The ACLU of Mississippi is a private, non-profit membership organization. Our mission is to preserve and protect the civil liberties and civil rights guaranteed by the Constitutions of the United States and Mississippi, especially the principles contained in the Bill of Rights.
The ACLU of Mississippi's legal department represents individuals whose rights have been denied. Most of our clients are ordinary people who have suffered a violation of their rights and have decided to fight for justice. Generally, we can offer assistance to only a small fraction of those who request it.
We look for situations taking place in Mississippi involving civil rights and civil liberties issues, in which our assistance may have a strong chance of making positive changes for a potentially significant number of people with the same, or similar, issue, rather than those involving an isolated dispute between individual parties or private, non-governmental organizations. Although there are exceptions to this rule, involvement depends on the circumstances of the incident, such as discrimination and harassment of a protected class.
You will find a resource list here, containing other organizations or services that may be able to assist you. We encourage you to review it in addition to contacting us.
If you believe your case may be the kind of case we accept (see below for further information), use our online form to file your complaint and request legal assistance.
You may also mail your request. To receive a blank complaint in the mail, please call our office at 601-354-3408 and leave a voicemail clearly stating your name and mailing address.
No, submitting a complaint to our intake process does not guarantee that the ACLU of Mississippi will provide legal assistance or advice. We receive many requests for assistance each month, and there are many cases and problems of unfairness and injustice which the ACLU of Mississippi is simply unable to handle.
Civil liberties are the protections guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. The civil liberties we seek to protect include:
In ACLU of Mississippi cases, the attorneys represent the clients free of charge.
The ACLU of Mississippi generally selects cases that affect the civil liberties of large numbers of people, rather than those involving a dispute between two parties. The basic questions we ask when reviewing a potential case are:
Lawsuits can affect a large number of people in two ways. First, we sometimes challenge a policy or practice which directly impacts upon many people. Second, a lawsuit brought on behalf of one person can have a larger impact on others in the long run when it establishes or expands legal protections.
Types of cases that the ACLU of Mississippi does not generally accept include:
There are many cases and problems of unfairness that the ACLU of Mississippi is simply unable to handle. We receive hundreds of requests for assistance a year. Therefore, we cannot accept many of the cases that fall within the guidelines discussed above. We must select those cases which we believe will have the greatest impact on protecting civil liberties.
No, the ACLU of Mississippi is unable to give you advice about your case, or provide other types of assistance (for example, reviewing your papers or conducting legal research to assist you) if we do not accept your case. This policy allows us to direct the necessary resources to those cases that we do accept.