Bio
Since 2013, Gilles Bissonnette has been the Legal Director at the ACLU of New Hampshire, where he leads a team of four civil rights lawyers. He has litigated cases on racial justice, the criminalization of poverty, voting, police and government accountability, public records, freedom of speech, classroom censorship, immigrants’ rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and criminal justice issues. Gilles has authored over 30 articles on civil rights issues, and he has testified before the New Hampshire legislature on over one hundred bills impacting civil liberties.
The awards he has received include the National Education Association-New Hampshire's 2024 "Friend of Education" Award for the ACLU-NH's successful work challenging New Hampshire's 2021 classroom censorship law that discourages public school teachers from teaching and talking about race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, and gender identity in the classroom. He is the 2022 recipient of the New Hampshire Bar Association's Distinguished Service to the Public Award. In 2021, his legal team -- along with co-counsel -- received the Granite State Advocacy Award from the New Hampshire Association for Justice for their legal work on behalf of medically-vulnerable immigrants being civilly detained amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prior to joining the ACLU, Gilles was a civil litigator in Boston at the law firms of Choate Hall & Stewart LLP, Todd & Weld LLP, and Cooley LLP. From 2008-2009, he clerked for the late Judge Thomas M. Golden of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. He received his J.D. from UCLA School of Law in 2007 where he was the Chief Comments Editor of the UCLA Law Review. In 2003, he received his B.A. and M.A. in history from Washington University in St. Louis.
Gilles is admitted to practice law in the state and federal courts in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, the First Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court. He has taught multiple Continuing Legal Education courses on government transparency, as well as on the United States and New Hampshire Constitutions. He is a member of the Hearings Committee of the Attorney Discipline System, as well as the Federal Court Advisory Committee. He was a trustee of the New Hampshire Supreme Court Society (2018-2024), and he has served as an adjunct professor at the University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law.
Representative cases litigated by his legal team include the following:
RACIAL JUSTICE & CLASSROOM CENSORSHIP
Nat'l Educ. Association-New Hampshire v. NH Att'y Gen., No. 25-cv-293-LM, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 195238 (D.N.H. Oct. 2, 2025) (granting preliminary injunction as to covered entities against law seeking to ban "diversity, equity, and inclusion" in public schools where "[t]he breadth of the anti-DEI laws’ prohibition is startling. The definition of ‘DEI’ contained therein is so far-reaching that it prohibits long-accepted—even legally required—teaching and administrative practices. It is hard to imagine how schools could continue to operate at even a basic level if the laws’ prohibitions were enforced to their full extent.").
Nat'l Educ. Ass'n v. United States Dep't of Educ., 779 F. Supp. 3d 149 (D.N.H. 2025) (issuing preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of the U.S. Department of Education’s February 14, 2025, “Dear Colleague” letter against the plaintiffs, their members, and any entity that employs, contracts with, or works with one or more of plaintiffs or plaintiffs’ member, where the letter restricted discussions and programs on diversity, equity, and inclusion in educational institutions, and threatened to withhold federal funding for engaging in such efforts).
Local 8027, Mejia, Philibotte, et al. v. Edelblut, No. 21-cv-1077-PB, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 94052 (D.N.H. May 28, 2024) (holding that the prohibitions in New Hampshire's classroom censorship law "against teaching banned concepts are unconstitutionally vague,” and that the law's provisions that discourage public school teachers from teaching and talking about race, gender, and sexual orientation contains “viewpoint-based restrictions on speech that do not provide either fair warning to educators of what they prohibit or sufficient standards for law enforcement to prevent arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement”; lead counsel).
State v. Jones, 172 N.H. 774 (2020) (holding that "race is an appropriate circumstance to consider in conducting the totality of the circumstances seizure analysis" in determining whether a person feels free to leave and therefore is seized under the New Hampshire Constitution; as amicus).
LGBTQ+ RIGHTS
Tirrell v. Edelblut, et al., 748 F. Supp. 3d 19 (D.N.H. 2024) (in a challenge to New Hampshire's transgender sports ban, granting plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction allowing them to play sports; as counsel in coalition led by GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders).
