Also known as: civil rights
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An individual right of personal liberty guaranteed by the Bill of Rights and the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, Fifteenth, and Nineteenth Amendments, together with implementing statutes such as the Voting Rights Act.
Claire Campbell, a solo practitioner, receives a request from a small community group seeking to challenge local parade restrictions that limit protest activity. The group operates on limited donations and explains that standard rates would exhaust its budget. Claire agrees to handle the tax-exemption application and constitutional challenge for a nominal fee far below her usual hourly rate.
Caleb Chang, an attorney with a civil-liberties organization, mails informational letters to individuals describing their rights to assemble and offering free representation in related litigation. A state statute attempts to prohibit all such mailings as unauthorized solicitation. The letters receive First Amendment protection because they advance civil rights objectives through expressive association.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Corinne Cho, a married woman, seeks to obtain contraceptives from a clinic despite a state criminal ban on their use by married couples. She brings suit asserting that the prohibition invades a protected sphere of personal decision-making within marriage. The claim rests on a civil right to liberty in intimate family matters.
Cassandra Cooper, a human cannonball performer, objects when a television station broadcasts his entire act without consent. He sues for damages under state law protecting control over one's public performance. The action enforces a civil right to the commercial value of personal publicity.
Cody Callahan and his partner face criminal prosecution under a state sodomy statute for private consensual conduct. They challenge the law as an unconstitutional intrusion on personal liberty. The suit asserts a civil right to autonomy in intimate relationships free from unwarranted state regulation.
Colin Chambers, an interracial couple member, is denied a marriage license under a state statute prohibiting such unions. He sues to invalidate the ban. The litigation enforces a civil right to marry without racial restriction under the Equal Protection Clause.
Yes. Model Rule 6.1(b)(1) expressly includes delivery of legal services at no fee or a substantially reduced fee to organizations seeking to secure or protect civil rights when payment of standard fees would significantly deplete the organization's resources.
Yes. The rule recognizes work performed at a substantially reduced fee for charitable organizations when full rates would significantly deplete the organization's resources, and a faith-based housing ministry advancing public purposes qualifies.
No. The standard focuses on whether the lawyer charges or expects a fee from the client of limited means. The possibility of recovering fees from an opposing party under a fee-shifting statute does not disqualify the hours.
Black's Law Dictionary treats the terms as largely overlapping, with civil rights encompassing the individual rights of personal liberty guaranteed by the Constitution and civil rights statutes. The Model Rules list both civil rights and civil liberties as qualifying organizational purposes.
…whipping—and to sustained and protracted questioning incommunicado in order to extort confessions.[^maj-6] The Commission on Civil Rights in 1961 found much evidence to indicate that "some policemen still resort to physical force to obtain confessions," 1961 Comm'n on Civil Rights Rep., Justice, pt. 5, 17. The use of physical…