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Supreme Court Grants President a Technical Win on Birthright Citizenship—What Civil Rights Lawyers Want You to Know

What the Court Decided Today The Supreme Court just handed former President Trump a procedural victory, not a verdict on the heart of his birthright …

Antioch Officer Sentenced to 7 Years: BNCL Continues the Fight for Accountability

In a significant milestone for police accountability, former Antioch Police Officer Morteza Amiri has been sentenced to seven years in federal prison for unleashing his …

Juneteenth 2025: Freedom’s Legacy, Justice’s Call — BNCL Stands Firm

Introduction Happy Juneteenth! June 19, 1865, marked the day news of emancipation reached Galveston, Texas, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. This day has since …

California Fights Back: A Constitutional Clash Over Trump’s Military Deployment to L.A.

Introduction California is challenging an extraordinary claim of presidential power after President Trump ordered thousands of National Guard troops and Marines into Los Angeles during …

Landmark Win for Reverse-Discrimination Plaintiffs: Supreme Court Levels the Playing Field Under Title VII

Introduction On June 5, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling in Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services, dismantling the so-called “background …

Black Legacy Day: Michigan Takes a Stand to Honor History and Fuel the Future

This week, the State of Michigan officially designated May 29 as Black Legacy Day — a statewide observance aimed at honoring the cultural, historical, and …

Justice Denied: Federal Oversight of Louisville and Minneapolis Police Departments Quietly Dropped

In a deeply troubling turn, the U.S. Department of Justice has quietly dismissed its federal oversight agreements with the Louisville Metro Police Department and the …

The 14th Amendment on Trial: Supreme Court Takes Up Trump’s Birthright Citizenship Ban

This week, the United States Supreme Court began hearing oral arguments in what could become one of the most consequential immigration cases in modern history. …

Civil Rights on the Agenda: Michigan Hosts 2025 Civil Rights Summit Amid Rising National Tensions

This week, the Michigan Department of Civil Rights hosted the 2025 Civil Rights Summit in Detroit—a three-day event that brought together legal experts, policymakers, activists, …

Case Results

Reginald Oliver v. City of Oakland

Oakland Police keep fabricating evidence and lying about minorities to arrest and prosecute them for supposed “gang” crimes, in violation of a settlement that prohibits …

Named plaintiff Reginald Oliver claims the Oakland PD continues violating the Constitution, in defiance of the settlement in Delphine Allen e al. v. City of Oakland, USDC No. C-00-4599 TEH, also known as "The Riders" litigation. Read Full Course

Jane Smith v. City of Oakland

Racial profiling of Asian women by police officer resulting in a class action complaint for damages, declaratory and injunctive relief

Finding evidence about defendant's post-conviction parole violation unfairly prejudicial "since the jury could have construed that parole violation as character evidence in violation of Federal Rule of Evidence 404(b)" Read Full Course

Rodney King v. City of Los Angeles

Rodney King has filed a petition for a writ of mandamus seeking to have Judge John G. Davies disqualified from presiding at the trial of …

Rodney King waited too long to file a malpractice suit against the first of 27 lawyers who represented him in connection with the infamous beating he suffered from Los Angeles police in 1991, this district’s Court of Appeal ruled yesterday. The ruling by Div. Two affirmed Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ann Kough’s grant of summary judgment to Steven Lerman. King earlier this year dismissed his appeal of Kough’s ruling in favor of two other lawyers sued in the case, Federico Sayre and John Burris. Read Full Course

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Civil rights lawyer John Burris confronts police narratives

John Burris Video 2020

Colin Kaepernick Tribute Video