{"id":2552,"date":"2022-01-04T15:44:34","date_gmt":"2022-01-04T20:44:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/icap\/?page_id=2552"},"modified":"2026-04-16T15:42:43","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T19:42:43","slug":"defending-constitutional-rights-in-the-u-s-supreme-court","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/icap\/our-work\/defending-constitutional-rights-in-the-u-s-supreme-court\/","title":{"rendered":"Defending Constitutional and Civil Rights in the U.S. Supreme Court"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2021, ICAP expanded its Supreme Court practice in response to the growing need for dedicated public interest litigators with specialized expertise in defending constitutional and civil rights before the nation\u2019s highest court.\u00a0 The practice is led by Supreme Court Director Kelsi Brown Corkran<\/strong><\/a>, who has served as lead counsel in some of the most significant civil rights cases before the Court in recent terms, including Torres v. Madrid<\/em>, which held that police shooting victims are protected by the Fourth Amendment regardless of whether they are immediately apprehended, and\u00a0Taylor v. Riojas<\/em>, a challenge to inhumane prison conditions that marked the first time in 16 years that the Court denied qualified immunity to a government officer.\u00a0 Kelsi previously led the Supreme Court Practice at Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe and served as a law clerk to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.<\/p>\n

An important component of ICAP\u2019s Supreme Court practice is preserving favorable civil rights and criminal justice decisions issued by the federal courts of appeals.\u00a0 ICAP represented the respondent in three merits cases before the Court during the 2023 term: Grants Pass v. Johnson<\/em>, an Eighth Amendment challenge to the criminalization of homelessness<\/strong><\/a>;\u00a0Acheson Hotels v. Laufer<\/em>, a disability discrimination case under the Americans with Disabilities Act<\/strong><\/a>; and NRA v. Vullo<\/em>, involving the right of government officials to enforce the law and speak out about matters of public concern<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Since the 2021 term, ICAP has successfully defeated more than a dozen cert petitions seeking the Supreme Court\u2019s reversal of civil rights victories involving issues ranging from the\u00a0standard of care for unaccompanied refugee children in government custody<\/strong><\/a> to\u00a0the scope of constitutional remedies for fatal excessive police force<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>to\u00a0<\/strong>the intent requirement for conditions-of-confinement claims by pretrial detainees<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0<\/strong>the application of federal overtime protections to migrant construction workers<\/strong><\/a>. ICAP also successfully represented the House Select Committee in\u00a0defending against Donald Trump\u2019s efforts to thwart the Committee\u2019s review of records relating to the January 6th<\/sup>\u00a0attack on the U.S. Capitol<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

ICAP has represented bipartisan groups of current and former government officials as amici addressing many of the most significant issues before the Court, including briefs on behalf of former national security officials\u00a0raising the national security threats posed by the algorithmic amplification of terrorist content by social media platforms<\/strong><\/a>; former public officials, judges, and election experts\u00a0urging the Court to reject a broad reading of the so-called independent state legislature theory<\/strong><\/a>; and former national security officials\u00a0arguing that states and localities must be able to impose reasonable firearms restrictions as a matter of public safety and national security<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Our Work<\/h2>\n
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