Economic Justice

The ACLU-WA has filed a petition asking the Washington Supreme Court to direct the Grant County District Court to comply with a Supreme Court ruling that requires them to determine a person’s ability to pay court system debts known as Legal Financial Obligations (LFOs) before imposing these debts. When courts impose LFOs on people who cannot afford to pay them, individuals remain trapped in debt, stuck in poverty, and tied to the criminal justice system. Although the suit focuses on Grant County, similar practices exist in many courts around the state.

The ACLU of Washington has filed a class-action lawsuit against the Office of Public Defense (OPD)— the state agency responsible for public defense in Washington— for failing to enforce minimum standards of public defense in Grays Harbor County.

Taxpayers spent $1,316,203,624 on DWLS III enforcement between 1994 and 2015

The U.S. District Court today denied the ACLU’s motion for a temporary restraining order prohibiting the City of Seattle and the Washington State Dept. of Transportation (WSDOT) from seizing and destroying homeless people’s property without probable cause and constitutionally adequate notice.

The Episcopal Diocese, Real Change, and two homeless individuals filed a class action lawsuit against the City of Seattle and the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) for violating the constitutional rights of people living outside by seizing and often throwing away their property – without adequate notice, an opportunity to be heard, or a meaningful way to reclaim any property that was not immediately destroyed.