Public Interest Briefs

Twenty-one years after CLIPI filed suit in the Century Freeway case and 14 years after the suit’s precedent-setting settlement, the Century Freeway opened to traffic on October 14, 1993. And, due to CLIPI’s involvement over the past 20 years, the Century Freeway project is today an innovative, state-of-the-art, multi-modal transportation system without peer. Moreover, as a result of the consent decree governing the construction of this remarkable freeway, hundred of millions of contract dollars have been channeled to corridor communities for well paid employment of minorities and women. 

Keith v. Volpe, filed in February 1972, was the first lawsuit ever brought by the Center for Law in the Public Interest. The class action suit was filed on behalf of the NAACP, the Sierra Club, the Environmental Defense Fund, and several individuals living in the path of the freeway. It involved a number of public interest issues including environmental protection, affordable housing, job discrimination, mass transit, and the rights of corridor residents, minorities, and the poor. 

In July 1972, Federal District Judge Harry Pregerson enjoined construction of the freeway. After seven years of intensive work by CLIPI attorneys and staff, a settlement was reached which was not only unique but also so comprehensive that Neil Goldschmidt, then U.S. Secretary of Transportation, made a special trip to Los Angeles to recognize and commend the “historic and precedent-setting” project. 

The complex settlement required the ongoing participation of monitors to ensure that the provision of the consent decree were carried out. In 1979, with the assistance of the monitoring entities created by the consent decree, CLIPI began overseeing the implementation of the far-reaching affirmative action and housing goals established for the program. 

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