This Week in Civil Liberties

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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06/10/2011
This Week in Civil Liberties

This Week in Civil Liberties

By Jessica Monaco, ACLU at 5:26pm

Another busy week! We filed a lawsuit seeking declassification of the State Department cables released by Wikileaks, appealed the dismissal of our lawsuit on behalf of Jose Padilla against former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, got a Louisiana school board to stop denying children equal educational opportunities in the classroom and more.

"If the Law Does Not Protect Jose Padilla . . . It Protects No One"
In February, a federal district court in South Carolina dismissed our lawsuit against Donald Rumsfeld and other current and former government officials for their roles in the detention and torture of American citizen Jose Padilla. This week we appealed that dismissal.

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05/13/2011
This Week in Civil Liberties

This Week in Civil Liberties

By Jessica Monaco, ACLU at 6:43pm

This week, lots of government spying, tracking and other abuses of your civil liberties.

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04/29/2011
This Week in Civil Liberties

This Week in Civil Liberties

By Jessica Monaco, ACLU at 5:34pm

The ACLU butted heads with big companies this week: Wal-mart and medical marijuana. Apple and privacy. Sony and privacy. Signal and human trafficking. In other news, Jameel Jaffer of the ACLU and Larry Siems of PEN American Center gave us a new perspective and a timely reminder in a New York Timesop-ed: Torturers and their apologists are not heroes, men and women who stand up for what's right are heroes. And more...

ACLU Appeals Medical Marijuana Case on Behalf of Cancer-Stricken Wal-Mart Employee
The ACLU filed a brief urging a federal appeals court to reinstate a 2010 lawsuit about the wrongful firing of Wal-Mart employee Joseph Casias for using medical marijuana in accordance with state law. In February, a U.S. district judge dismissed the case, but the ACLU is appealing.

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04/01/2011
This Week in Civil Liberties

This Week in Civil Liberties

By Jessica Monaco, ACLU at 5:55pm

This week, we're winding down our blog symposium on women's rights, and celebrate a victory for a gay corrections officer. We look back to the lessons of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, and look ahead to the place in history for the courageous women of Egypt's revolution. History teaches us that bit by bit, if we keep up the good work, the future will be brighter.

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02/12/2011
This Week in Civil Liberties

This Week In Civil Liberties

By Katie Smith, ACLU at 11:00pm

Wow! What a week. The House failed to get enough votes to extend the Patriot Act, the court unsealed three motions from the Twitter Wikileaks case — plus we had a big win for privacy!

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01/28/2011
This Week in Civil Liberties

This Week in Civil Liberties

By Katie Smith, ACLU at 5:45pm

This is the start of something new. Not just a New Year, but here at ACLU.org we have some new and exciting programs launching, and more coming up in the near future. Starting this week, we’ll showcase the hot issues from the last seven days. This is your chance to take another look.

This Week on the Blog of Rights

Last Saturday marked the 38th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade. The ACLU's Jennifer Dalven reflected on the current challenges to reproductive freedom and new legislation that threatens basic health care for women. And Louise Melling blogged on the conspicuous absence of the word "abortion" in President Obama's Roe statement.

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03/22/2013
This Week in Civil Liberties

This Week in Civil Liberties (03/22/2013)

By Rekha Arulanantham, ACLU at 5:08pm

How many friend-of-the-court briefs have been filed in support of Edie Windsor case against the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)?

What bill has been proposed a second time with no changes to the privacy problems that caused President Obama to threaten a veto last year?

Which Senators proposed a bill that would require law enforcement to get a warrant before access your email and other online communications?

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03/15/2013
This Week in Civil Liberties

This Week in Civil Liberties (03/15/2013)

By Rekha Arulanantham, ACLU at 4:43pm

Criticism of what Electronic Arts game demonstrates the digital divide experienced by the 19 million Americans who don't have broadband access and those who do?

Which state will finally allow DREAMers, federally authorized to live and work in the United States, to get their driver's licenses?

How many times did the government refuse to release information requested under the Freedom of Information Act in 2012?

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02/08/2013
This Week in Civil Liberties

This Week in Civil Liberties (02/08/2013)

By Rekha Arulanantham, ACLU at 4:39pm

A targeted killing white paper by which government agency reasons that judicial process is unnecessary?

The conditions in Ohio's Lake Eerie Correctional Facility have taken a dramatic turn for the worse since the state sold the facility to which private prison company?

The ACLU is challenging in court the secrecy over which government agency's racial profiling program?

Which state may be the first to regulate surveillance drones?

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