This Week in Civil Liberties

This Week in Civil Liberties (2/17/2012)

By Rekha Arulanantham, ACLU at 8:51pm

Which lobbying group wants to redefine religious liberty in order to prevent women from access to birth control?

The ACLU is challenging which law that ratified warrantless wiretapping?

Spoiler Alert: What does the documentary Let’s Talk About Sex talk about?

The House Homeland Security Committee held a hearing to learn more about social media surveillance by which agency?

In which state did the governor sign a bill recognizing the freedom to marry for same-sex couples?

This Week in Civil Liberties (2/10/12)

By Rekha Arulanantham, ACLU at 5:41pm

What were the consequences of prosecutorial misconduct for the district attorney’s office that hid evidence to send John Thompson to death row?

Who produced a short music video on photographers’ First Amendment rights?

This Valentine’s Day HBO will show a documentary on which couple who challenged Virginia’s interracial marriage ban?

Congress is attempting to pressure which agency to allow more aerial surveillance of Americans?

This Week in Civil Liberties (2/3/2012)

By Rekha Arulanantham, ACLU at 5:59pm

This week we sued the government for information on what program?

Why was ACLU of Ohio client Zach bullied and beaten in school?

Which movie rental company will be able to share your video rental records perpetually if H.R. 2471 is passed?

Which government department has announced a new rule that will prevent discrimination against LGBT families in its programs?

Which laws will the execution of Edwin Hart Turner violate?

This Week in Civil Liberties (1/27/2012)

By Rekha Arulanantham, ACLU at 6:11pm

Which search engine forces you to share your personal data with almost all of its products and sites?

A school district in which state will stop illegally promoting religion to public school students after a settlement with ACLU plaintiffs?

Which amendment did the government violate when it placed a GPS tracking device on Antoine Jones’s car?

Of which band is Billy McCarthy, who talks about solitary confinement in a new Prison Voices podcast, the singer and songwriter?

This Week in Civil Liberties (1/13/2012)

By Rekha Arulanantham, ACLU at 6:20pm

Are inmates on death row more violent or just unlucky?

Which Constitutional amendment does an Oklahoma law that discriminates against Muslims violate?

How many years has it been since the opening of Guantanamo Bay?

What search tool didn’t make privacy a default for its new social search?

Which Senator recently released a short video in support of LGBT youth and the Student Non-Discrimination Act?

This Week in Civil Liberties (1/6/2012)

By Rekha Arulanantham, ACLU at 6:12pm

Which bill, signed into law by President Obama on New Year’s Eve, allows for indefinite military detention without charge or trial?

What comic book debuting this week features the same-sex marriage of two characters?

In which state is the ACLU challenging a law that bars LGBT public employees’ partners from healthcare benefits?

Which governor attempted to strike down a voter-approved medical marijuana law?

President Obama Signs Indefinite Detention Into Law
President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) last Saturday, allowing indefinite detention to be codified into law. As you know, the White House had threatened to veto an earlier version of the NDAA but reversed course shortly before Congress voted on the final bill. While President Obama issued a signing statement saying he had “serious reservations” about the provisions, the statement only applies to how his administration would use it and would not affect how the law is interpreted by subsequent administrations.

This Week in Civil Liberties (12/9/2011)

By Rekha Arulanantham, ACLU at 6:21pm

Who is holding secret meetings regarding the National Defense Authorization Act and its indefinite detention provisions?

Who stood up for LGBT and gender-nonconforming kids to change her school’s unfair yearbook picture policy?

Which public middle school tries to force Christianity on its students?

What is the government trying to hide from the public by redacting or withholding State Department cables?

This Week in Civil Liberties (12/2/2011)

By Rekha Arulanantham, ACLU at 5:50pm

Which amendment rejected by the Senate this week would have banned indefinite detention without charge or trial?

What can’t Siri help you find?

How does S-Comm violate U.S. citizens’ rights?

Which state repealed a law that allows death row prisoners the opportunity to try to commute their sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole based on racial bias?

Which agency uses “community outreach” programs to collect intelligence on innocent Americans?

This Week in Civil Liberties (11/18/2011)

By Rekha Arulanantham, ACLU at 5:56pm

Guess who’s stalking you on the Internet?

Who is suing the Oakland Police Department to end violence against Occupy Oakland protesters?

Which amendment could the Stop Online Privacy Act impede?

Which presidential candidate thinks the ACLU is effectively running the CIA?

In which state does an anti-immigrant law put small businesses at risk?

The Social Network is Stalking You
A new web feature by USA Today details the ways Facebook stalks you around the Internet — even when you’re not logged in. Facebook’s tracking methods — in the guise of the innocent seeming “Like” button — record every web site its 800 million-plus members have visited during the previous 90 days, even if you never click on that button, or don’t have a Facebook account.

This Week in Civil Liberties (11/10/2011)

By Rekha Arulanantham, ACLU at 9:04pm

To whom did the ACLU write to ask that they stop tracking cell phone users and storing their data?

Which police department is refusing to hand over public information on its use of force against Occupy protesters?

In which state are parents concerned that their kids are being racially profiled in school because of an anti-immigrant law?

How many prisoners are held in the torturous conditions of solitary confinement in the U.S.?

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