The following are some of our most signficant cases under the Rights Litigation Project.
City of Castle Rock, Colorado v. Jessica Gonzales
United States Supreme Court - 2005
This case was the first domestic violence case to ever reach the Supreme Court. It concerned the constitutionality of police failure to enforce a protection order, resulting in the murders of three girls. - more
Hammon v. Indiana; Davis v. Washington
United States Supreme Court - 2006
This case addresses the critically important question of what types of evidence may be used in criminal prosecutions of batterers. - more
Giles v. California
United States Supreme Court - 2008
The case addresses the extremely important issue of "forfeiture by wrongdoing" in domestic homicide prosecutions. The outcome of this case will be critically important for the future prosecution of domestic violence and domestic homicides, because it will determine to what extent the State may introduce evidence of victims' past statements describing the defendant's abuse in prosecutions for homicide (and potentially, domestic violence). -more
Abbott v. Abbott
United States Supreme Court - 2009
This case concerns the problem of international parental abduction and the scope of the Hague Convention on Civil International Abduction. -more
Robertson v. Watson
United States Supreme Court - 2010
The underlying question in this case is the extent to which victims of abuse may enforce their own civil protection orders ("CPOs") through criminal contempt, or whether only the government - or a private party acting for the government - may prosecute such violations. -more