LAFAYETTE, AL – Today, the ACLU of Alabama filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of community advocates Yolanda Ratchford and Tytianna Smith against the Chambers County Board of Education, Chambers County, the City of Valley, and multiple officials and police officers. The lawsuit highlights egregious violations of Ms. Ratchford and Ms. Smith’s constitutional rights after they were arrested for silently holding letter-size pieces of paper at a school board meeting in November 2023. Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP is co-counsel on this matter.
The lawsuit asserts that Ms. Ratchford and Ms. Smith—both lifelong residents of Alabama and prominent advocates for education—were unjustly arrested and jailed for silently displaying 8.5" x 11" pieces of paper including an image of civil rights icon John Lewis and the phrase "Good Trouble," during a school board meeting in Valley.
Their peaceful protest was part of ongoing community opposition to the school board’s plan to consolidate the county’s two public high schools into a new facility located in Valley, a predominantly white city, which would displace Black students and educators from LaFayette.
“Silently holding pieces of paper is not a crime. What happened to Ms. Ratchford and Ms. Smith is a clear and shocking abuse of power,” said Alison Mollman, Legal Director at the ACLU of Alabama. “These women were exercising their most basic constitutional rights—freedom of speech and peaceful protest—and they were punished for it.”
The lawsuit details how senior local officials coordinated to restrict and punish protests, leading to Ms. Ratchford and Ms. Smith’s arrest without probable cause, their public humiliation, and, in the case of Ms. Ratchford—who uses a wheelchair—a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Filed in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, the complaint includes claims under the First and Fourth Amendments, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Alabama common law. The plaintiffs seek damages and reasonable accommodations for wheelchair-bound persons to prevent future violations.
Ms. Ratchford and Ms. Smith were fully acquitted of all charges in February 2024, with the presiding judge stating from the bench that if anyone had engaged in disorderly conduct, it was the officers who arrested them.
“This case isn’t just about two leaders who were wrongfully arrested,” added Mollman. “It’s about whether public officials can weaponize law enforcement to silence dissent. Our message is clear: not on our watch.”
