On behalf of young patients and their parents, the Law Center and our pro bono co-counsel from Ballard Spahr have asked courts to quash sweeping subpoenas issued by the U.S. Department of Justice seeking years’ worth of medical records of every patient under the age of 19 who received gender-affirming care from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. The records being sought are deeply personal, containing medical information about these young patients’ mental, sexual, and reproductive health, along with personally identifying information, including their names, addresses, Social Security numbers, and their parents’ names.

“Patients and their parents have a constitutionally protected right to privacy in these types of records,” said Mimi McKenzie, Legal Director at the Public Interest Law Center. “And courts have consistently recognized this. Releasing these records would pose great harm to patients and their families—particularly given the current social and political climate. The Trump administration is weaponizing the Department of Justice to intimidate health care providers and families and to attack this evidence-based care.”

Read more here.

As part of a broader effort to compel states to turn over their full voter registration databases, including with sensitive personal information such as driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers, President Trump’s Department of Justice sued Pennsylvania and its Secretary of the Commonwealth, Al Schmidt. Last week, the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania, Common Cause, and seven Pennsylvania voters filed a motion to intervene in order to protect this sensitive information and safeguard the integrity of our elections.

The Public Interest Law Center, along with the ACLU and the ACLU of Pennsylvania, is representing the voters and the voting organizations in this case.

“The Constitution entrusts states, not the federal government, with running elections, said Ben Geffen, Senior Attorney at the Public Interest Law Center. “The federal government is suing Pennsylvania for following the law, and the federal government should lose this case. Otherwise, countless Pennsylvania voters like our clients will have their personal data compromised. We are not going to let that happen.”

Find more information and the filings here. 

On September 10, we and our co-counsel went before the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania to argue that it is unconstitutional to invalidate mail ballots simply because of a missing or incorrect handwritten date.

In the September 17, 2024 special election in Philadelphia, 69 mail ballots were rejected when the voters failed to write the correct date on their outer return envelopes—even though that date serves no purpose. The Public Interest Law Center, alongside the ACLU and pro bono co-counsel at Arnold & Porter, sued on behalf of Philadelphia voters who were disenfranchised in this manner.

The Court of Common Pleas ruled that disqualifying mail ballots because of minor envelope-dating errors violated voters' rights under the state constitution. The Commonwealth Court upheld that decision, ordering Philadelphia to count these undated or misdated ballots to protect the right to free and equal elections. On November 1,2024, however, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ordered counties not to count such ballots for future elections until it had fully resolved an appeal. Now that the Supreme Court has heard oral argument, we are hopeful about receiving a positive final conclusion to this case.

Last year, following our landmark victory for school funding, the Pennsylvania General Assembly took an essential first step towards meeting its constitutional obligation to provide every student with a quality education. Through bipartisan legislation, the state acknowledged a $4.5 billion shortfall in school funding—and began to address it with an initial $526 million in "adequacy funding." While that investment wasn’t enough, it was a vital start—supporting teachers, counselors, and tutors across the Commonwealth.

Now, the Constitution calls for a second step: another $526 million in adequacy funding, along with much-needed reforms to the way cyber charter schools are funded—changes that would save public schools hundreds of millions of dollars.

The Pennsylvania House has already passed legislation to make this happen, and the Governor is on board. But the Pennsylvania Senate has yet to act and pass a budget, even as students have long since returned to classrooms across the state. The Law Center will continue to encourage the legislature to meet its constitutional obligations and monitor its progress towards adequacy.

We mourn the loss of our former colleague Alice Ballard, a trailblazing attorney who devoted more than 50 years to defending workers, civil rights, and women’s rights across Philadelphia and beyond. Alice worked at the Law Center for a number of years in the 1970s and later founded her own practice, where her courage, intelligence, and compassion left an indelible mark on the field. She mentored countless advocates, argued landmark cases, and set a bar that we will continue to strive to meet.

“Alice was a special person, exceptionally talented, deeply committed to equality for all, and willing to engage at every level,” said longtime Law Center attorney Michael Churchill, who worked with Alice for many years. “We were fortunate to have her on our team.”

Read Alice’s obituary in the Philadelphia Inquirer here.

In 2024, our clients, partners, and supporters opened doors that had long been closed. Across Pennsylvania, communities stood up and pushed back—against displacement, voter suppression, systemic injustice, and exclusion from the decisions shaping their lives. At every step, we stood with them. The theme of the Law Center’s 2024 annual report, Opening the Door to Impact, reflects what’s possible when legal advocacy is grounded in partnership and purpose.

Read our annual report here.