Blog of Rights
Rachel
Myers

Rachel Myers is a senior communications strategist at the ACLU focusing on criminal justice issues. She worked previously at the ACLU of Maine and the Portland (ME) Education Partnership, where she trained teachers, students and community organizations to use service learning in the public schools. She is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin.

09/02/2008

More from the RNC

By Rachel Myers, ACLU at 9:20pm

As you can imagine, the ACLU affiliate in Minnesota has been kept extremely busy during the Republican National Convention there. In addition to coordinating five lawsuits to protect free speech, our affiliate there has assembled a team of attorneys to be on hand at the jails where those arrested are being booked.

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08/28/2008

ACLU Reacts to Arrest of Journalist at DNC

By Rachel Myers, ACLU at 4:23pm

Following news reports and a video showing Denver law enforcement agents ordering a reporter off a public sidewalk and pushing him into the street and later arresting him, the ACLU and the ACLU of Colorado called for renewed protection of the First Amendment guarantees of free speech and a free press. Our joint statement is here.

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08/07/2008

Indecency? More like Inconsistency.

By Rachel Myers, ACLU at 10:26pm

What do the ACLU and Nicole Richie have in common? We both have problems with the FCC’s new practice of imposing major fines on networks that air even “fleeting expletives.”

And we’re not alone! Today the ACLU was joined by 10 wide-ranging organizations, from the First Amendment Project to the Directors Guild of America, on a friend-of-the-court-brief filed with the Supreme Court.

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07/25/2008

Guilt by Association

By Rachel Myers, ACLU at 2:56pm

A federal court dealt a blow today to the freedoms of speech and association, and the First and Fifth Amendment rights of Zeinab Taleb-Jedi — a 53-year-old U.S. citizen who lives in a homeless shelter. The government accuses this former English teacher of providing material support — in the form of herself — to an Iranian resistance group, the Mojahedin el-Khalq (MEK) (read the New York Times article and our press release). The government doesn’t allege that Ms. Taleb-Jedi engaged in any terrorist act or that she intended to support terrorism. Instead, according to her defense attorneys, the government’s allegations come down to Ms. Taleb-Jedi’s teaching of English and her being a member of a leadership council — activities that are protected by the First Amendment. Sadly, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York agreed with the government that these associational activities could count as providing material support to a designated terrorist organization.

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06/26/2008

Make Every Day an International Day Against Torture

By Rachel Myers, ACLU at 2:57pm

On June 26, 1987, the Convention Against Torture (CAT) was entered into force by the United Nations. The CAT forbids governments from deliberately inflicting severe physical or mental pain or suffering upon those under their control, prohibits the use of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and bars the transfer or the rendition of persons to countries where they could be at risk of being tortured.

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06/23/2008

Words Are All We Have

By Rachel Myers, ACLU at 11:21am

George Carlin, a warrior for the First Amendment who exercised his right to free speech even after being arrested for it, died last night.

In his landmark comedy routine, “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television,” Carlin reminded everyone of the arbitrariness of government censorship:

There are some people that aren't into all the words. There are some people who would have you not use certain words. Yeah, there are 400,000 words in the English language, and there are seven of them that you can't say on television. What a ratio that is. 399,993 to seven. They must really be bad. They'd have to be outrageous, to be separated from a group that large. All of you over here, you seven. Bad words. That's what they told us they were, remember? 'That's a bad word.' 'Awwww.' There are no bad words. Bad thoughts. Bad intentions.
That routine landed New York radio station WBAI in the Supreme Court in the 1970s. The station was censured and fined by the FCC for airing Carlin’s bit, and the Supreme Court upheld the decision in 1978, ruling that “of all forms of communication, broadcasting has the most limited First Amendment protection.”

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05/28/2008

Knee-Jerk Redaction?

By Rachel Myers, ACLU at 12:27pm

After CIA Director Michael Hayden publicly admitted that the CIA has, in fact, waterboarded detainees, the agency could no longer cling to its last excuses for covering up the use of the very word “waterboarding” in CIA records. As a result, yesterday we obtained several heavily redacted documents in response to an ongoing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit brought by the ACLU and other organizations seeking documents related to the treatment of prisoners in U.S. custody overseas.

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05/13/2008

Soldiers of Misfortune

By Rachel Myers, ACLU at 4:15pm
The United States is shirking its commitments under an international agreement and failing to protect the rights of vulnerable young people. In a report to the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child, the ACLU charges that the U.S. isn't upholding its obligations under the Read More»
05/09/2008

Gag Lifted, Brewster Speaks!

By Rachel Myers, ACLU at 10:27am
The FBI has withdrawn an unconstitutional national security letter issued to the Internet Archive after a legal challenge from the ACLU and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. As the result of a settlement agreement, the FBI withdrew the NSL, agreed to the unsealing of the case, and lifted a gag order - finally allowing the Archive's founder, Brewster Kahle, to speak out for the first time about his battle against the record demand. Check out this video for
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04/09/2008

Patently Unconstitutional?

By Rachel Myers, ACLU at 12:35pm
Last week the ACLU took its first foray into the world of patent law. Introducing a rare argument applying the First Amendment to patent law, Chris Hansen filed an amicus brief urging a federal court to uphold the denial of a patent that would, if awarded, violate freedom of speech.

The patent i
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