Jane Doe v. Manchester School District, et al., 176 N.H. 780 (2024) (affirming lower court ruling that upheld a Manchester school district policy in support of transgender students; as amicus in coalition led by GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders).
VOTING RIGHTS
Saucedo v. State of New Hampshire, 335 F. Supp. 3d 202 (D.N.H. 2018) (striking down, on procedural due process grounds, a New Hampshire law that invalidated the absentee ballots of hundreds of voters, many of whom are disabled, based on signature comparisons without notice or an opportunity to cure).
Guare v. State of New Hampshire, 167 N.H. 658 (2015) (striking down voter registration form language that would impose a chilling effect on the right to vote of those domiciled in New Hampshire).
FIRST AMENDMENT/FREE SPEECH
Richards v. Union Leader Corp., 176 N.H. 789 (2024) (concluding that statements referencing white supremacy were protected political opinion, and therefore not defamatory; as amicus).
Rideout v. State of New Hampshire, 123 F. Supp. 3d 218 (D.N.H. 2015), aff'd, 838 F.3d 65 (1st Cir. 2016), cert denied, 137 S. Ct. 1435 (2017) (striking down New Hampshire law banning online "ballot selfies" on grounds that it violates the First Amendment).
State of New Hampshire v. Bonacorsi, Nos. 218-2014-CR-01357, 218-2015-CR-868, 2016 N.H. Super. LEXIS 22 (N.H. Super. Ct., Rockingham Cty. May 18, 2016) (narrowing and striking down portions of online identifier statute on First Amendment grounds).
State of New Hampshire v. Clay, No. 450-2015-cr-00414 (N.H. 4th Cir., Dist. Div., Laconia June 9, 2015) (securing dismissal of disorderly conduct charge on First Amendment grounds where client was arrested during a public meeting simply for engaging in political, non-disruptive speech on matters of public concern).
CRIMINALIZATION OF POVERTY
Petrello v. City of Manchester, No. 16-cv-008-LM, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 144793 (D.N.H. Sep. 7, 2017) (striking down, on First Amendment grounds, Manchester's anti-panhandling ordinance, as well as permanently enjoining Manchester's anti-panhandling police practices; case settled for $89,000 in attorneys' fees and damages).
Pendleton v. City of Nashua (secured $15,000 settlement in a case where homeless client was arrested and spent 33 days in jail simply for walking along a public foot path in the park adjacent to the Nashua Public Library in violation of his First Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment rights).
Pendleton v. Town of Hudson, No. 14-cv-00365-PB (D.N.H.) (secured $37,500 settlement and permanent consent order in lawsuit where Town detained, harassed, threatened, dispersed, and cited peaceful panhandlers in violation of the First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendments).
CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM/DUE PROCESS
Doe v. Commissioner, No. 18-cv-1039-JD, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 75759 (D.N.H. Apr. 30, 2020) (ruling that State is obligated to provide due process to those suspected of experiencing a mental health crisis within three days of their detention in a hospital emergency room); Doe v. Commissioner, No. 18-cv-1039-JD, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 78387 (D.N.H. May 4, 2020) (certifying case as class action, and certifying ACLU-NH as class counsel); Doe v. Commissioner, No. 18-cv-1039-JD, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 238431 (D.N.H. Dec. 18, 2020) (denying 11th Amendment immunity), aff'd, 16 F.4th 894 (1st. Cir. 2021).
Doe v. Commissioner, 174 N.H. 239 (2021) (holding that the State "has a duty mandated by statute to provide for probable cause hearings within three days of when an involuntary emergency certificate is completed"; as amicus on behalf of federal class).
State of New Hampshire v. Brawley, 171 N.H. 333 (2018) (holding that legislature's 2017 law aimed at curbing debtors' prisons practices applies to the State’s efforts to recoup public defender fees from indigent defendants; as amicus).
Doe v. State of New Hampshire, 167 N.H. 382 (2015) (New Hampshire's retroactive, lifetime registration requirements for certain offenders are “punitive in effect” and therefore unconstitutional as applied to client under New Hampshire Constitution's bar on retrospective laws).
