Blog of Rights
Suzanne
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07/06/2011

As Puerto Rico Police Chief Resigns, ACLU Calls on Congress to Act

By Suzanne Ito, ACLU at 6:44pm

Last Saturday, Puerto Rico police chief Jose Figueroa Sancha resigned. Sancha, who worked for the FBI for 23 years before becoming police chief in November 2008, is leaving the post in the midst of a crime wave and criticism of the department's use of excessive force by police on peaceful protestors, Dominican immigrants, and low-income and black Puerto Ricans, as we have extensively documented. Police have beaten, pepper-sprayed and tear-gassed student and labor protestors. The abuses are legion, and have been largely ignored by both the Puerto Rican and U.S. governments.

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07/06/2011
Detention

The Good and the Bad of the Warsame Case

By Suzanne Ito, ACLU at 4:57pm

First, the good: with today's news of charges being brought against terrorism suspect Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame in federal criminal court in New York, the Obama administration is acting on its Attorney General’s stated belief that our criminal justice system is the best and most appropriate place to try such suspects.

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06/27/2011
Wal-Mart

Supreme Court Term Is Pro-Business and Pro-Free Speech

By Suzanne Ito, ACLU at 2:22pm

The Supreme Court ended the 2010 term today, delivering the much-anticipated decision in Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association, a case that challenged California's ban of the sale of violent video games to minors. In a 7-2 decision, the Court found the state's law violated the First Amendment. The Court called California's attempt to put video games in a new category not protected by the First Amendment "unpersuasive."

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06/22/2011
DREAM Act

Pulitzer Prize Winner on DREAMing of a Better Future for Children of Immigrants

By Suzanne Ito, ACLU at 5:34pm

Today's New York Times features an amazing, first-person account by journalist Jose Antonio Vargas about his life and career as an undocumented immigrant. Vargas writes about meeting the courageous students who have risked deportation by coming forward to advocate for passage of the DREAM Act, legislation that would provide a path to citizenship to undocumented youth who complete two years of college or military service.

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06/21/2011
Excessive Force

Sky-High Murder Rate in Puerto Rico Puts Police Under Scrutiny

By Suzanne Ito, ACLU at 2:28pm

Today's New York Times reports the sky-high murder rate in Puerto Rico has put the territory's police department — the second largest in the nation behind New York — under pressure to ramp up training and instruction, as well as coordination with federal authorities.

But it appears the pressure to crack down on crime may have come at the expense of civil liberties. The article mentions the ACLU's pressure on the Justice Department to complete its investigation into allegations of police brutality and suppression of First Amendment-protected protest.

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06/17/2011
This Week in Civil Liberties

This Week in Civil Liberties

By Suzanne Ito, ACLU at 6:25pm

Despite all the distractions of the week (and by distractions, we mean that weird case of possible voter fraud—let's focus on civil liberties, people!) it was still a busy week here at the ACLU.

Today marks the 40th anniversary of the day President Richard Nixon declared the “war on drugs,” a failed and unfair war that has helped make the U.S. the nation’s largest incarcerator. To mark this day, we debuted a new infographic that shows some startling statistics about America’s addiction to incarceration, a byproduct of this failed war on drugs. Check out the infographic here.

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06/13/2011

New Report Reveals Ongoing Police Brutality and Abuse in Puerto Rico

By Suzanne Ito, ACLU at 12:49pm
06/10/2011

President Obama: Address Police Brutality in Puerto Rico

By Suzanne Ito, ACLU at 4:02pm

Next Tuesday, President Obama will visit Puerto Rico.

We hope that during his time there, he'll address the ongoing First Amendment and human rights violations that the ACLU has been investigating and documenting since 2004. Over the last two years, since Gov. Luis Fortuño took office, police brutality and suppression of free speech and peaceful assembly have escalated to an alarming level.

On numerous occasions, police have beaten and molested students protesting at the University of Puerto Rico. Union leaders and other peaceful protesters outside the Capitol Building and other public spaces have been pepper sprayed, beaten and shot at with rubber bullets by riot squad officers. Journalists attempting to cover these events have been assaulted by police. This video shows just some of the most recent violence:

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06/07/2011
Enemy Combatants

"If the Law Does Not Protect Jose Padilla . . . It Protects No One"

By Suzanne Ito, ACLU at 6:27pm

In February, a federal district court in South Carolina dismissed our lawsuit on behalf of American citizen Jose Padilla against Donald Rumsfeld and other current and former officials, saying the former Secretary of Defense was entitled to "qualified immunity" for his role in the arbitrary detention and torture of Padilla. Today we appealed that dismissal to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.

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06/03/2011
This Week in Civil Liberties

This Week in Civil Liberties

By Suzanne Ito, ACLU at 5:57pm

It's LGBT Pride month! We're celebrating with a weekly blog series featuring diverse voices from the LGBT community.

This month also reminds us of something definitely not worth celebrating: the War on Drugs, which turned 40 this year. To mark the occasion, we'll be blogging daily throughout June about the failed war, and how it's created bloated prisons, cost billions in wasteful spending, ravaged communities of color and hasn't changed the demand for drugs one iota.

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