NYCLU Legal Director Christopher Dunn Announces Departure

NEW YORK CITY – Today, New York Civil Liberties Union Legal Director Christopher Dunn publicly announced he will step down from his position on December 31 after 28 years with the organization. Dunn, who informed the NYCLU of his plan in September, will be pursuing his longtime interest in urban planning.

Dunn has served as legal director since 2019 and was the associate legal director from 2002 to 2019. Prior to joining the NYCLU in 1996, Dunn was an attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union’s national office. At the NYCLU Dunn oversaw numerous landmark cases, including litigation that confronted the Giuliani administration’s crackdown on dissent, challenged the mass arrests during the 2004 Republican National Convention, reformed the provision of public defense, helped curtail stop-and-frisk in New York City, limited the use of solitary confinement in state prisons, improved due process in the immigration system in New York, and more.

“Few people have done more to advance the civil rights and liberties of New Yorkers over the last three decades than Chris,” said NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman. “From NYPD accountability to stop-and-frisk and solitary confinement reform, to fighting the Trump Administration’s deportation machine, to protecting the rights of protesters and so much more, Chris has led some of the most important cases the NYCLU has ever filed. I will miss Chris’ incredible wealth of knowledge, his steady leadership, and dry humor. The NYCLU and I thank him for all he has devoted to our cause and our workplace.”

“Over my 30 years at the NYCLU, we have used litigation to fight back against Rudy’s Giuliani’s attack on dissent, the mass arrests at the Republican National Convention, the explosion of stop-and-frisk and racialized policing, and Donald Trump’s assault on immigrants,” said Christopher Dunn. “I’ve been proud to lead this work and believe we have made a difference in curbing government abuses and protecting civil rights. After 40 years in the ACLU family, I am looking forward to pursuing other interests and making room for the next generation.”

Noteworthy litigation Dunn led or supervised during his tenure includes:

• Many of the 34 First Amendment cases the NYCLU filed against Rudy Giuliani’s attack on protest and criticism of his administration, including:
  • Housing Works, Inc. v. Safir challenging the constitutionality of NYPD policies limiting press conferences, rallies, and demonstrations on the steps of New York City Hall.
  • Challenges to the Giuliani Administration’s attempts to silence city employees, including Latino Officers Association v. Safir, which targeted the NYPD’s efforts to prevent officers from speaking out against racial-profiling.
  • Walton v. Safir challenging the firing of a Black police officer who spoke publicly about racial profiling by the NYPD’s Street Crime Unit after officers in the unit shot and killed Amadou Diallo.
  • Metropolitan Council v. Safir challenging the NYPD’s policy of refusing to allow homelessness protesters to lie and sleep symbolically on City sidewalk outside Gracie Mansion.
  • United Yellow Cab Drivers Assoc. v. Safir challenging the NYPD’s blockade of East Rivers bridges and tunnels to prevent yellow cabs from protesting.
  • Picture the Homeless v. City of New York challenging the NYPD policy of targeting and arresting unhoused people.

• Numerous cases protecting the right of New Yorkers to protest, including Schiller v. City of New York/Dinler v. City of New York challenging mass arrests, prolonged detentions, and blanket fingerprinting of protesters and bystanders at the 2004 Republican National Convention. A Federal District Court found the mass arrests and mass fingerprinting to be unconstitutional.
• MacWade v. Kelly challenging NYPD policy and practice of conducting suspicionless searches of subway riders.
• Ligon v. City of New York challenging NYPD trespass stops of people in or near residential buildings enrolled in the City’s so-called “Clean Halls” program. The case helped lead to a dramatic reduction in the NYPD’s use of stop-and-frisks.
• Peoples v. Annucci challenging solitary confinement in New York prisons. The case resulted in a settlement that significantly reformed and reduced the use of solitary in state prisons.
• Cases attacking the first Trump Administration’s deportation machine:
  • Abdi v. Duke challenging the blanket denial of parole and bond hearings to arriving asylum-seekers held in ICE detention facility in Batavia, New York.
  • V.M. v. Lloyd challenging the prolonged detention of immigrant children in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement.
  • Duchitanga v. Lloyd which challenged lengthy delays in the release of immigrant children from government custody caused by burdensome changes to federal fingerprint policy.
• A series of amicus briefs challenging the death penalty in New York, including Hynes v. Tomeii, People of State of New York v. Harris and People of State of New York v. Cahill.

Dunn led several major NYCLU reports, including Arresting Protest about the NYPD crackdown on anti-war protesters in 2003, Rights and Wrongs at the RNC about the mass arrests at the 2004 Republican National Convention, and the 2012 report detailing NYPD abuses in stop and frisk. He also has led the NYCLU’s work with the Civilian Complaint Review Board since 2001. He has published numerous op-eds, including in the New York Times, Washington Post, and New York Daily News.

In addition to his work at the NYCLU, Dunn taught the Civil Rights Clinic at the New York University School of Law from 2003 to 2015 and authored the Civil Rights and Civil Liberties column for the New York Law Journal from 2004 until his final column this month.

Associate Legal Director Molly Biklen will lead the NYCLU Legal Department while a search for the search for the next legal director is underway.