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ACLU Challenges Solitary Confinement And Unwarranted Strip Searches Of Girls Held In Texas Youth Prison (06/12/2008)
AUSTIN, TX - The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Texas filed a class action lawsuit today on behalf of five girls – all of whom have histories of sexual, physical, or emotional abuse – held in the Brownwood State School. Brownwood is a "high security" youth prison located in central Texas and operated by the Texas Youth Commission (TYC), the state's juvenile corrections agency. The ACLU charges that TYC subjects the girls to unwarranted solitary confinement, routine strip searches and brutal physical force.

ACLU Opposes Expansion of Federal DNA Program to Arrestee Testing (06/12/2008)
WASHINGTON, DC – The American Civil Liberties Union urges Congress to oppose an amendment sponsored by Representative Adam B. Schiff (D-CA) that is designed to test arrestees as part of an expansion of the federal DNA program. Schiff’s amendment, which recently passed the House Judiciary Committee, will provide incentives for state law enforcement officials to create a permanent DNA database of arrestees that includes people who are detained on misdemeanor charges, wrongfully arrested and others.

ACLU Sues For Documents Collected By Inspector General In Prisoner Abuse Investigation (06/12/2008)
WASHINGTON – The American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit today for documents related to an investigation by the Justice Department's Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the abuse and torture of prisoners in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantánamo Bay. Last month, the OIG released a report on the investigation, which was launched after internal government documents – uncovered by another ACLU lawsuit – revealed that FBI agents at Guantánamo raised concerns about abusive techniques used by military interrogators.

Civil Rights Groups Urge Appellate Court To Overturn Arizona Employer Sanctions Law (06/12/2008)

Supreme Court Restores Rule Of Law To Guantánamo (06/12/2008)
NEW YORK - In a stunning blow to the Bush administration's failed national security policies, the Supreme Court ruled today 5-4 that the U.S. Constitution applies to the government's detention policies at Guantánamo. The Court concluded that detainees held at Guantánamo have a right to challenge their detention through habeas corpus.

Judge Approves Agreement Struck By ACLU And Civil Rights Lawyers To Desegregate Hartford Public Schools (06/11/2008)

Nashville High School Students Celebrate Comprehensive Non-Discrimination Policy (06/11/2008)
NASHVILLE, TN – Students are celebrating today after last night’s decision by the Nashville school board to protect students and school employees from gender identity and sexual orientation discrimination. The American Civil Liberties Union also applauds the decision, hailing the hard work and advocacy by students that led to the change.

ACLU to Testify Before House Judiciary Subcommittee on Electronic Employment Verification (06/10/2008)
WASHINGTON - Timothy Sparapani, senior legislative counsel for the ACLU, will testify today before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law about the effects of implementing a mandatory electronic employment verification system in the United States. Sparapani will explain that imposing a mandatory system will endanger the privacy of American citizens, and that its inevitable systemic errors will create a 'No-Work' list of eligible Americans who are wrongly prevented from working by the U.S. government. Six members of Congress will also testify before the subcommittee, marking the growing significance of this issue to both members of Congress and the American people.

ACLU Urges Congress to Examine White House National Security Council as Central Decision-Maker on Torture (06/10/2008)
WASHINGTON - On the day of two important congressional hearings, Caroline Fredrickson, director of the ACLU's Washington Legislative Office said, "It is time to get to the bottom of this administration's torture regime Congress and the American public have looked at all of the supporting cast, but not at the lead roles."

ACLU Urges Court To Uphold Ban On Unconstitutional Censorship Law (06/10/2008)
PHILADELPHIA - The American Civil Liberties Union is in court today, once again urging the courts to uphold a ban on a law that criminalizes constitutionally protected speech on the Internet. The Child Online Protection Act (COPA) would impose draconian criminal sanctions, with penalties of up to $50,000 per day and up to six months imprisonment, for online material acknowledged as protected for adults but deemed "harmful to minors."

