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ACLU Obtains Defense Department Documents About Prisoner Deaths And Interrogations (05/14/2008)
NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union has obtained previously withheld documents from the Defense Department, including internal investigations into the abuse of detainees in U.S. custody overseas. Uncensored documents released as a result of the ACLU's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit shed light on the deaths of detainees in Iraq and internal disagreement within the military over harsh interrogation practices used at Guantánamo Bay.

Government Rushes Guantánamo Cases While Delaying Detainees' Access To Prospective Counsel (05/14/2008)
NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union expressed outrage today at the Pentagon's announcement of a June 5 date for the arraignment of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other detainees accused of crimes related to September 11 before all of the defendants have met with their prospective lawyers.

New Government Report Reveals 2,500 Youths Held In Military Custody Abroad (05/14/2008)
NEW YORK - In a supplemental report to the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) made public today, the U.S. government revealed that it has no comprehensive policy in place for dealing with youth detained by the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan, including nearly 2,500 youths under the age of 18 that have been held in U.S.-run facilities overseas to date. In a separate report, the American Civil Liberties Union charged that the lack of safeguards in place for the treatment of youth under the age of 18 in U.S. military custody violates internationally accepted standards.

ACLU Urges LGBT People To "Get Busy, Get Equal" (05/13/2008)
NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union launched a new version of its Get Busy, Get Equal online activist toolkit, www.aclu.org/getequal . Get Busy, Get Equal now incorporates new technology to make it easier for LGBT people to work for change in their communities. The website offers tools for ending gay and transgender discrimination, making schools safe, and winning recognition for LGBT relationships.

ACLU Welcomes Detainee Basic Medical Care Act (05/13/2008)
WASHINGTON – The American Civil Liberties Union applauds Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) for introducing the Detainee Basic Medical Care Act of 2008. This legislation requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to develop procedures to ensure adequate medical care for all detainees held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The legislation also requires ICE to report detainee deaths to the DHS and Department of Justice Offices of Inspector General.

As Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Is Formally Charged, Government Delays Security Clearance For Civilian Defense Lawyers (05/13/2008)
NEW YORK – The U.S. government continues to delay security clearances for attorneys seeking to represent Khalid Sheikh Mohammed even as formal charges are announced against him and four other detainees today as part of the Bush administration's military commission system. The efforts of civilian attorneys to represent Mohammed are part of the John Adams Project – a partnership between the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers – designed to provide legal teams to represent Guantánamo detainees.

Federal Judge Rules That Students Can’t Be Barred From Expressing Support for Gay People (05/13/2008)
PANAMA CITY, FL – After a two-day trial in which a Florida high school principal testified that he believed clothing or stickers featuring rainbows would make students automatically picture gay people having sex, a federal judge today ruled that the school violated students’ First Amendment rights of students. The case was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of a junior at the school who had been forbidden by her principal to wear any sort of clothing, stickers, buttons, or symbols to show her support of equal rights for gay people.

Informe de la ACLU revela detención injusta de jóvenes (05/13/2008)
BOSTON - Una práctica ampliamente difundida en el estado de Massachusetts, de encarcelar a jóvenes que son acusados de cometer delitos menores a pesar de representar un peligro insignificante o nulo para sus comunidades, es injusta y representa una amenaza para la seguridad pública, además de desperdiciar el erario público, según un informe difundido hoy por la Unión de Libertades Civiles de los Estados Unidos (American Civil Liberties Union, o ACLU, por sus siglas en inglés) y la ACLU de Massachusetts.

Military Recruitment Practices Violate International Standards, Says ACLU (05/13/2008)
NEW YORK – The United States has failed to uphold its commitments to safeguard the rights of youth under 18 from military recruitment and to guarantee basic protections to foreign former child soldiers, according to an American Civil Liberties Union report released today. The report, "Soldiers of Misfortune," charges that U.S. military recruiting practices that target children as young as 11, the lack of protections for alleged foreign child soldiers in U.S. military custody, and the denial of protection to former child soldiers from other countries seeking asylum violate the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict that the U.S. ratified in 2002.

ACLU Report Exposes Unjust Detention Of Youth (05/12/2008)
BOSTON – A widespread practice in Massachusetts of locking up youth accused of minor offenses and who pose little or no danger to their communities is unfair, threatens public safety and wastes public money, according to a report released today by the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Massachusetts.

