CHLP Convenes National Team ATAC Partners in Chicago to Advance ADA Challenges to HIV Criminalization

Earlier this month, CHLP convened attorneys, advocates, and law students in Chicago for a two-day summit focused on strengthening legal strategies to challenge HIV criminalization laws using the ADA.

The meeting brought together Team ATAC, a national collaborative of policy and legal experts, people with lived experience, and disability justice advocates working to coordinate strategy, share expertise, and advance ADA-based challenges grounded in community priorities. Together, participants explored how to more effectively confront laws and practices that punish people based on their health status.

The convening was hosted by the Bluhm Legal Clinic’s LGBTQI+ Rights Clinic at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. Under the leadership of Clinical Assistant Professor Kara Ingelhart, the clinic has partnered with CHLP on legal research and the development of Team ATAC memoranda, with contributions from Bluhm students, including former CHLP summer intern Ken Cavanaugh. The convening grew out of this ongoing collaboration.

“As we work to challenge ongoing criminalization, as well as persistent divestment in community-based research and care, an abolitionist framework is essential. Our work leverages institutional tools like the ADA, but we also remain committed to fundamentally dismantling and reimagining systems of care and accountability,” said Sean McCormick, CHLP Staff Attorney.

Over two days, the participants engaged in strategy sessions and panel discussions examining the current legal and political landscape and identifying opportunities to advocate ADA-based challenges to HIV criminalization.

Featured speaker Kara C. Crutcher, former Senior Clinical Fellow with the Community Justice and Civil Rights Clinic at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, led a discussion rooted in a disability justice framework, exploring how the ADA can be used to challenge criminalization while recognizing that the systems in which these cases are litigated are themselves sites of harm.

In addition to internal strategy sessions, the convening included two events open to Northwestern Law students, staff, and faculty, and local HIV/AIDS advocates.

The opening session featured a conversation on the past, present, and future of HIV law and policy. CHLP Senior PJP Attorney Jada Hicks was joined by Jose Abrigo (Lambda Legal) and Timothy Jackson (AIDS Foundation of Chicago). Panelists reflected on the HIV epidemic, early policy responses, and lessons from past advocacy efforts in light of current rollbacks to the National HIV/AIDS Strategy and broader public health protections.

A Thursday lunch panel featured Congressman Mike Quigley (IL-05) in conversation with Ingelhart, examining the shifting federal landscape for HIV policy. As a longtime supporter of LGBTQ+ rights and HIV advocacy, Rep. Quigley offered insight into the challenges and opportunities for advancing federal reforms, including efforts related to HIV criminalization and the Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative.

“Many in attendance remarked that the opportunity to assemble in-person with some of the nation’s leading HIV advocates to discuss nuanced legal research and litigation theory was invaluable. It’s not often we have legislative advocates, litigators, social scientists, and scholars in one space for the chance to present findings, challenge ideas, and collaborate on strategy together,” said Professor Ingelhart. “The devoted time for young scholars to present their work was a highlight of the student lawyers’ legal studies, and the seasoned experts in the movement reflected on the hope and inspiration they drew from the next generation of leaders devoting their learning opportunity to this movement.”

The convening created space for participants to assess the current political moment and identify concrete next steps for Team ATAC’s work. Discussions focused on strengthening coordination across jurisdictions, deepening community-informed legal strategies, and advancing litigation and advocacy efforts that challenge the use of criminal law to regulate health status.

Since 2018, Team ATAC has brought together national experts, advocates, academics, community leaders, and people living with HIV to develop and advance legal theories under the ADA; investigate the political and social context driving discriminatory enforcement; file Title II ADA complaints with the U.S. Department of Justice; and support strategic litigation and legislative reform efforts.

The convening was made possible by support from Lambda Legal, the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation, and the ACLU LGBTQ & HIV Project.