LGBT Organizations Urge Couples Marrying in California to "Make Change, Not Lawsuits" (06/10/2008)
NEW YORK - Four LGBT legal organizations and five other leading national LGBT groups have issued a statement entitled "Make Change, Not Lawsuits."

Americans United For Separation Of Church And State And ACLU File Brief Objecting To Government Promotion of Prayer In Texas' "Moment Of Silence" Law (06/09/2008)
NEW ORLEANS - Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Texas submitted a friend-of-the-court brief today to a federal appeals court urging the court to rule against a religiously motivated 2003 amendment to Texas' "Moment of Silence" statute. The amendment added "pray" to the statute's list of activities for students during the moment of silence.

ACLU Announces $335 Million Civil Rights/Civil Liberties Fundraising Campaign, Largest In American History (06/09/2008)
WASHINGTON - The American Civil Liberties Union today announced the public phase of the largest fundraising campaign on behalf of civil rights and liberties in American history. The $335 million "Leading Freedom Forward: The ACLU Campaign for the Future" is an unprecedented effort to build the organization's infrastructure by increasing funding to key state affiliates nationwide, dramatically enhancing advocacy capabilities and securing the ACLU's financial future for generations to come.

ACLU Statement on President Bush’s Directive Mandating Employment Verification for All Governmental Contracts (06/09/2008)
Late last week, President Bush issued a National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive that requires all governmental contracts to go through an employment verification process, checking potential employees against their Social Security file. The Social Security Administration (SSA) has been plagued with errors for individual records, resulting in massive backlogs in SSA field offices for the elderly and disabled. Adding employment verification to the SSA’s duties would only exacerbate problems the agency is already facing.

ACLU Announces Rights / Camera / Action (06/06/2008)
NEW YORK - Rights / Camera / Action, a new program of the American Civil Liberties Union that uses the arts and popular culture as a platform for civil liberties discussions, kicks off this Sunday, June 8 with a panel discussion at the 2008 ACLU Membership Conference in Washington, D.C. Rights / Camera / Action will bring together artists and entertainment professionals, civil liberties experts, activists and public audiences of all ages to talk about the wide range of civil liberties issues addressed in film and the arts historically and currently.

ACLU Statement on Airport Body Scanning Machines (06/06/2008)

U.N. Committee Decries Military Treatment Of Youth At Home And Abroad (06/06/2008)
GENEVA – A United Nations committee of human rights experts today issued a strongly worded critique of the United States' record on the detention and treatment of youth in U.S. military custody abroad. The committee also urged the U.S. to make sweeping policy changes regarding domestic military recruitment practices that target juveniles. The committee reviewed reports and testimony from the U.S. government as well as "shadow reports" by the American Civil Liberties Union and other non-governmental organizations before issuing the report.

ACLU At Guantánamo Today to Attend Military Commissions (06/05/2008)
GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA - As part of a $15 million commitment to provide adequate legal defense for several Guantánamo detainees, attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union are present for the arraignment today of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed on terrorism-related charges before the Bush administration's military commissions. Earlier this week, attorneys David Nevin and Scott McKay met for several hours with Mohammed as part of the John Adams Project, a partnership between the ACLU and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) to supplement the under-resourced military defense teams that have been assigned to the detainees.

ACLU Says No Deal on an Unconstitutional FISA Compromise (06/05/2008)
Washington, DC – As news continues to trickle down from Capitol Hill regarding a deal on surveillance legislation, the American Civil Liberties Union once again voiced its fervent opposition to any attempt to undercut the Fourth Amendment or allow the telecommunications companies to gain blanket immunity for illegal spying. Before the Memorial Day recess the ranking member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Senator Christopher Bond (R-MO) floated what he claims is a compromise on surveillance legislation that will allow for sham court proceedings, virtually guaranteeing immunity to telecommunications companies. The ACLU strongly opposes this unconstitutional proposal.

ACLU Statement On Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's Rejection Of Legal Defense (06/05/2008)
GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA - At his arraignment today before a Guantánamo military commission on terrorism-related charges, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other detainees accused of participating in the 9/11 attacks refused legal representation by military and civilian defense attorneys.