Legal Department Introduction
The Legal Department promotes the mission of the Center for Inquiry and its affiliates by filing amicus briefs in cases involving First Amendment rights, reproductive freedom, assistance in dying and other issues of importance to the Center and its supporters. Where appropriate, the Center or its affiliates, such as the Council for Secular Humanism, may file their own lawsuit.
In addition, the Legal Department of the Center for Inquiry will consider offering free legal assistance to individuals who believe that their constitutional rights are in jeopardy or that they have experienced discrimination because they are not religious. If you believe there is an issue that should be brought to the attention of the Legal Department, please email us and include "Refer a Case" as your subject heading. Please be aware that submission of this information to the Legal Department does not guarantee that we can assist you. Although careful consideration will be given to all requests, we are limited in our resources. Therefore, our inability to offer representation should not be interpreted as judgment on the merits of your claim. If you believe you have a claim and we are unable to provide assistance, please contact a private attorney. Be aware that we do not handle any type of criminal proceeding.
As indicated, the Legal Department of the Center for Inquiry is leanly staffed and, by ourselves, we cannot become involved in all the litigation matters that deserve our attention. Especially on issues relating to church-state separation, we rely significantly on the First Amendment Task Force (FATF), a group of volunteer lawyers and others with legal experience, which is chaired by Edward Tabash, Esq. a prominent civil rights attorney. If you would like to join the FATF, please email us with "Sign Up for the First Amendment Task Force" as your subject heading. Please provide your contact information and any other relevant information in the body of the message. We are especially interested in having attorneys throughout the United States who would be able to assist us by acting as local counsel, whether or not they want to become substantively involved in the litigation.
To illustrate the type of work in which we engage, and to provide you with information about important legal cases, we will post on this site briefs that we have submitted, as well as notices about the litigation in which we are involved. Please visit our site periodically to review new postings.
Derek C. Araujo, Esq., is the Center’s General Counsel and Director of Legal Affairs. Mr. Araujo was an attorney at the private law firm of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP before joining the Center. He holds a law degree from Harvard Law School. In addition to overseeing the Center’s litigation, Mr. Araujo oversees and assists the Center's Washington, DC Office of Public Policy with nonpartisan research and analysis on matters of importance to the Center, including the publication of the Center’s position papers.
