This Week in Civil Liberties

This Week in Civil Liberties (1/11/2013)

By Rekha Arulanantham, ACLU at 4:29pm

Are text messages protected by the higher privacy standards of surveillance laws that protect Internet communications (like email), or are they treated like phone calls?

How many years of litigation were required before the government agreed to pay gay and lesbian service members the same severance pay that other service members received?

For how many hours a day was Pfc. Bradley Manning isolated in a windowless cell, awaiting trial for allegedly leaking U.S. military and diplomatic documents to WikiLeaks?

This Year in Civil Liberties – 2012

By Rekha Arulanantham, ACLU at 12:00am

In which state did politicians attempt to pass a bill that would allow anti-abortion doctors to lie to their patients in order to prevent them from ending their pregnancies?

The “Criminalizing Protest” Bill raises issues of significance to which Constitutional amendment?

A school in which state forced female students to take pregnancy tests and then kicked out students who refused or were pregnant?

Which news organization reported on the failure of Florida’s costly and unconstitutional bill mandating suspicion-less drug testing of all applicants for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)?

This Week in Civil Liberties (11/16/2012)

By Rekha Arulanantham, ACLU at 3:21pm

In which state is the ACLU filing a lawsuit against a school district that banned a kids’ book about a family with two moms?

A scandal involving which CIA official demonstrates the need for restrictions on government surveillance powers?

Legislators from which state failed to learn that voters care about women’s health, as demonstrated by the 2012 election, and are pushing the most restrictive abortion law in the country?

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?

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?
 

This Week in Civil Liberties

By Suzanne Ito, ACLU at 6:01pm

Today, thousands of middle and high school students protested bullying, harassment and discrimination against their LGBT classmates on the Day of Silence. Earlier this week, Congress did its part on behalf of LGBT Americans by reintroducing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) on Thursday.

Tuesday of this week marked Equal Pay Day, which, if you're a woman, is the day into 2011 that you have to work, on average, to make the same as a man did in just 2010 alone. Depressing! Congress marked this day by reintroducing the Paycheck Fairness Act (PFA), which would address wage discrimination and eliminate loopholes that undermine the effectiveness of the 1963 Equal Pay Act. PFA was so close to passing last year. It's about time this one passed...

This Week in Civil Liberties (02/01/2013)

By Rekha Arulanantham, ACLU at 4:29pm

The son of which celebrity is currently being held in solitary confinement, a method of extreme isolation that costs taxpayers money and does not contribute toward rehabilitation?

A school in which state has ended its ban on a book about a family with two moms after the ACLU challenged the book ban in court?

Which member of the executive branch announced his support for federal immigration reform this week?

This Week in Civil Liberties (12/14/2012)

By Rekha Arulanantham, ACLU at 4:34pm

A spying program run by what agency allows the government unprecedented surveillance powers to collect and analyze information on innocent American citizens?

In which state do politicians need a reminder that saving a woman’s life must be every hospital’s first priority?

A subcommittee in which legislative house held the first-ever congressional hearing on the school-to-prison pipeline?

Can a civilian find enough information to build a surveillance or armed drone by searching the terms “DIY” and “drone”?

This Week in Civil Liberties (12/07/2012)

By Rekha Arulanantham, ACLU at 5:16pm

Is the Obama administration’s drone war legal?

Which ACLU affiliate continues to fight for transit equity 58 years after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white man?

In which state is the ACLU challenging an irrational and counterproductive state corrections policy on the segregation of HIV-positive prisoners?

How can you help ensure women in the military receive the same insurance coverage for abortion that is given to all other federal employees?

This Week in Civil Liberties (11/30/2012)

By Rekha Arulanantham, ACLU at 5:05pm

The Feinstein Amendment to which bill on indefinite detention looks like a fix, but would actually cause more harm?

The ACLU requested information from federal agencies this week on whether certain privacy-enhancing tools actually expose you to warrantless surveillance?

What military policy, challenged this week by the ACLU, categorically excludes women from more than 200,000 military positions that are open to men?

Statistics image