The Supreme Court Ruled, What Now?

The ACLU could have its busiest Supreme Court term ever, with potential cases on immigration, voting rights, and religious freedom in schools.

NEW YORK — The American Civil Liberties Union today announced that, through a generous $1 million anonymous gift, it has established the Arnie Miller Fund for the Next Generation to invest in emerging civil rights and civil liberties leaders. The Fund will support paid ACLU internships for law school and undergraduate students named "Arnie Miller Interns” and enrich programming for ACLU's highly competitive 18-month Pauli Murray Fellowship at the ACLU. The Fund aims to honor the late Arnold J. “Arnie” Miller’s fierce commitment to mentorship, to cultivating a diverse pipeline of talented future leaders, including women, people of color, and underrepresented communities, and to uplifting the next generation of aspiring young leaders in public interest roles. “Arnie Miller spent his life lifting people up, because he understood that people and community are our best assets. We’re proud to be able to turn this generous gift into a long-term program to train and develop young people who are passionate about civil rights and civil liberties,” said Anthony D. Romero, ACLU executive director. “We continue to honor Arnie’s memory by investing in the people who will carry this work forward.” Arnie Miller grew up in the Bronx and served as an Army Lieutenant in post-war Korea before entering politics amid the antiwar movement of the 1960s and 70s. He served in the Carter administration as Director of the Presidential Personnel Office, helping bring more women and people of color into senior federal roles than any prior administration, and later founded Isaacson, Miller, an executive search firm serving mission-driven nonprofits and foundations. “Arnie believed deeply that young people with courage and determination could make a difference in our world. Throughout his life, he found enormous joy in helping others find their path and opening doors that might otherwise have remained closed. I know he would be deeply moved to see this fund carrying that spirit forward, giving the next generation the opportunity to serve, to lead, and to make our communities better. There is no more meaningful way to honor his memory,” said Deb DeLee, Arnie's longtime partner. The Arnie Miller Fund for the Next Generation will help the ACLU foster the exceptional talent of early-career professionals and welcomes additional gifts from those inspired by Arnie's legacy, ensuring the ACLU can continue to create opportunities for early-career professionals to enhance their skills, grow as leaders, and build careers dedicated to justice, equality, and freedom. Learn more about the Arnie Miller Fund for the Next Generation at https://www.aclu.org/arnie-miller-fund and the Pauli Murray Fellowship at https://www.aclu.org/pauli-murray-fellowship.

NEW YORK – In a victory for judicial transparency, today the New York Appellate Division, First Department unanimously affirmed a previous New York County Supreme Court order in NYCLU v. New York State Office of Court Administration (OCA) that requires OCA to disclose all memos it sent to judges that contain guidance on how to interpret and apply the law. The ruling affirmed that the memos — which inform how courts adjudicate New Yorkers’ rights — cannot be considered privileged attorney-client communications or internal judicial deliberations. “Today’s ruling rightly affirms that the public deserves to understand how our judicial system operates, and what goes into judges’ decision-making,” said Daniel Lambright, supervising attorney with the New York Civil Liberties Union. “Every day, judges make decisions that can dramatically impact New Yorkers’ rights, especially within vulnerable communities. New York’s judicial system is strongest when it is transparent, accountable, and responsive to the public. After years of litigation, today’s First Department decision makes clear: it's time for OCA to finally do the right thing and turn over the memos.” “It’s been five years since OCA admitted that it sends memos to judges purporting to advise them on how to decide cases,” said Terry Ding, staff attorney with the ACLU’s State Supreme Court Initiative. “The Freedom of Information Law exists to give the public access to documents like this, so that the process of government decision-making is not shrouded in secrecy. The decision today confirms that OCA must release the memos.” Intended to be a non-partisan, administrative arm of New York’s court system, OCA oversees operations, staffing, and day-to-day support for judges. But in 2021, the New York Focus revealed that OCA had a practice of issuing secret guidance to state court judges, including for cases concerning critical civil rights — like whether defendants in criminal cases should be granted bail and whether to uphold due process protections for people accused of crimes. As shown by the leaked 2021 Crawford Memorandum, these directives seem to carry weight in how state court judges rule. The NYCLU and ACLU have been fighting for these records for five years. In September 2021, the NYCLU filed a Freedom of Information request expressing concern over OCA’s secretive practices, and requested copies of all memos of this nature. The agency denied the request, so the NYCLU sued, arguing that the public is entitled to such guidance. The trial court then ordered OCA to produce its memos, but OCA appealed. In October 2025, the Court of Appeals ordered OCA to turn over any responsive documents to be reviewed. OCA identified 22 memos that it has continued to fight to keep secret. Today’s ruling affirms that OCA has no basis to continue withholding these memos. Today’s decision can be found here. All case materials can be found here.

The ACLU’s Center for Liberty and Women's Rights Project, alongside the ACLU of Georgia, filed an amicus brief in the Georgia Supreme Court supporting a mother after a juvenile court terminated her parental rights even though at the same time the juvenile court expressly found that her continued relationship with her children would not harm them. Under Georgia’s termination statute, courts may terminate parental rights if they find that a child cannot safely return home at present, without any finding that, or even considering whether, a continued parent-child relationship would harm the child or that termination is necessary. In this case, the Department’s own caseworker testified that the mother’s weekly visits with her children went well and that the relationship benefited the children and would continue to. The children's advocate agreed, testifying that the children had a good relationship and were bonded to their mother. Our brief urges the Court to require an individualized finding that severance is necessary to protect the child and that less drastic alternatives would not suffice. We argue that the Constitution does not permit the State to permanently end a parent-child relationship without first establishing that doing so is genuinely necessary.