We work strategically and collaboratively with co-counsel partners, community organizations, and named plaintiffs to bring impact litigation that represents broad classes of children and youth across multiple public systems.
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Committee to Defend Reproductive Rights v. Myers
Filing Date1981-05-08
NCYL staff attorney Abigail English, working with other advocates, won a ruling from the California Supreme Court that poor, pregnant women, including teenagers, have a right under the California Constitution to state funding for abortions as well as for prenatal care.
Staff attorney Alice Bussiere represented amici before the US Supreme Court in this case, which expanded by some 450,000 the number of poor children able to obtain both cash benefits and Medicaid coverage through the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program.
This case filed in Trinity County, California Superior Court involved the rights of homeless youth to fully participate in school, including extracurricular activities. CIF, the governing body of interscholastic sports in California, had wrongfully delayed and blocked homeless student Zachary Sanchez from playing sports.
Bryan Independent School District's use of school resource officers to issue criminal sanctions for a range of minor student misbehavior unlawfully impacts African-American students, who are "cited" at a rate four times that of other students, according to a complaint filed by attorneys with Texas Appleseed, NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the National Center for Youth Law.
On November 24, 2008, NCYL won a major case in California, securing fair and equal treatment of foster youth who play high school sports. The victory has led to major changes affecting thousands of foster youth.
