Civil Rights

Civil Rights

The ACS State Attorneys General Project develops, collects, and disseminates legal resources highlighting and examining the authority and actions of state attorneys general in key policy areas. This page collects resources related to civil rights.

California Department of Justice, Civil Rights Major Initiatives 

Website detailing the work of the California Attorney General’s office addressing disability rights, employment discrimination, housing discrimination, and LGBTQ rights, among other civil rights actions.

Karl A. Racine, Attorney General for the District of Columbia, Community Voices: Perspectives on Civil Rights in the District of Columbia (Nov. 2019)

Summarizes the key concerns expressed by participants in community listening sessions, describes DC OAG’s work in responding to resident concerns, and proposes potential next steps.

Press Release, Madigan Probes National Job Search Sites Over Potential Age Discrimination (Mar. 2, 2017).

Press Release from the Office of Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan announcing that the Attorney General sent letters to six national career and job search companies over potential age discrimination violations, warning that the websites’ may be violating the Illinois Human Rights Act and the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act.

Maine Office of the Attorney General, Civil Rights Team Project 

Launched in 1996, the CRTP is a school-based preventative program aimed at increasing student safety by reducing bias-motivated behaviors and harassment in schools.

Press Release, AG James Launches Statewide Initiative to Prevent Source of Income Discrimination (Jan. 24, 2020)

New Hampshire’s Attorney General’s Office, Civil Rights Unit, Protocol for Identifying, Investigating, and Reporting Hate Crimes and Civil Rights Violations (Dec. 9. 2019)

OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov, Civil Rights FAQs. 

Webpage of Frequently Asked Questions regarding Civil Rights and the responsibilities of the Civil Rights Section of the Ohio Attorney General’s Office on the Ohio Attorney General’s page.

Virginia Office of the Attorney General, Office of Civil Rights

In January 2021, Attorney General Mark R. Herring officially created the Office of Civil Rights within the Office of Attorney General in order to expand, enhance, and centralize his ongoing work to protect Virginians from discrimination and to secure and expand the rights of all Virginians

Wing Luke Civil Rights Unit Washington State Office of the Attorney General, Civil Rights Resource Guide (September 2015).

Civil rights resource guide compiled by the Washington State Office of the Attorney General Bob Ferguson, designed to inform citizens of their civil rights, answer questions about those rights, and help them to identify the resources that are available to them.

Niraj Chokshi, Seven attorneys general won’t defend their own state’s gay-marriage bans, The Washington Post, (Feb. 20, 2014).

A Washington Post article describing the different ways in which seven state attorneys general declined to defend their states’ bans on same-sex marriage.