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Redistricting Lawsuit Trial Starts December 11
Trial in our Pennsylvania Redistricting Lawsuit is quickly approaching. Stay up to speed on the lawsuit by bookmarking this page. Or, if you would like to receive regular email updates, email Michael Berton at [email protected].
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Partnering with Lawyers' Committees to Support Same-sex Couple Denied Service by Cakeshop Owner
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David Mullins and Charlie Craig, Photo: ACLU
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In October, in partnership with the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, the Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights, and the Mississippi Center for Justice, we submitted an amicus ("friend of the court") brief in support of Charlie Craig and David Mullins. Charlie and David visited Masterpiece Cakeshop in Denver, Colorado to order a cake for their wedding, but were denied service by the shop's owner, Jack Phillips, who claimed that baking a wedding cake for a same-sex couple went against his Christian beliefs. While the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the couple, the United States Supreme Court later agreed to hear the case. We argue that overturning the Colorado Court of Appeals' decision would "...undermine decades of civil rights progress, and eviscerate public accommodation statutes across the country." Learn more about the case and our arguments in support of the couple on our website.
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Thank you for your Support on Giving Tuesday
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Law Center Promotional video
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Thanks to our supporters and a generous board member, we raised $18,755 on Giving Tuesday in support of our clients! To learn more about who you are supporting with your donations,
check out our promotional video. If you feel inspired to j
oin your fellow supporters who donated on Giving Tuesday, make a donation before the end of the year through our website.
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Preparing Students with Disabilities for Life After School
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| Darlene Hemerka |
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Darlene Hemerka, Equal Justice Works Fellow sponsored by Greenberg Traurig, LLP, is providing limited legal representation, legal advice and know-your-rights trainings to families and caregivers of students with disabilities ages 14-21. The project is designed to ensure these students receive appropriate transition planning and services to help prepare the students for life after high school. Her next presentations are on December 7 at Public Health Management Corporation and December 12 at Northeast High School. Please share with your networks!
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Anti-squatting Bill Voted Down
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Philadelphia City Hall
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We helped stop a bill that would have threatened tenants, including gardeners and farmers operating on vacant, abandoned land, from continuing their local food and community efforts. Philadelphia City Council recently introduced a bill to address the problem of trespassing on residential properties - a practice often labeled "squatting." The proposed bill would have permitted the police to forcibly remove people from properties if they could not provide "credible evidence" of their right to be on the property within 48 hours. Producing such documentation in such a short time frame would have been especially unwieldy for many, including gardeners and farmers who have been operating without ownership for decades. We testified against this bill on November 6, and it was voted down that same day.
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Soil Generation Updates
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PHLA City Panorama
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In 2012, we helped incubate Soil Generation, a black-led coalition of urban gardeners and farmers advocating for healthy foods and green spaces in Philadelphia. Since then, the coalition has grown immensely and become a force in the city. Recently, Law Center community organizer Kirtrina Baxter and Soil Generation were part of the team that created Philadelphia Assembled, an expansive project at the Philadelphia Museum of Art that tells a story of radical community building and active resistance through the personal and collective narratives that make up Philadelphia's changing urban fabric. The exhibit runs through December 10. Kirtrina and Soil Generation also went to Puerto Rico to bring skills and supplies to Puerto Rican food and farming communities devastated by Hurricane Maria, and have participated in a fundraiser, "Philly for Puerto Rico."
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