On August 12, 2024, NWLC joined the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and seventeen other organizations in an amicus brief submitted to the Supreme Court in Lackey v. Stinnie. The Lawyers’ Committee and Dechert LLP coauthored the brief, which argues that the Court should uphold the Fourth Circuit’s en banc ruling that civil-rights plaintiffs who obtain judicial relief in non-final form should be eligible for prevailing-party status and recovery of attorney’s fees under 42 U.S.C. § 1988.

As the brief explains, the availability of Section 1988 fee awards is critical to enabling civil-rights plaintiffs to obtain counsel and vindicate their rights in court. Moreover, a contrary ruling would enable defendants to strategically moot cases so as to avoid paying attorney’s fees even where the plaintiff has obtained meaningful judicial relief via a preliminary ruling on the merits.