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In New Jersey, we won dismissal of the claims against American Muslims for Palestine–NJ in USA v. PSL-NJ, AMP-NJ. The lawsuit, brought under the FACE Act, targets a street protest against illegal sales of Gaza land held partly at a synagogue. Zionists assaulted activists, but federal authorities went after the protesters and groups.

The claims against AMP are particularly frivolous: its only role was promoting the protest on social media. In September 2026, the court dismissed the claims against AMP but allowed the plaintiffs to revise them. We are confident they cannot repair the claims or that we will win dismissal again, with no further opportunity to revise.

These are among the cases CLDC is handling heading into November 2026.

Stop Cop City

On December 30, 2025, the court dismissed the Georgia racketeering charges, but the state is appealing the decision. Our client still faces a pending domestic terrorism allegation in DeKalb County.

Standing Rock

We are still grinding through our two Standing Rock police brutality cases, Wilansky and Poemoceah. After we overturned an earlier dismissal of Poemoceah’s case and found an excellent expert witness, the court dismissed it again. We have appealed, with arguments tentatively scheduled for early 2027.

Meanwhile, an appeals court upheld the dismissal of Wilansky’s case. We are considering asking the Supreme Court to hear it.

George Floyd protests in Eugene

Our longstanding case, Boudjerada, et al. v. City of Eugene, et al., challenges Eugene police’s brutal response to the May 2020 George Floyd protests.

In 2023, we won a ruling that the city’s curfew, announced with five minutes’ notice and followed by immediate arrests, was unconstitutional. An appeals court shielded the police chief and city manager from liability through “qualified immunity,” but the ruling against the city stands. We are headed to court-ordered settlement talks and, if necessary, a trial in 2027.

Defending Palestine solidarity organizing in Los Angeles and Michigan

We are defending People’s City Council, Los Angeles, against claims arising from an Instagram post supporting a protest against an Israeli weapons company’s presentation near a synagogue. After we challenged the lawsuit, the plaintiffs withdrew it, filed a revised version, and we moved to dismiss the case.

We are also challenging a sweeping Michigan grand jury demand for student employee union records dating back to January 2023, apparently connected to Palestine solidarity protests.

Oregon anti-ICE protest prosecutions

Of the 39 federal cases we have handled since September 2025, 32 have been dismissed and seven remain pending. We have also defended six activists in state and city courts; three of those cases have been dismissed.

Challenging the crackdown on protest outside Eugene’s federal building

Our clients in Longworth and Lardner v. Trump, et al. are outspoken anti-ICE activists who help lead protests several times a week outside Eugene’s federal building. The building houses ICE staff and handles immigration appointments, where many immigrants are taken into custody and sent to detention centers.

In November 2025, the Trump administration issued “emergency” rules making “loud or unusual noise” outside federal buildings a crime. Our clients were arrested and threatened with arrest for using megaphones to criticize the government and speak to passing drivers and pedestrians.

A federal judge blocked enforcement of the rules in December and extended that protection in March 2026 while the case continues. The judge found that our clients were likely to win and that the rules were causing lasting harm to protesters’ constitutional rights.

The government appealed, with arguments scheduled for November 2026. We are defending the court order and working to gather evidence and obtain a final ruling.

In a separate case, we challenged the tall metal fence the federal government built around most of the building, blocking off much of Eugene’s Free Speech Plaza. The court granted us a preliminary injunction ordering the government to remove the fence.

In early September 2026, the government filed its record of how the decision was made. After reviewing it, we will ask the court to rule in our favor. In the meantime, we are exploring settlement options to obtain a long-term remedy.

We are also reviewing potential claims for several people injured by ICE at the building, including protesters and people reporting for news media.

Challenging state surveillance of political activism

We represent longtime clients Rogue Climate and 350 Eugene in Rogue Climate and 350 Eugene, et al. v. State of Oregon. Oregon law bars law enforcement from collecting or keeping information about political activities without reasonable suspicion of a crime. Yet Oregon Department of Justice officials admitted under oath that they continue to monitor our clients’ social media and other activist activities without that basis.

The lower court dismissed our claims, on the perverse grounds that the only remedy available was to order the state to follow the law. We appealed, arguing that this is exactly the protection the court should provide. Arguments were heard in June 2026, and we remain optimistic about the outcome.

Big police settlements in small towns of the United States

We settled one of our oldest cases, Black Unity, et al. v. City of Springfield, et al., over this past summer. Filed in 2020, it challenged outrageous police behavior during a march responding to a skeleton hanging from a noose across from a Black person’s home in Springfield’s lily-white Thurston area.

Early this year, the judge allowed all our claims to proceed, strongly supporting our claims of retaliation for protected speech, excessive force, unlawful surveillance, and conspiracy to violate civil rights under the Ku Klux Klan Act. At long last, the defendants offered a meaningful settlement, allowing us to close the case.

In Gilliam v. Miller, we represented a Black man subjected to racial profiling in the very white small town of Coburg, Oregon. Police forced him to kneel at gunpoint, then held him handcuffed in a police car for nearly an hour without legal grounds.

The court rejected our racial profiling claim but allowed his challenge to the length and conditions of his detention to proceed. That finally convinced the city to settle in July 2026.

Stabbin’ Wagon

Stabbin’ Wagon serves unhoused people and people with addictions through needle exchanges, HIV testing and other harm reduction services. This raised the hackles of Medford, Oregon officials, police officers and a pro-police social media operator, who publicly lambasted our clients and urged the Oregon Health Authority to revoke their grant.

In September 2026, the court dismissed our First Amendment retaliation claims but allowed us to clarify claims of conspiracy to deprive civil rights. The ruling included a rare recognition that addiction-related disabilities are protected by federal laws prohibiting such conspiracies between government and private actors.

Cal Poly Humboldt and the Arcata Five

In People v. Toledo, our client, Rick Toledo, participated in a support rally for students occupying a building to pressure Cal Poly Humboldt to take a stronger position against the genocide in Palestine and ICE raids.

He was not a major participant in the takeover, but a brief interaction with a university staff member led to a late-night arrest warrant on suspicion of felony conspiracy, battery, false imprisonment and assault. After he made bail, a second warrant authorized a search of his home, where his phones and computers were seized.

Months later, he was charged with misdemeanor battery, false imprisonment and assault, a serious reduction from the initial felony accusations. The judge has agreed to a diversion whereby the charges are dismissed after six months.

We also secured an agreement for the Arcata Five, activists arrested during a mutual aid effort helping folks at an unpermitted campsite move their belongings prior to an eviction date. The judge has agreed to a diversion whereby the charges are dismissed after six months.

Animal rights defense

Presently, in California, we are defending Direct Action Everywhere activists engaged in open rescue liberations, with trial pending. In Portland, Oregon, we favorably resolved the case of an activist arrested at a foie gras protest at a restaurant.

Training and movement support

We help lead Protect the Protest, a coalition of 48 organizations opposing lawsuits used to silence organizing, and participate in networks tracking anti-protest legislation.

We are also working with Trans Alliance Lane County  to reform jail housing and search practices for transgender people.