An Organized Community is the Ultimate Court.
Rule of Law Campaign
The World Justice Project’s definition of the rule of law is a system in which the following four universal principles are upheld: 1) The government and its officials and agents, as well as individuals and private entities, are accountable under the law. 2) The laws are clear, publicized, stable and just; are applied evenly; and protect fundamental rights, including the security of persons and property and certain core human rights. 3) The process by which the laws are enacted, administered and enforced is accessible, fair and efficient. 4) Justice is delivered timely by competent, ethical, and independent representatives and neutrals who are of sufficient number, have adequate resources, and reflect the makeup of the communities they serve.
These principles are clearly not being upheld in the USA. The government is imposing its will without regard to the Constitution or court decisions. The Administration is attacking lawyers, judges and bar associations.
Under the pretext of an “emergency,” the government is rounding up people across the country to meet deportation quotas. The government threatens to expand militarization to wherever there may be dissent or alternative voices. Those who peaceably assemble are being met with intensified physical force. Students and faculty engaged in lawful protest against a foreign policy of war, aggression and profiteering are being suspended, expelled or fired.
Legal access, recourse and justice are increasingly out of reach — but at CCLP, we fight for the U.S. Constitution, the working class, small businesses and small growers — the majority of our population — and we will not be silent!
AGENDA 2030
Sustainable Development Goals
CCLP Endorses the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted on September 25, 2015 by all 193 member nations of the UN, including the United States. There are 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). CCLP calls on the U.S. government to implement these goals to eliminate poverty for the benefit of the people of the U.S. and the world, including Goal 16, “Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.” Yet, the U.S. government has never acted to implement the goals or called upon the population to join it in these efforts. Mainstream media has assiduously not reported on the SDGs or the fact that all but a handful of countries are promoting the goals and submitting reports to the UN on their progress.
In the spring of 2025 the U.S. officially rejected and denounced the SDGs in sessions at the UN. Their actions do not deter CCLP’s resolute endorsement, in solidarity with the rest of the 192 member nations of the UN, as necessary for the advancement of humankind.
The U.S. people need all 17 Sustainable Development Goals right here and now! We need to end poverty, eliminate hunger, promote universal education, good health and well-being, save the Earth’s ecological resources, and implement the rule of law and provide access to justice as called for in the SDGs!
Legal Recourse in Action
Access to justice is a basic principle of the rule of law. Yet more than 100 million people in the United States cannot afford legal representation for basic human needs and legal representation has become a luxury only few can afford when 95% of the country’s attorneys serve 1% of the population. Our Know Your Law and Legal Advice Sessions exist so people collectively can address immediate survival needs while we fight for long-term systemic solutions.
Everyone at CCLP is a volunteer, including the attorneys who provide legal advice. CCLP needs your involvement to expand our sessions to make them stronger and available to more people.
KNOW YOUR LAW SESSIONS
These are legal educational presentations on topics such as “What to do if you are arrested” or “Wage Theft” or “Consumer Debt.” Know Your Law Sessions are made available at no cost to organizations of low-income workers and other associations upon specific request. If you belong to an organization interested in joining with CCLP to hold a Know Your Law Session, please contact CCLP.
LEGAL ADVICE SESSIONS
These are private and confidential individual consultations with a volunteer attorney. CCLP volunteer attorneys dispense advice on a variety of legal subjects and volunteer advocates follow up and fight to ensure that those who requested legal assistance get their questions answered to resolve the legal problem.
SHIPYARD CONTAMINATION
Environmental Campaign
Generations in Bayview-Hunters Point, San Francisco have suffered toxic contamination, ravaged by cancers and respiratory diseases, leading to death or shortened lives, asthma, nosebleeds and neurological disorders. Toxic and radioactive particulate matter has spread for over 70 years throughout the Bay Area. Elected officials have ignored the mandates of voter-approved Proposition P to demand the U.S. Navy clean it up to the highest standards.
There are 40,000 hazardous waste sites in the country and 450,000 brownfield sites (brownfields are properties that are either contaminated or that people think might be contaminated) and there are 1,340 Superfund sites on the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Priorities List. Hunters Point has one of the most toxic among them. It housed a major military radiological laboratory from the post-World War II era, using over 100 radionuclides and other toxic chemicals like heavy metals and asbestos.
It’s time to take action! Demand responsible parties clean it up under independent community oversight and those responsible provide full compensation, including health services to those injured. Demand the clean-up be done by union members at prevailing wages with trainees hired from the local area. We need a positive example of comprehensive clean-up. No community is safe until they are all cleaned up.
Join Together to Demand the Shipyard Cleanup Now
No more lies! No more poisoning!
POSTERING
CALL-IN
CAMPAIGN
COMMUNITY
CANVASSING
POSTCARD CAMPAIGN
RULE OF LAW
Rights Without Remedies
The federal government is doing nothing to protect consumers from being scammed by large corporations. The supposed safeguards put in after the 2008 financial crash have been removed and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Congress purportedly set up to be a watchdog for the rights of consumers has been defunded and its staff fired. At the same time, the U.S. Supreme Court is allowing a full frontal assault on the legal system as we know it, limiting access to the courts, limiting class actions and blocking attempts to protect individuals from overreaching corporate entities. The Executive and Legislative branches ganged up years ago to defund the courts, undermining the checks and balances that are supposed to form a basis of our governmental system.
The Supreme Court is upholding the right of corporations to utilize mandatory arbitration agreements to deny consumers their day in court against banks, credit card companies, phone service providers, even nursing home corporations and hospitals. Employers are forcing employees to sign mandatory arbitration agreements as a condition of employment, undermining even the dubious benefits of the National Labor Relations Act. Such agreements force the use of individual arbitration, no class actions or even class arbitration. Paid for by the corporate entity being sued, the arbitrator finds in favor of the corporate entity involved against the consumer or employee in two out of three cases.
Meanwhile, the government is outsourcing its responsibilities to private companies, giving itself plausible deniability when those companies deny the resources due to those who are supposed the benefit from the program. CCLP demands that the government not only fully fund the courts, but also the enforcement agencies responsible for ensuring the health and safety of the population. Claims by state and federal governments that there are laws to protect the residents mean nothing if the enforcement arms for those laws, such as the health inspectors, OSHA (occupational safety and health) inspectors and others are defunded.
Join with us to fight for the rule of law! Join to build a legal system that functions for everyone, not a select few!
SERVITUDE BY DECEIT
America’s Largest Financial Crime: Wage Theft
Wage theft is failing to timely pay an employee all legally due compensation. Wage theft ranks number one among all other financial crimes combined in the U.S., at some $50 billion a year; it almost exclusively victimizes the lowest-paid and more precariously situated workers. Adding wage theft to already low wages leads to evictions, consumer debt, water and utility shutoffs and more as workers cannot afford the basics of life. Yet there are no wage theft police and the agencies tasked with enforcing the law are underfunded.
Join in the campaign to stop wage theft!