ACLU Skeptical of Senate Report on “Homegrown” Terrorism (05/08/2008)
Washington, DC – After Senators Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) and Susan Collins (R-ME) introduced a report on Islamic homegrown terrorism today, the American Civil Liberties Union strongly urged Congress to use caution when moving forward on related legislation, the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007 (S. 1959). The report, "Violent Islamist Extremism, the Internet, and the Homegrown Terrorism Threat," is based on findings from hearings held by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. The ACLU and nearly twenty other groups sent a memo to the committee outlining concerns with the report, most notably the free speech implications of labeling the internet as a "weapon" and the unfair singling out of one religious group as possible "extremists."

Disability Backlogs Violate Due Process Rights (05/08/2008)
WASHINGTON, DC – The American Civil Liberties Union was encouraged by today’s Senate Finance Committee hearing on service delivery problems with the Social Security Administration (SSA) field offices. The SSA has struggled in processing disability claims in reasonable timeframes and the ACLU has concerns that a mandatory employment verification system would capsize the already overburdened agency.

ACLU Announces Winners Of Third Annual Stand Up For Freedom Contest (05/07/2008)
NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union today announced the winners of its third annual Stand Up for Freedom Contest. Launched July 4^th, 2007, the contest challenged people between the ages of 17 and 29 to produce a video public service announcement (PSA) or podcast detailing one of today's pressing civil liberties issues.

ACLU Lauds House Judiciary Committee on Torture Investigation (05/07/2008)
Washington, DC – The American Civil Liberties Union lauds the House Judiciary Committee and especially its chairman John Conyers (D-MI) and subcommittee chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) for compelling former members of the Bush administration to appear before the committee as part of an investigation of the authorization of illegal torture of prisoners in US custody by the highest public officials in the executive branch.

FBI Withdraws Unconstitutional National Security Letter After ACLU And EFF Challenge (05/07/2008)
SAN FRANCISCO - The FBI has withdrawn an unconstitutional national security letter (NSL) issued to the Internet Archive after a legal challenge from the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). As the result of a settlement agreement, the FBI withdrew the NSL and agreed to the unsealing of the case, finally allowing the Archive's founder to speak out for the first time about his battle against the record demand.

ACLU Applauds House Judiciary Subcommittee Hearing on Administration Authorization of Torture (05/06/2008)
WASHINGTON – The American Civil Liberties Union was pleased to see the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties hold today’s hearing to examine the executive branch’s role in authorizing harsh interrogation methods. The ACLU calls on Congress to conduct a systematic, top-to-bottom investigation to explore whether crimes have been committed and how high up the authorization originated.

ACLU Commends Net Neutrality Hearing (05/06/2008)
WASHINGTON – The American Civil Liberties Union commends Chairman Edward Markey (D-MA) of the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet for holding a hearing today on the Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2008 (H.R. 5353), legislation designed to keep the Internet free for open discourse.

Employment Verification Would Create a ‘No Work List’ in the U.S. (05/06/2008)
WASHINGTON – As the House Ways & Means subcommittee on Social Security met today to debate employment eligibility verification systems, the American Civil Liberties Union sounds its call for Congress not to erect barriers for Americans who seek employment. The hearing is to examine the impact that employment verification systems would have on the Social Security Administration (SSA), an already overburdened governmental agency.

White House Continues to Push Ineffective Student Drug Testing Agenda (05/06/2008)
WASHINGTON – The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy is conducting the latest in a series of regional summits designed to convince local educators to begin drug testing students randomly and without cause – a policy unsupported by the available science and opposed by leading experts in adolescent health, including the Academy of Pediatrics, National Education Association, the Association of Addiction Professionals and the National Association of Social Workers.

ACLU Welcomes Immigration Detention Medical Treatment Legislation (05/05/2008)
WASHINGTON - The American Civil Liberties Union applauds Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) for introducing H.R. 5950, the Detainee Basic Medical Care Act of 2008. This legislation requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to develop procedures to ensure adequate medical care for all detainees held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The legislation also requires ICE to report detainee deaths to the DHS and Department of Justice Offices of Inspector General.