State of New Hampshire v. Mazzaglia, No. 2014-0592 (N.H. Sup. Ct. Sept. 29, 2016) (New Hampshire Supreme Court order agreeing with the position of the victim, victims’ rights advocates, and the ACLU-NH that documents concerning a victim’s prior consensual sexual activity should be sealed pending appeal; as amicus).
Petition of State of New Hampshire, 166 N.H. 659 (2014) (applying retroactively U.S. Supreme Court decision holding that mandatory life without parole sentences for juveniles violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment; as amicus).
PUBLIC ACCESS/GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY
Provenza v. Town of Canaan, 175 N.H. 121 (2022) (holding that an internal report commissioned by a police department investigating an allegation of excessive force should be released to the public, in part, because "[t]he public has a substantial interest in information about what its government is up to, as well as in knowing whether a government investigation is comprehensive and accurate").
ACLU-NH v. N.H. Div. of State Police, 176 N.H. 302 (2023) (holding that, in response to a Right-to-Know request, police misconduct personnel files cannot be categorically withheld from the public under a different and separate criminal discovery statute -- RSA 105:13-b).
Union Leader Corp. and ACLU-NH v. Town of Salem, 173 N.H. 345 (2020) (overruling 1993 Fenniman decision in holding that the public's interest in disclosure must be balanced in determining whether the "internal personnel practices" exemption applies to requested records); Union Leader Corp. and ACLU-NH v. Town of Salem, No. 218-2018-cv-01406 (Rockingham Cty. Super. Ct. Jan. 21, 2021) (on remand, holding that almost all of an internal audit concerning the culture and internal affairs practices of the Salem Police Department should be public).
Seacoast Newspapers, Inc. v. City of Portsmouth, 173 N.H. 325 (2020) (overruling 1993 Fenniman decision in holding that the "internal personnel practices" exemption only narrowly covers "records pertaining to the internal rules and practices governing an agency’s operations and employee relations, not information concerning the performance of a particular employee").
New Hampshire Center for Public Interest Journalism, et al./ACLU-NH v. N.H. Department of Justice, 173 N.H. 648 (2020) (holding that a list of over 275 New Hampshire police officers who have engaged in misconduct that reflects negatively on their credibility or trustworthiness is not exempt from disclosure under RSA 105:13-b or the "internal personnel practices" and "personnel file" exemptions; remanding for application of public interest balancing test).
John Does v. City of Manchester, No. 216-2022-CV-00508 (Hillsborough Cty. Super. Ct., N. Dist., Jan. 26, 2023) (ordering disclosure of supervisors' names who saw racist text from a fellow officer and did nothing on the ground that "[w]hether the supervisors’ inaction in response to [the] text constitutes acceptance or tacit support of racist or 'grossly inappropriate and racially insensitive' behavior, or is emblematic of systemic racism within the Manchester Police Department, is a matter fit for public discourse").
Stone v. City of Claremont, 319 A.3d 1274 (N.H. 2024) (ordering disclosure of disciplinary records concerning former Claremont police officer where the operative agreement did not prohibit disclosure of the requested records).
ACLU-NH and Union Leader Corp. v. Salem Police Dep't, No. 218-2021-cv-00026 (Rockingham Cty. Super. Ct. July 20, 2021) (holding that police investigatory records should be publicly disclosed concerning an off-duty officer who evaded police during a high-speed chase but was not criminally charged until years later); State of New Hampshire v. Verrocchi, No. 218-2020-cr-00077 (Rockingham Cty. Super. Ct. June 17, 2021) (ordering unsealing of arrest warrant affidavit concerning investigation of this incident).
State v. Letendre, No. 219-2020-cr-0792 (Strafford Cty. Super. Ct. Feb. 4, 2021) (holding that disclosure of 49-page investigatory report documenting police misconduct would not infringe on right of defendant officer to receive a fair trial).
Officer A.B. v. Grafton County Attorney's Office, No. 18-cv-1437 (Grafton Cty. Super. Ct. Apr. 11, 2019) (holding that officer who engaged in misconduct could not be removed by court from the EES List).
