Blog of Rights
Sandhya
Bathija
Sandhya Bathija joined the ACLU communications department in September 2011 and serves the Washington Legislative Office. Previously, she worked in the communications department of Americans United for Separation of Church and State and as a reporter for The National Law Journal. She also practiced law for a small civil rights firm in Detroit, Michigan. She holds a law degree from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law and is proud alum of Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.
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05/10/2012
Voter Suppression

Voter Suppression Laws: Will We Let Them Impact the 2012 Election?

By Sandhya Bathija, Washington Legislative Office at 1:49pm

As we head into the 2012 presidential election, we’re sure to hear competing claims on where our electorate stands and speculations on why.

Last week, The Washington Post reported on 2010 U.S. Census data that shows the number of Black and Latino registered voters fell sharply, with 2 million fewer voters in 2010 than 2008. Some election experts attributed the decline in Black and Latino registered voters to the bad economy, families relocating to find work and not re-registering to vote.

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04/18/2012
End Racial Profiling Act

ACLU Lens: ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero, ACLU Clients Urge Congress to End Racial Profiling

By Sandhya Bathija, Washington Legislative Office at 1:02pm

Racial profiling is based on crass stereotypes and assumptions, instead of facts, evidence and good solid police work.

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04/12/2012
End Racial Profiling Act

ACLU Lens: Laura W. Murphy Speaks Out As a Mother on the Impact of Trayvon Martin's Death 

By Sandhya Bathija, Washington Legislative Office at 12:05pm

The ACLU's Laura W. Murphy shares a personal story about how she has often feared her 22-year-old African-American son will be targeted like Trayvon Martin.

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04/03/2012
Immigration Detention

The Administration Must Act: Immigrants in Detention Deserve Equal Protection from Sexual Abuse

By Sandhya Bathija, Washington Legislative Office at 6:14pm

In 2009, Claudia Leiva Deras, a domestic violence survivor who is now a lawful U.S. resident, was held in immigration detention at the Cass County Jail in Plattsmouth, Neb. While Claudia waited there for the outcome of her immigration hearing, she faced months of brutality at the hands of a fellow detainee. Claudia was hit, kicked and choked daily. She was also sexually assaulted and left bleeding, with no one to turn to for help.

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03/06/2012
Corporal Punishment in Schools

ACLU Lens: New York Times Highlights Data Showing Harsh Discipline for Minority Students and Students with Disabilities

By Sandhya Bathija, Washington Legislative Office at 12:21pm

Today, the Department of Education will release crucial civil rights data exposing discipline practices in our country's public schools and certain juvenile justice facilities.

In a story published this morning, The New York Times provided a glimpse into this data, which shows that African-American students face harsher discipline measures than other groups. Overall, African-American students were 3 1/2 times as likely to be suspended or expelled than their white peers, the Times revealed. And research suggests African-American students are often punished more severely for the same infractions.

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02/03/2012
Fair Sentencing Act

Threat to Current Sentencing Law Looms: Are We Headed Back to Mandatory Guidelines?

By Sandhya Bathija, Washington Legislative Office at 5:43pm

The debate over sentencing guidelines is about to heat up in Congress, according to a recent report by NPR. In a story that ran on Tuesday’s Morning Edition, Carrie Johnson reports that some GOP members of Congress aren’t happy with the current state of federal sentencing guidelines.

For decades, mandatory sentencing guidelines forced judges to hand down harsh and unfair sentences that did not always fit the offender and unnecessarily flooded our prisons. This included the mandatory sentencing scheme that unequally punished comparable offenses involving crack and powder cocaine at a ratio of 100:1 and resulted in racially biased sentencing.

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01/23/2012
Voter Suppression

Poll and Post Agree: Criminal Disfranchisement Laws Are Unjust

By Sandhya Bathija, Washington Legislative Office at 4:49pm

Criminal disfranchisement proved to be a hot issue in the Republican presidential debates recently, leading to a CNN poll asking, “Should felons be allowed to vote after serving their sentences?”

The results showed that the majority feel that those with past convictions should have that right. The Washington Post also editorialized on the issue Friday, making the point that it is unjust to prevent “individuals from having a full stake and a full voice in the community and its leadership” after they have already paid their debts to society and earned their right to freedom.

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12/19/2011
Voter Suppression

ACLU Lens: A Fight Far From Over: Julian Bond Stands Up Against the Latest Attacks on Voting Rights

By Sandhya Bathija, Washington Legislative Office at 2:09pm

In Sunday’s issue of the Chicago Tribune, famed civil rights activist Julian Bond reminded us that expanding access to the ballot for all Americans has been a critical part of our country’s history.

No one knows this better than Bond, who has spent much of his life advocating for the right to vote. In the 1960s, he was a founding member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, which led sit-ins and freedom rides, marched on Washington and organized voter registration drives in states such as Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi.

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12/14/2011
Secure Communities

One Too Many: New York Times Highlights American Citizens Detained Under S-Comm

By Sandhya Bathija, Washington Legislative Office at 3:31pm

The New York Times today exposed a persistent problem with the Department of Homeland Security’s immigration enforcement programs: American citizens are being unlawfully detained for extended periods.

In the report, the Times told the story of Antonio Montejano, an American citizen born in Los Angeles who was arrested while holiday shopping with his family, including his young children. “After his young daughter begged for a $10 bottle of cologne,” he inadvertently dropped it into a bag of items he had already purchased. When he left the store, he was arrested for shoplifting.

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11/21/2011
H.B. 56

Help From Washington: Members of Congress See Firsthand the Damage of Alabama’s H.B. 56 And Speak Out

By Sandhya Bathija, Washington Legislative Office at 4:21pm

Today, a congressional delegation traveled to Alabama to see first-hand the devastating effects of H.B. 56.

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