UPDATED --- 35 Years Since the Last Major ACLU-backed Supreme Court Decision involving Alabama

It's been 35 years since a major ACLU case involving Alabama has been decided by the U.S. Supreme Court....but consider the half-dozen Alabama-centric decisions they've had a hand in over the years...and remember that a women* for whom Alabama erected a statue was a founding member.

1932
Powell v. Alabama
This appeal by the ""Scottsboro Boys"" - eight African Americans wrongfully accused of raping two white women - was the first time constitutional standards were applied to state criminal proceedings. The poor performance of their lawyers at the trial deprived them of their 6th Amendment right to effective counsel. 

1935
Patterson v. Alabama
A second ""Scottsboro Boys"" decision held that excluding black people from the jury list denied defendant a fair trial.

1964
New York Times v. Sullivan
Public officials cannot recover damages for defamation unless they prove a newspaper impugned them with ""actual malice."" A city commissioner in Montgomery, Alabama sued over publication of a full-page ad paid for by civil rights activists.

1968

Washington v. Lee
Alabama statutes requiring racial segregation in the state's prisons and jails were declared unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment.

1985 (June 4)
Wallace v. Jaffree
Alabama's ""moment of silence"" law, which required public school children to take a moment ""for meditation or voluntary prayer,"" violated the First Amendment's Establishment Clause.

*Helen Keller

UPDATE: For more information about the ACLU watch the newly released documentary The Fight. It is available on Amazon Prime HERE.