IMMIGRANTS' RIGHTS
Barbara v. Trump, No. 25-cv-244-JL-AJ, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 130805 (D.N.H. July 10, 2025) (preliminarily enjoining President's birthright citizenship executive order on classwide, nationwide basis).
N.H. Indonesian Cmty. Support v. Trump, 765 F. Supp. 3d 102 (D.N.H. 2025) (preliminarily enjoining President's birthright citizenship executive order "with respect to the plaintiffs, and with respect to any individual or entity in any matter or instance within the jurisdiction of this court, during the pendency of this litigation"), aff'd in part, No. 25-1348, 2025 U.S. App. LEXIS 25779 (1st Cir. Oct. 3, 2025).
Liu v. Noem, 780 F. Supp. 3d 386 (D.N.H. 2025) (granting preliminary injunction order where government unilaterally and without notice terminated the ability of an international student at Dartmouth College to engage in studies).
Robson Xavier Gomes, et al. v. Acting Secretary, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 460 F. Supp. 3d 132 (D.N.H. 2020) (holding that medically vulnerable civil immigration detainees at the Strafford County Department of Corrections are constitutionally entitled to bail hearings amid the COVID-19 pandemic); Robson Xavier Gomes, et al. v. Acting Secretary, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 561 F. Supp. 3d 93 (D.N.H. 2021 (certifying class of civil immigration detainees at the Strafford County Department of Corrections seeking individual bail hearings to determine whether they should be released amid the COVID-19 pandemic because of the inability to be 6-feet apart from other detainees).
State of New Hampshire v. McCarthy, et al., No. 469-2017-cr-01888, et al., (N.H. 2nd Cir. Ct., Dist. Div., Plymouth May 1, 2018), reconsideration denied on Aug. 21, 2018 (holding that border patrol checkpoints conducted by Customs and Border Patrol, in conjunction with the local police, in Woodstock, NH 90 driving miles from the border violated Part I, Article 19 of the New Hampshire Constitution and the Fourth Amendment).
Drewniak/Fuentes v. U.S. Customs and Border Protection, No. 1:20-cv-852-LM (D.N.H.) (in lawsuit challenging CBP's use of interior immigration checkpoints in New Hampshire, CBP agreed to refrain from operating the Woodstock checkpoint until January 1, 2025 in exchange for the voluntary dismissal of the lawsuit).
Guerra-Castaneda v. United States of America, 656 F. Supp. 3d 356 (D. Mass. 2023) (allowing wrongful deportation claim to proceed where ICE improperly deported a man in September 2019 despite two federal court orders stating that he should remain in the U.S. while his asylum case is pending).
Awawdeh v. Town of Exeter, et al., No. 18-cv-852-LM (D.N.H.) (settled lawsuit for $39,175 and policy change where the Exeter Police Department unlawfully arrested for ICE a man on the suspicion that he was in the United States unlawfully after the man assisted the Department with a criminal investigation by providing translation services).
Velasco Perea v. Town of Northwood, et al., No. 18-cv-1066-LM (D.N.H.) (settled lawsuit for $12,500 and policy change where the Northwood Police Department unlawfully arrested for ICE a documented man on the suspicion that he was in the United States unlawfully).
Godoy-Ramirez v. Town of Merrimack, No. 1:19-cv-01236-JD (D.N.H.) (settled lawsuit for $60,000 and policy change where the Merrimack Police Department unlawfully held for ICE for more than an hour a passenger in a car that had broken down on the side of the road).
PRISONERS' RIGHTS
Y.F. v. State of New Hampshire, No. 15-cv-00510-PB (D.N.H.) (challenge to state prison mail policy banning inmates from receiving all original handwritten drawings and pictures in the mail; under settlement, State agreed to allow certain original handwritten drawings and pictures that are done in pen or pencil).
REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
Appeal of Farmington School District, 168 N.H. 726 (2016) (holding that the Farmington School Board improperly declined to renew a guidance counselor's employment contract after the counselor sought independent legal counsel and successfully obtained a temporary restraining order before the Strafford County Superior Court to protect her student’s right to privacy that was going to be imminently violated by the Farmington High School Principal; as amicus).