift Barriers for Black Voters in Georgia

October 12, 2023

ATLANTA – A Georgia district court on Wednesday refused to temporarily lift restrictions to absentee voting, drop boxes and other voting methods that will make it harder for Black voters to cast a ballot for the 2024 election...

SPLC Statement on DOE Investigation of Jefferson Parish School System

October 11, 2023

JEFFERSON PARISH, La. — Today, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) announced support for the decision by the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to investigate widespread reports of discrimination...

New SPLC Report Exposes Punitive Juvenile Justice System In Mississippi

October 10, 2023

JACKSON, Miss . — Today, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) released a troubling report on the state of Mississippi’s youth legal system, which leads the nation in pushing students out of the classroom and into prisons. The...

National Federation of the Blind of Alabama and Voters Sue Alabama Counties for Inaccessible Absentee Voting

October 03, 2023

MOBILE, Ala. — The National Federation of the Blind of Alabama and four individuals — Beverly Clayton, Gilley Pressley, Dr. Eric Peebles, and David Rissling — filed a lawsuit today against three Alabama counties for their failure...

SPLC Designates October as Hate Crimes Awareness Month

September 29, 2023

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — With the United States experiencing the highest levels of hate violence on record, according to the FBI’s latest hate crime report , the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is sounding the alarm about the...

SPLC Backs Redistricting Data Hub to Provide Nonpartisan Voting Rights Data for the South

September 26, 2023

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Today, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) announced a new effort to provide local redistricting data through the Redistricting Data Hub (RDH) , a nonpartisan centralized hub that will be accessible to...

U.S. Supreme Court Ruling Allows Drawing of Alabama Congressional Map to Move Forward

September 26, 2023

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Today, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the Alabama Attorney General’s request to delay the rollout of the state's new court-ordered congressional map, which could have endangered its timely implementation for the...

SPLC: Mississippi Supreme Court Ruling Affirms Hinds County Residents’ Right to Elect Judges

September 21, 2023

JACKSON, Miss. – Today, the Mississippi Supreme Court declared unconstitutional a provision of HB 1020 that, in part, strips Hinds County residents of their constitutionally protected right to elect their judges. In June 2023,...

SPLC Urges National Recognition of Historic Community of Royal, Florida

September 21, 2023

ROYAL, Fla. — In a recent opinion , the National Park Service found that the central Florida community of Royal appears to meet the criteria for the National Register of Historic Places. Settled in the 1860s by Freedmen who...

Georgia Educator Appeals Termination Decision by the Cobb County School Board

September 14, 2023

COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Today, Georgia educator Katherine Rinderle appealed the Cobb County School Board’s decision last month to terminate her for reading My Shadow is Purple to her fifth grade gifted students at Due West Elementary...

P.A.S.C.O. Coalition Urges DOJ to End Support of Harmful Predictive Policing Program

September 12, 2023

PASCO COUNTY, Fla. – In a letter today, the P.A.S.C.O. (People Against the Surveillance of Children and Overpolicing) Coalition asked the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to end its support of Pasco County’s discriminatory...

Federal Judge Staying Preliminary Injunction Against Anti-Transgender Health Care Ban

September 06, 2023

ATLANTA — A federal judge has stayed a preliminary injunction against Georgia Senate Bill 140 (“SB 140,” or the “Health Care Ban”) pending adjudication of the state’s request for her to reconsider her ruling. “We are disappointed...

Civil Rights Groups Challenge Discriminatory Law Unfairly Impacting Black Children of Unwed U.S. Citizen Fathers

September 05, 2023

WASHINGTON — Civil rights attorneys for Damion Glenroy Davis will present oral arguments before the Third Circuit Court of Appeals on Sept. 7 to end a law that excluded naturalized citizen fathers from passing U.S. citizenship to...

Activate Mississippi Initiative Uses Art and Activism to Expand Voter Engagement

August 30, 2023

JACKSON, Miss. — Mississippi has one of the lowest voter turnout rates in the United States. In 2022, only 32% of the state’s voting population exercised their right to vote. To expand voter education and engagement throughout...

Ivory Dixon, Jr., Released After Over 33 Years of Incarceration

August 29, 2023

LOUISIANA— Decades after being sentenced to life without parole in Louisiana, Ivory Dixon, Jr., has been released from custody. “Ivory is a humble, honest, and hardworking father and grandfather,” said Emily Lubin, staff attorney...

Human Rights Organizations Condemn 11th Circuit Decision to Reinstate Alabama Transgender Health Care Ban

August 21, 2023

Today, a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision reversing a federal district court ruling blocking enforcement of Alabama’s law banning medical care for transgender adolescents. The district...

Federal Judge Issues Injunction that Restores Health Care for Georgia Transgender Children

August 21, 2023

ATLANTA —A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction late Sunday halting a provision in Georgia Senate Bill 140 (“SB 140,” the “Health Care Ban,” or the “Ban”) from taking effect while a lawsuit filed by four Georgia families...

Federal Court Lifts Georgia’s Line Relief Ban, Birthdate Requirement on Absentee Ballot Envelopes for 2024 Elections

August 18, 2023

ATLANTA — A federal court in the Northern District of Georgia issued rulings today in response to emergency motions filed by civil rights groups to lift restrictions put in place by Georgia’s anti-voter law, Senate Bill 202 for...

Statement on Cobb County School Board Decision to Uphold Termination of Katherine Rinderle

August 17, 2023

COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Today, the Cobb County School Board voted to uphold the recommendation of Superintendent Chris Ragsdale to terminate Katherine Rinderle, a longtime educator in the Cobb County School District and member of the...

SPLC Mourns Passing of Former Legal Director John Carroll

August 16, 2023

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) reflects on the legacy of former legal director John Carroll, who passed away on Monday, August 14. “John Carroll was a passionate civil rights advocate, jurist, law...

Statement on Cobb County School District’s Tribunal Decision to Reject Recommendation by Superintendent to Terminate Educator

August 15, 2023

COBB COUNTY, Ga. — A three-member tribunal, appointed by the Cobb County Board of Education, issued a decision yesterday rejecting the superintendent’s recommendation to terminate longtime Cobb County educator Katherine Rinderle...

Groups File Motion in Lawsuit to Block Florida’s Anti-Immigrant Law SB 1718

August 08, 2023

SPANISH VERSION BELOW – VERSIÓN EN ESPAÑOL A CONTINUACIÓN MIAMI – Today, legal organizations, including the Southern Poverty Law Center, American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Florida, Americans for Immigrant Justice, and...

Federal Court Issues Groundbreaking Decision Overturning Mississippi’s Lifetime Voting Ban

August 04, 2023

JACKSON, Miss. – Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that Mississippi’s lifetime voting ban for people with disqualifying felony convictions who have completed their sentences is cruel and unusual...

Human and civil rights groups to host special education workshop and clinic for parents and advocates

July 31, 2023

OXFORD, Miss. — The ACLU of Mississippi, in partnership with the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), Disability Rights Mississippi, and Oxford-based law group Frye Reeves, PLLC, will hold a FREE Special Education Workshop and...

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To make Press Center inquiries, email press@splcenter.org

To make Press Center inquiries, email press@splcenter.org

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