By Laura W. Murphy, Director, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 6:08pm
Even if the debt ceiling is raised, hard decisions will be made about which federal programs will continue and which ones won’t. The civil liberties consequences of those choices are not entirely predictable, but some are.
We can already see that higher unemployment rates and the foreclosure crisis are creating a widening racial wealth gap. Stocks and bonds are not yielding the same return for pensions and 401Ks that working people earned and depend on for their survival in retirement. The middle class is shrinking and poverty is deepening. That has implications for groups like the ACLU – for their policy work, for their litigation strategies, for their membership initiatives, and for their fundraising goals.
By Laura W. Murphy, Director, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 10:29am
Rep. Peter King is holding a hearing about the “radicalization” of U.S. Muslims and whether they are sufficiently cooperative with U.S. anti-terrorism efforts. This may be the first of a series on this subject. But holding a hearing based on a flawed radicalization theory that conflates religious practices with preparation for terrorism and focuses exclusively on Muslim-Americans is misguided, discriminatory and counterproductive.
Anyone who works on reforming the criminal justice system can attest to the fact that such efforts often take years of commitment and dedication before bearing fruit. We are currently at just such a moment, as Congress is one final step away from passing major, if less than perfect, reform of one of the most deeply flawed aspects of a broken and dysfunctional criminal justice system - the 100 to 1 sentencing disparity between crack cocaine and powder cocaine.
By Jasmine Elliott, Washington Legislative Office & Laura W. Murphy, Director, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 4:22pm
The Arizona immigration law is poised to inflame the already widespread problem of racial profiling in the United States. This law, S.B. 1070, would require law enforcement officers to investigate a person's citizenship status if they think that the person could be in the country unlawfully. This is a clear invitation to racial profiling, and because of this new law, more people will be put into jails and the criminal justice system merely because of their race or ethnicity. When law enforcement is invited to question people based on appearance and without evidence of criminal activity, dire consequences occur.
By Laura W. Murphy, Director, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 1:21pm
Today, a memorial service was held for civil rights pioneer Dorothy Height. Laura Murphy, Director of the ACLU's Washington Legislative Office, reflects upon Dr. Height's activism.
The passing of Dr. Dorothy Height was a huge loss to the nation, particularly to American women. She inspired me and so many women leaders because she embraced and nurtured her sisters and daughters in the movement. I lost a role model and a mentor who, whenever we met, always clasped my hand in hers, looked me in the eyes and said, "Carry on."
Late on Wednesday evening, the U.S. Senate passed, by unanimous consent no less, a long-overdue bill that will help to reform one of the most egregious aspects of our nation's criminal justice system — the staggering 100 to 1 sentencing disparity between crack cocaine and powder cocaine offenses. That we have arrived at this moment, less than a week after the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 19-0 in support of the legislation, is a minor miracle that has taken years of advocacy to accomplish.
By Laura W. Murphy, Director, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 12:06pm
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is a leading congressional proponent of using the discredited and fatally-flawed military commissions system to try the alleged planners and conspirators of the terror attacks of September 11, 2001. Sen. Graham feels so strongly that he has introduced legislation to bar the Justice Department from using any funds to try these cases — the most important terrorism trials in our country's history — in our regular federal courts.
By Laura W. Murphy, Director, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 6:52pm
It has only been five days since I returned to head the ACLU’s Washington Legislative Office (I previously served in that role from 1993-2005), but imagine my surprise to read today that we can count former Attorney General John Ashcroft among our allies on the issue of using our regular civilian courts to handle terrorism prosecutions. I never would have thought one of my first public “thanks” would be directed to one of the ACLU’s frequent adversaries.
By Laura W. Murphy, Director, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 12:33pm
Today marks the 47th anniversary of the fateful march from Selma to Montgomery, which began with the horrors of Bloody Sunday, and concluded with a rally and speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., only days after President Lyndon B. Johnson submitted the Voting Rights Act to Congress.
As I prepare to join Rev. Al Sharpton and other civil and human rights leaders on the steps of the Capitol in Montgomery today to commemorate that historic march, I am reminded of both where we've been as a nation and how great the need is, in the words of Dr. King, to keep marching on. The greatest legacy of the civil rights movement — access to the ballot — is in jeopardy across the country.
Anyone who works on reforming the criminal justice system can attest to the fact that such efforts often take years of commitment and dedication before bearing fruit. We are currently at just such a moment, as Congress is one final step away from passing major, if less than perfect, reform of one of the most deeply flawed aspects of a broken and dysfunctional criminal justice system - the 100 to 1 sentencing disparity between crack cocaine and powder cocaine.
The 