E Bridget Wheeler

Title/Position

Justice Lab Staff Attorney

Bridget Wheeler is a Louisiana native and an experienced civil rights attorney with extensive experience litigating 42 U.S.C. §1983 civil rights claims. In April of 2022 Bridget joined the ACLU of Louisiana’s Justice Lab as a staff attorney and is responsible for litigating cases that challenge racially discriminatory policing practices and combat police violence against people of color. Bridget brings with her a depth of knowledge on civil rights law and a history of successfully litigating jury trials in several of Louisiana’s Federal District Courts.

Before joining the ACLU Bridget was employed by the Louisiana Department of Justice where she served as an Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Section of the Litigation Division. At LADOJ Bridget handled a wide variety of civil rights claims, frequently took cases to trial in federal court, and gained firsthand experience with handling §1983 claims of excessive force, retaliation, failure to protect, and the defenses of qualified immunity and Heck v. Humphrey. Before working at LADOJ Bridget also served as a law clerk to the Honorable Judge William Carmichael and Honorable Judge Katherine Jones in Louisiana’s 20th Judicial District Court. As a law clerk Bridget handled a number of cases involving Louisiana State Penitentiary, Dixon Correctional Institute, and the Eastern Louisiana Mental Health System.

Raised in the small town of St. Francisville, Louisiana Bridget is a Louisianian at heart who loves her state and seeks to help make it a better place by contributing to the ACLU’s goal of challenging racially discriminatory policing practices in the State of Louisiana. Bridget is a graduate of Louisiana State University (2012) and a graduate of the Paul M. Hebert Law Center at LSU (2016).  She is admitted to the Louisiana Bar and the Louisiana Federal Courts.