CIVIL RIGHTS

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Terms such as "Civil Rights, Civil Liberties, and Human Rights" apply to rights to which persons are entitled because they are citizens or simply because they are human beings. Such rights protect against undue interference with a person's physical or mental integrity and protect against discrimination on grounds such as race, sex, sexual orientation, and religion. In the U.S. constitutional and statutory provisions exist to provide protection, and sometimes a person may bring a lawsuit to vindicate such rights.

 

Mr. McCabe has been involved in a number of important civil rights cases over the years. 

 

In LAWRENCE v. TEXAS, acting pro bono (for public benefit and without pay) and at the request of a civil rights organization, Mr. McCabe filed an amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) brief in a state court of appeals contesting the constitutionality of the Texas law that criminalized homosexual conduct. His argument was echoed by a panel of that court in striking down the statute as a violation of the state constitution. That decision was reversed, but the case proceeded up to the U.S. Supreme Court, which also struck down the statute on federal constitutional grounds.

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In GOODRICH v.  DEPT. of  PUBLIC HEALTH, Mr. McCabe joined in a pro bono amicus brief to the Massachusetts Supreme Court in a case that resulted in the first decision by a state supreme court that same-sex couples had the right to marry. https://www.glad.org/wp-content/uploads/2003/11/2002-11-08-goodridge-state-amicus.pdf. 

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