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Freedom Files - Season 2
Ideological Exclusion

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Overview of the 2008 Term - Steven R. Shapiro, ACLU Legal Director

The 2008 Supreme Court term began October 6. At the American Civil Liberties Union's annual Supreme Court Breakfast Briefing on October 2, ACLU attorneys talked about several cases being considered:

  • Jonathan Hafetz, incoming staff attorney with the ACLU National Security Project, discussed the case of al-Marri v. Puccuiarelli. Al-Marri is the only designated "enemy combatant" detained in the mainland United States. At issue is whether the president can order the military to seize and indefinitely detain citizens and legal residents in the U.S. Read more >>
  • Chris Hansen, senior staff attorney with the ACLU First Amendment Working Group, addressed ACLU v. Mukasey, the ACLU's successful challenge to the Child Online Protection Act. After two prior trips to the Supreme Court, the law was once again declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in July 2008. Read more >>
  • Laughlin McDonald, Director of the ACLU Voting Rights Project, discussed Northwest Austin Municipal Utilities District v. Mukasey, a challenge to the constitutionality of the recently extended pre-clearance requirements of the Voting Rights Act. Read more >>

Video: Watch ACLU Leaders Discuss the 2008 Term


Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4


SUPREME COURT CASES

CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Pearson v. Callahan (8/12/2008)
Whether, absent an emergency, the Fourth Amendment permits the police to enter a home without a warrant based on an informant's signal that criminal activity is taking place inside.

Herring v. United States (8/1/2008)
Whether the exclusionary rule requires the suppression of evidence seized in violation of the Fourth Amendment when the Fourth Amendment violation was based on misinformation sent by law enforcement officials in another county.

Vermont v. Brillon (12/29/2008)
Whether delays caused by systemic deficiencies in a state's indigent defense system can ever be charged against the state in deciding whether a criminal defendant has been denied his constitutional right to a speedy trial.

Montejo v. State of Louisiana (11/25/2008)
Whether the police may interrogate an indigent defendant who has been assigned counsel without counsel present on the theory that the defendant never formally indicated that he accepted the appointment.

Van de Kamp v. Goldstein (9/5/2008)
Whether someone who was falsely imprisoned for 24 years based on the untrue testimony of a criminal informant can sue senior administrators in the prosecutor's office for their failure to maintain an even rudimentary record system that would have disclosed impeachment information about the informant prior to trial.


DISCRIMINATION
Fitzgerald v. Barnstable School Committee (8/29/2008)
Whether Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which generally prohibits sex discrimination in federally-funded schools, bars public school students from also challenging sex discrimination as a violation of the Constitution.

Crawford v. Nashville (8/1/2008)
Whether employees who cooperate with an internal investigation of alleged sexual harassment are protected against retaliation under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.


FREE SPEECH
FCC v. Fox Television Stations, Inc. (8/7/2008)
Whether the FCC improperly reversed its position without adequate justification by recently holding that "fleeting expletives" represent "indecent" speech that can be banned from the airwaves.


IMMIGRANTS' RIGHTS
Nken v. Mukasey (12/29/2008)
Whether federal law can be construed to make it more difficult for an alien facing removal from the country to obtain a temporary stay pending judicial review of the agency decision than to obtain a final judgment reversing the removal order.