Civil Rights Civil Filings for November 2024
Table 1. Civil Rights Civil Filings
Number Latest Month 1,492 Percent Change from previous month -11.6% Percent Change from 1 year ago -6.2% Percent Change from 5 years ago -0.0% The latest available data from the federal courts show that during November 2024 the government reported 1,492 new civil rights civil filings. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is down 11.6% over the previous month when the number of civil filings of this type totaled 1,687.
The comparisons of the number of civil filings for civil rights-related suits are based on case-by-case court records which were compiled and analyzed by TRAC (see Table 1).
When monthly 2024 civil filings of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, their number was down (-6.2%). Civil filings for November 2024 are lower than they were for the same period five years ago. Overall, the data show that civil filings of this type are down 0.0% from levels reported in November 2019.
Figure 1. Civil Rights Civil Filings Over the Last Five Years
The long term trend in civil rights civil filings for these matters going back five years is shown more clearly in Figure 1. The vertical bars in Figure 1 represent the number of civil rights civil filings of this type recorded each month. The superimposed line on the bars plots the six-month moving average so that natural fluctuations are smoothed out. One-year and five-year change comparisons are based upon the moving averages.
Jurisdiction
Within limits set by Congress and the Constitution, the federal district courts have jurisdiction to hear cases falling under any one of several categories. The single largest number of civil filings of these matters during November 2024 was under the classification "Federal Question", accounting for 97.5% of civil filings.
The second largest number of matters was civil filings under the jurisdiction category of "U.S. Government Defendant" (2.5%) .
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
Relative to population, the volume of civil matters of this type filed in federal district courts during November 2024 was 4.5 per every million persons in the United States. One year ago the relative number of filings was 4.7. Understandably, there is great variation in the per capita number of civil rights civil filings in each of the nation's ninety-four federal judicial districts.
Table 2. Top Ten Districts (per one million people)
Judicial District Percapita Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Virg, W 26.3 58 1 2 4 More La, W 21.1 44 2 7 17 More Cal, E 19.1 159 3 4 6 More Nevada 18.8 60 4 1 13 More Ind, N 17.7 47 5 3 1 More Tenn, W 14.8 23 6 63 10 More Ark, E 13.4 22 7 26 12 More N. Y., W 10.7 30 8 12 24 More Ga, M 10.5 22 9 8 23 More N. Y., N 9.7 33 10 10 15 More
The Western District of Virginia — with 26.3 civil filings as compared with 4.5 civil filings per one million people in the United States — was the most active during November 2024. The Western District of Virginia was ranked 2nd a year ago, while it was ranked 4th five years ago.
The Western District of Louisiana ranked 2nd. The Western District of Louisiana was ranked 7th a year ago.
The Eastern District of California now ranks 3rd. The Eastern District of California was ranked 4th a year ago, while it was ranked 6th five years ago.
Recent entries to the top 10 list were Western District of New York (Buffalo), Eastern District of Arkansas (Little Rock) and Western District of Tennessee (Memphis), now ranked 8th, 7th and 6th. These districts ranked 12th, 26th and 63rd one year ago and 24th, 12th and 10th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of civil rights civil filings compared to one year ago — 475.0 percent — was Western District of Tennessee. Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 199.7 percent — was Western District of Louisiana .
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of civil rights civil filings — 18.9 percent — was Nevada. But over the past five years, Northern District of Indiana showed the largest drop — 41.6 percent.
Report Generated: January 6, 2025
