For over two decades, environmental and human rights lawyer, Steven Donziger, played a pivotal role fighting for Indigenous and rural plaintiffs affected by Chevron's devastating oil pollution in the Ecuadorian Amazon and succeeded in securing a landmark $9.5 billion judgment. The Ecuadorian courts found Chevron guilty of perpetrating one of the most severe environmental crimes in history–deliberately dumping a shocking 16 billion gallons of toxic oil waste into Indigenous territories in the Amazon, contaminating the region’s water supply. Rather than pay the judgment, Chevron sold its assets and left the country, evading its legal obligations. The funds from the judgment are crucial for rebuilding the land and addressing the long-lasting impact of Chevron's pollution. The judgment against Chevron has been affirmed unanimously by Ecuador’s National Court of Justice and Constitutional Court (the country’s highest courts) and by Canada’s Supreme Court for enforcement purposes. Still, over 30,000 individuals continue to suffer without receiving any compensation for the immense harm caused to their communities. Since the judgment, Donziger has been on the receiving end of lawfare from Chevron, including a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) filed against him using RICO, a racketeering statute created to bring the mob and cartels to justice coupled with judicial impropriety and lack of prosecutorial fairness. His targeting and prosecution sets a dangerous precedent for human rights defenders in the U.S. working on Indigenous rights and environmental justice. As a result of long, protracted litigation against Chevron riddled with lack of judicial impartiality and irregularities, wherein Chevron sought Donziger’s privileged attorney-client communications, Donziger was held in civil contempt of court for failing to hand these over to Chevron. Specifically, Donziger’s lack of compliance with orders that he identify and turn over his devices and online accounts for inspection by Chevron, justified by the underlying theory that he had violated the Court’s 2014 RICO injunction by helping his Ecuadorian clients finance their litigation against Chevron, formed the basis of the Court’s contempt charges. Judge Kaplan of the Southern District of New York, referred Donziger’s case to the U.S. Attorney’s office for prosecution of criminal contempt. When the U.S. Attorney’s office declined, Judge Kaplan hand-appointed a private prosecutor from Gibson Dunn, a law firm with ties to the oil industry who has Chevron as one of the firm’s clients, to prosecute Donziger. In 2020, Natali Segovia, Legal Director of WPLC, submitted an amicus brief to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals on the lack of judicial impartiality and prosecutorial fairness in Donziger’s case62and has represented Donziger as part of his appellate team. WPLC continues to support Donziger as a human rights defender that has been targeted for his work with Indigenous Peoples and environmental justice.
On September 6, 2021, the UN WGAD issued Opinion No. 24/2021 which found that the “deprivation of liberty of Steven Donziger” was “arbitrary” and “in contravention of articles 2, 3, 7, 10 and 11 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and articles 2 (1), 9, 14 and 26” of the ICCPR. The opinion further requested “the Government of the United States to take the steps necessary to remedy the situation of Mr. Donziger without delay and bring it into conformity with the relevant international norms, including those set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.” The UN WGAD expressed alarm at the "staggering" level of judicial bias displayed by the U.S. judiciary against Donziger. On May 25, 2023, a letter sent to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UN WGAD), signed by WPLC along with other prominent U.S. jurists, legal academics, and NGOs, provided an update regarding Donziger’s circumstances after the UN WGAD issued its opinion in September 2021, which found that the U.S. judiciary subjected Donziger to arbitrary detention, in violation of numerous provisions of international law. To date, there has been no response from the U.S. Government to the UN Working Group. Instead, since the UN WGAD opinion, Donziger was detained for 993 days, and sentenced to 45 days in a federal prison at the height of the global pandemic. Once out of prison, Donziger also spent time in a locked halfway house. Donziger has exhausted domestic remedies seeking redress for the injustices under the law. SCOTUS declined certiorari on Donziger’s case, but nevertheless, Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh wrote a blistering dissent, stating: “Our Constitution does not tolerate what happened here” and his prosecution violated “a basic constitutional promise.”
Donziger has been denied the basic human right to freedom of movement. Donziger’s passport was taken over four years ago when he appeared for arraignment in the criminal contempt matter initiated against him by Judge Kaplan of the Southern District of New York and referred to Judge Preska. Despite completion of Donziger’s sentence in the contempt case, his passport is still in the custody of the clerk of the Southern District of New York, making it impossible for him to leave the country, in further violation of international norms and his human rights. 
WPLC serves on Steven's appellate team.