This Week in Civil Liberties

08/19/2011
This Week in Civil Liberties

This Week in Civil Liberties (8/19/2011)

By Rekha Arulanantham, ACLU at 5:55pm

What school fired a teacher for having to pump breast milk?
How did California's BART system censor the public to avoid a political demonstration?
What school district allows students to access anti-LGBT websites but blocks LGBT sites that provide anti-bullying information and other resources?
What state discourages donations to organizations that provide information on reproductive health services?
What major world power violated human rights according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. (Here’s a hint: If you are reading this, you most likely live in this country.)

Read More»
08/12/2011
This Week in Civil Liberties

This Week in Civil Liberties (8/12/2011)

By Rekha Arulanantham, ACLU at 5:30pm

What military base, after initially pulling its support, is allowing an atheist concert on base?
How can states save some of your taxpayer dollars?
Which civil servant publicly indicated indifference towards separation between church and state? (Here’s a hint: His job has everything to do with church and state!)
How many senators have rethought their 1996 decisions to support DOMA?
In what state did a federal appeals court strike down a law that prohibited transgender prisoners from receiving medically necessary treatments?

Read More»
08/05/2011
This Week in Civil Liberties

This Week in Civil Liberties (8/5/2011)

By Rekha Arulanantham, ACLU at 6:03pm

What does the debt ceiling have to do with civil liberties?
What government agency has to pay the ACLU’s legal fees?
How many states believe Islamic Law is a threat to our legal system?
What threatens civil liberties?
How is Big Brother watching you?

Is the Debt Ceiling a Civil Liberties Issue?
During this week's debt ceiling negotiations, hard decisions were made about which federal programs will continue and which ones won’t. Read more about the civil liberties consequences of those choices.

Read More»
07/29/2011
This Week in Civil Liberties

This Week in Civil Liberties (7/29/2011)

In what state are inflato-Americans not allowed to use school bathrooms?
In what state is jaywalking considered more harmful that driving under the influence?
In what state do they expect you to show your junk -- or lack thereof -- to keep your driver's license?
What state is home to a think tank where they believe reproductive freedom oppresses women?
Which state governor is hiding his activities behind his Outlook password?
 
Read More»
07/22/2011
This Week in Civil Liberties

This Week in Civil Liberties (7/22/2011)

By Jessica Monaco, ACLU at 4:46pm

Quick:

  • What Vermont hotel won't host a lesbian couple's wedding?
  • Whose president has endorsed the Respect for Marriage Act?
  • Which government agency doesn't want to see you naked in airports so much anymore?
  • Which 23 documents are secret even though everyone on the Internet has seen them?
  • What White House advisor thinks "0 deaths" is the same as "dozens of deaths"?

The answers to these questions and more on the ACLU's Blog of Rights...

Read More»
07/15/2011
This Week in Civil Liberties

This Week in Civil Liberties

By Jessica Monaco, ACLU at 5:12pm

This week, blog posts revealed that we are ignoring the rights of foreign nationals, ignoring juries, and ignoring the will of the people. Britain probably will continue being our BFF regardless, because they are ignoring privacy. Luckily, Washington, D.C. is ignoring the current fashion for corrections systems making big criminals out of little criminals...


Execution in Texas, Despite So Much
Texas executed a Mexican national who was tried, convicted and sentenced to die in the state of Texas without ever talking to the Mexican consulate. His sentence would almost certainly have been different if he had. It is certain that his lawyer would have been different – Mexico pays for experienced lawyers to defend against death penalty cases for its citizens.
Read More»
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.

Read More»
07/01/2011
E-Verify

This Week in Civil Liberties

By Jessica Monaco, ACLU at 6:22pm

The theme this week was "without": combating the spread of AIDS without actual tools and information to combat the spread of AIDS, searches without warrants, protections for business without protections for everybody else, government bureaucracy without privacy or security, accessing medical marijuana without federal government interference, sentencing without (or at least with a lot less) unfairness. That last one is good, the rest not so much....

Read More»
06/24/2011
This Week in Civil Liberties

This Week in Civil Liberties

By Jessica Monaco, ACLU at 6:10pm

Our weekly round-up of popular blog posts includes some real food for thought: Should we be locking up children? Should federal money be spent on schools that discriminate? And perhaps most puzzling, should we look to Texas for an enlightened approach to the war on drugs?

Lift Children Out of the Criminal Justice System – Don't Lock Them Away
What kind of person looks into the face of a child and sees no hope? What kind of society locks up children as if they were adults — and sometimes even throws away the key? Unfortunately, ours does. As a case in point, Kansas City prosecutors are currently mulling over whether to charge a 5-year-old child for the murder of an 18-month old.

Read More»
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.

Read More»
Statistics image