Blog of Rights
Suzanne
Ito
09/15/2011
Freedom of Association

Ideological Exclusion Again?

By Suzanne Ito, ACLU at 1:02pm

Today, the ACLU sent letters to the Departments of State and Homeland Security asking them to grant a visa to Kerim Yildiz, a British citizen living in London. Yildiz, the executive director of the U.K.-based Kurdish Human Rights Project (KHRP), has apparently been refused a visa to enter the U.S., and we worry that the delay — which has lasted nearly a year — relates to his human rights advocacy on behalf of Kurds in Turkey, Iraq, and elsewhere.

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09/14/2011
Disability Rights

Your Privacy Rights, Before Congress Now and the Supreme Court in November

By Suzanne Ito, ACLU at 1:39pm

In June, we told you the Supreme Court agreed to hear United States v. Jones, a case that will determine if the government may plant GPS devices on vehicles to track people without a warrant. The government has appealed the D.C. appellate court's August 2010 decision that such 24-7 surveillance violates the Fourth Amendment.  The argument is scheduled for November 8.

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09/12/2011
Police Corruption

ACLU's Anthony Romero Discusses Police Brutality in Puerto Rico on NPR

By Suzanne Ito, ACLU at 5:20pm

Today, ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero spoke with NPR's Michel Martin about last week's release of a Justice Department investigation excoriating the Puerto Rican police for civil rights violations, corruption and illegal conduct. Listen to it here, and learn more about the issue by checking out our Lens and hub page.

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09/08/2011
Police Brutality

ACLU Lens: Justice Department Report Accuses Puerto Rico Police of Abuse, Corruption and Illegal Conduct

By Suzanne Ito, ACLU at 11:38am

The investigation was spurred in part by ACLU complaints to the DOJ.

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09/02/2011

Censoring Military Personnel Is Un-American

By Suzanne Ito, ACLU at 10:27pm

Today, the ACLU filed a brief in a case on behalf of Col. Morris Davis, who was fired from his job at the Congressional Research Service (CRS) for publicly criticizing the Obama administration’s decision to try some Guantánamo detainees in federal courts and some in the military commissions system.

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08/15/2011
Camdenton

ACLU Sues Missouri School District for Illegally Censoring LGBT Websites

By Suzanne Ito, ACLU at 4:32pm

Can't say we didn't warn them. Back in May, as part of our Don't Filter Me project, the ACLU sent a letter to the Camdenton School District informing them that the web filters they use on school computers were unconstitutionally blocking access to hundreds of LGBT websites, including sites that contain anti-bullying information and other resources for student gay-straight alliances. We informed them that if they failed to disable the filter, they would be "subject to legal liability and the expense of litigation…"

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08/12/2011
U.S. Torture

NYT Disappointed at Court Decision on CIA Contempt Motion

By Suzanne Ito, ACLU at 5:47pm

"A Missed Chance for Accountability" is how The New York Times described last week's federal court decision failing to hold the CIA in contempt of the court for destroying the videotapes that documented the agency's torture of prisoners in its custody. The Times editorial states:

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07/19/2011
Transgender ID

Your Choice: Wrong Gender on Driver's License, or Surgery

By Suzanne Ito, ACLU at 11:42am

In Alaska, if you're a transgender person, the state requires you to have surgery to change the gender marker on your driver's license. Today, the ACLU filed a brief challenging this state surgery requirement on behalf of a transgender woman, K.L.

K.L. has lived as a woman for two years, and whose work documents and even her U.S. passport all identify her as female. But when she tried to change the gender on her state driver's license, she was told she had to submit proof of having undergone sex reassignment surgery.

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07/13/2011
FBI

ACLU Files Lawsuit for Info on Alleged Bush-Era Operation to Discredit Blogger & Professor Juan Cole

By Suzanne Ito, ACLU at 3:39pm

Today we filed a lawsuit to enforce a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking any information pertaining to University of Michigan Professor Juan Cole.

Last month, The New York Times reported that Bush administration officials attempted to "gather sensitive information" to discredit Professor Cole because he was a vocal critic of the Iraq War and the Bush administration on his blog, Informed Comment. Glenn Carle, a former CIA agent, alleged in the Times article that he had seen a memo written by his supervisor, David Low, intended for the White House that contained "derogatory details" about Professor Cole.

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07/08/2011
This Week in Civil Liberties

This Week in Civil Liberties

By Suzanne Ito, ACLU at 3:20pm

President Obama's Twitter Town Hall was a big news item this week. We had a few of our own questions for the president — unfortunately, he didn't get around to answering them. But an interesting tidbit: Raw Story reported that questions about marijuana legalization were the most retweeted of any questions directed at the president, and he didn't address the issue at all. Which is disappointing, because as we pointed out last week, his administration's drug policy — specifically on medical marijuana — is confusing and cruel.

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