Supreme Court Term 2025-2026

Anthony Wainwright, who was facing imminent execution in Florida, attempted to file a petition in the Florida Supreme Court with the assistance of his pro bono counsel of choice. The court dismissed the petition only because his court-appointed refused to file it, despite the fact that Mr. Wainwright was entitled to do so under Florida law. He asked the United States Supreme Court to review his case to decide whether the Florida court’s action deprived him his constitutional right of access to the courts and his Sixth Amendment right to counsel. The United States Supreme Court refused to review the case, and the State of Florida executed him on June 10, 2025.

In Arkansas State Conference NAACP v. Arkansas Board of Apportionment, the 8th Circuit became the first federal appeals court to rule that private plaintiffs cannot enforce Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. In doing so, the court left open the question whether private plaintiffs could enforce Section 2 through an alternative civil rights statute, 42 U.S.C. § 1983. In this case, a divided panel on the 8th Circuit has held that plaintiffs may not use Section 1983, either. If the holding stands, Section 2 of the VRA will be functionally out of reach for voters across the 8th Circuit in Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. On behalf of the NAACP Arkansas State Conference and the Arkansas Public Policy Panel, the ACLU and ACLU of Arkansas has filed a brief supporting the plaintiffs' request that the full Eighth Circuit rehear and correct this decision.

On March 5, 2025, the ACLU and its allies filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court arguing that the First Amendment does not prohibit states from offering limited, categorical religious exemptions or from distinguishing between religious and nonreligious entities and activities in assessing the applicability of exemptions.

A Kentucky woman who was pregnant and seeking an abortion filed a lawsuit in Jefferson County Circuit Court seeking to restore access to abortion in the Commonwealth by challenging two abortion bans under the state constitutional rights to privacy and self-determination. The case details the severe harms that Kentuckians seeking abortion, like Plaintiff Mary Poe suffer because the government denies them access to the care they need. The lawsuit also requests the court certify a class of all pregnant individuals who seek access to abortion in the Commonwealth but cannot obtain that care because of Kentucky’s abortion bans.