United States of America

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Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483

This class action consolidated a number of cases brought on behalf of black schoolchildren denied admission to segregated public schools, under state law. Public facilities were previously racially segregated in the United States, particularly in the South. The case sought to challenge the "separate but equal" doctrine set forth in Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896), that governed racial segregation at the time.

Disability Advocates, Inc. v. David A. Paterson and Others, 653 F.Supp.2d 184 (2009)

Disability Advocates, Inc. (DAI) brought a suit before the U.S. District Court (NY) asserting that New York State discriminated against individuals with disabilities in violation of the ADA’s integration mandate, which requires that individuals with mental illness residing in adult care facilities in New York receive services in the most integrated setting possible in order to increase interaction with the broader community.

Dorothy Ann Finch and others v. Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority

Petitioners challenged the 2009 decision of the State of Massachusetts to exclude a group of legal immigrants from its Commonwealth Care Health Insurance Program. Plaintiffs alleged that such exclusion violated the Equal Protection Clause recognized by the Constitution of Massachusetts.

Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (GI-ESCR)

Country:

United States of America

Working Group(s) / Area(s) of Work:

Women & ESCR

Corporate Accountability

Strategic Litigation

Economic Policy

OP-ICESCR

Oct. 05, 2011: ESCR-Net Members Demand that US Congress Respect Human Rights in Budget Decisions

Yesterday, a letter demanding that Congress respect human rights on budget decisions was distributed to Harry Reid, Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, Eric Cantor and Nancy Pelosi, and copied to many other Congressional and Administration officials including President Obama. This letter was signed by 50 organizations spread across the United States, from established national policy groups to grassroots community organizations.

Oct. 04, 2011: Seeing Financial Regulation Anew

In an article appeared on the Summer 2011 issue of Center Focus, Aldo Caliari describes the discrediting of the two beliefs that kept control of financial regulation in the hands of a small cadre of so-called technical elites for the last two decades. "If we want the next decade to see the emergence of a financial system that serves the common good, it is imperative to ensure that the debate on financial regulation sees the active scrutiny and participation of broad swathes of society," he says.

September 20, 2011: Can the U.S. Afford Economic Rights in an Economic Crisis?

Can the U.S. afford to recognize economic and social rights in the midst of high unemployment rates at home and an ongoing global economic crisis?

June 29, 2011: The People's Budget Campaign on TV: Conversations with the Vermont Workers' Center and NESRI

ESCR-Net member NESRI and the Vermont's Worker's Center discuss the the People's Budget Campaign, which seeks to minimize and change the effect of budget cuts on working families in Vermont. Here, two videos highlight this recent work and the universality of the healthcare reform in Vermont along with the need to put people at the center of such campaigns in order to change laws. Making Human Rights and the needs of the communities a top priority will help shape upcoming laws to benefit workers and their families and to ensure that Vermont's revenue policies focuses on people's basic rights.

Alliance for Open Society International and others v. USAID and others

Under the U.S. Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Act ("Leadership Act"), U.S. based organizations receiving funding for life-saving HIV prevention work abroad were required to pledge their opposition to prostitution. Furthermore, on 23 July 2007, USAID and the U.S.

The Business and Human Rights Documentation (B-HRD) Project

On June 28, 2011, the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ) at NYU School of Law and the International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR-Net) proudly launched the Business and Human Rights Documentation (B-HRD, or Be Heard) Project, an interactive, multi-lingual information portal that provides grassroots groups, NGOs, experts, advocates, academics, and the public at large with vital information about the human rights impacts of business activities, and with much needed advocacy tools to hold businesses accountable in a globalized world.