MacArthur Justice Center

The MacArthur Justice Center is a Chicago-based nonprofit civil-rights law firm that has argued — and won — before the U.S. Supreme Court, and whose leader’s 2024 confirmation to the federal bench capped a seven-year run that turned a regional firm into a national appellate player. 【sources: Celebrating Amir Ali, Outgoing President & Executive Director; Vote on Ali Nomination — Congressional Record, Vol. 170, No. 172】

A family-founded firm, not a foundation program

The Center was founded in 1985 by the family of J. Roderick MacArthur to advocate for human rights and social justice through litigation. 【sources: Class Action Certified Against Missouri Department of Corrections — MacArthur Justice; Director of Development — MacArthur Justice Center】 Despite the shared name, it is an independent law firm — not a program of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Locke Bowman led the organization as executive director from 1992 to 2021, a nearly three-decade tenure that shaped its identity as a litigation shop focused on prisoners’ rights, wrongful convictions, and police accountability. 【sources: MacArthur Justice Center Names David Shapiro as its Next Executive Director】

Today the Center employs 56 staff with an $11 million annual budget, and describes a docket of more than 200 cases across five offices: Chicago, St. Louis, New Orleans, the University of Mississippi, and Washington, D.C. 【sources: Director of Development — MacArthur Justice Center; MacArthur Justice Center Names David Shapiro as its Next Executive Director】 The Chicago office sits at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, the Mississippi office at the University of Mississippi, and the St. Louis office opened in the summer of 2016. 【sources: Class Action Certified Against Missouri Department of Corrections — MacArthur Justice】

Amir Ali and the Supreme Court & Appellate Program

In 2017, Amir Ali joined the Center to found its Washington, D.C. office and build its Supreme Court and Appellate Program (SCAP) — the move that made the firm a repeat player at the highest court in the country. 【sources: Celebrating Amir Ali, Outgoing President & Executive Director】 Ali personally argued two major civil-rights cases before the Court and won both: Garza v. Idaho, which expanded the constitutional right to counsel, and Thompson v. Clark, in which the Court recognized that government actors can be held civilly accountable for initiating false charges against someone. 【sources: Celebrating Amir Ali, Outgoing President & Executive Director】

The Garza victory came on February 27, 2019, in an opinion written by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, holding that a criminal defendant’s constitutional right to an appeal survives even where the defendant signed an appeal waiver. 【sources: Garza v. Idaho (U.S. Supreme Court) — MacArthur Justice】 SCAP was honored by Bloomberg Law as a Pro Bono Innovator in 2022. 【sources: MacArthur Justice Center Names David Shapiro as its Next Executive Director】

Beyond the Supreme Court, the Center says it has recovered over $100 million in civil cases arising out of wrongful convictions — including, as co-counsel, a $50 million jury verdict it describes as the largest financial award for a wrongful conviction in U.S. history. 【sources: Who We Are — MacArthur Justice; MacArthur Justice Center Names David Shapiro as its Next Executive Director】

From the Center to the federal bench

In 2021, Ali became the Center’s president and executive director — only its second in nearly four decades. 【sources: Celebrating Amir Ali, Outgoing President & Executive Director】 In 2024, President Biden nominated him to serve as a United States district judge for the District of Columbia. 【sources: Letter of Support for Amir H. Ali, Nominee to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia】 Ali stepped down from the Center on August 5, 2024, and on November 20, 2024, the Senate confirmed him by 50 votes to 49. 【sources: Celebrating Amir Ali, Outgoing President & Executive Director; Vote on Ali Nomination — Congressional Record, Vol. 170, No. 172】

David Shapiro succeeded him as executive director, with his tenure beginning in August 2025. 【sources: Director of Development — MacArthur Justice Center】

What this profile does not claim

This profile does not claim the Center is part of the MacArthur Foundation — it was founded by the founder’s family and operates as an independent law firm. It does not state current staff or case counts beyond the figures on the Center’s own pages, and it makes no claims about the street addresses of any office, about cases beyond those described on the Center’s website, or about awards not verified in the sources read for this profile.