Carolina Youth Action Project v. Wilson (U.S.C.A. 4th Circuit, 2022)

South Carolina’s “disturbing schools” and “disorderly conduct” laws are vague, punitive, and intensely subjective laws that have been vehicles for channeling students — disproportionately BIPOC students and students with disabilities — into the criminal legal system. Plaintiffs are public-school students in South Carolina challenging these laws. ADL joined 23 other civil rights and public interest organizations in an amicus brief led by the National Women’s Law Center, the NAACP, the National Disability Rights Network, and the National Center for Youth Law, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit supporting the students and highlighting the discriminatory impact of vague school discipline laws and school policing, particularly on Black students including Black girls, who make up the core of the plaintiffs. The brief also discusses the ways in which these harms caused by interactions with law enforcement are exacerbated for other students of color, students with disabilities, LGBTQ+ students, and students at the intersection of these identities.