As many in our community anticipate the challenges of the months and years ahead, we are grateful that we have impact litigation as a tool to push back against injustice and seek accountability for harmful practices. Our newest grantees are doing amazing work on behalf of incarcerated people, immigrant detainees, agricultural workers, rural communities, and people of color. In our fall grantmaking cycle, we granted $150,000 to support seven impact lawsuits challenging injustice across the country. We are excited to share their inspiring stories. 

You might wonder what litigation has to do with democracy.   In her brilliant book, In Praise of Litigation, Professor Alexandra Lahav explains exactly that.  She persuasively argues that litigation advances important democratic values and facilitates self-government. Put simply, litigation allows an ordinary person—regardless of social status—to bring a multi-national corporation to court to account for breaking the law and causing injury.  Ordinary citizens, acting as jurors, in turn hold the power to weigh the evidence and determine whether the law has been broken. In this way, Lahav observes, litigation both reinforces social equality and ensures that no person in our democracy is above the law. 

In 2021, Upper Seven Law challenged the constitutionality of Montana’s unisex insurance rollback. Armed with data and the strength of the Montana Constitution’s equal protection clause, we filed a lawsuit on behalf of a team of individual consumers and women’s advocacy organizations, including the Montana chapters of the American Association of University Women and the National Organization for Women. The case seeks to invalidate the new law for codifying discrimination against women and unmarried people. Trial is scheduled for the spring of 2025.