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Distrito escolar de Nevada acepta permitir a los alumnos hablar el español a bordo del autobús (02/15/2008)
LAS VEGAS - Después de recibir una carta de la Unión de Libertades Civiles de los Estados Unidos (American Civil Liberties Union, o ACLU, por sus siglas en inglés), el Distrito Escolar del Condado de Esmeralda acordó aclarar que a los alumnos se les permite hablar el español cuando viajan en el autobús escolar y enviarán una carta a los padres de familia, tanto en español como en inglés, explicando la política del distrito respecto al uso del idioma. La nueva política anula la prohibición de hablar el español a bordo del autobús que el Consejo Académico (School Board) del Condado de Esmeralda aprobó en octubre del 2007.

Nevada School District Agrees To Allow Students To Speak Spanish On Bus (02/15/2008)
LAS VEGAS – After receiving a letter from the American Civil Liberties Union, the Esmeralda County School District has agreed to make it clear that students are allowed to speak Spanish while they ride the school bus and will send a letter to parents - in both Spanish and English - explaining the district’s language policy. The new policy rescinds a ban on speaking Spanish on the bus that was approved by the Esmeralda County School Board in October 2007.

ACLU Sues To Protect Marriages Threatened By Recent Court Decision (02/14/2008)
PHILADELPHIA – The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania filed the first three lawsuits today in a planned statewide challenge of a recent judicial declaration stating that marriages are invalid if presided over by a minister who does not regularly serve a church or preach in a physical house of worship. The ruling potentially endangers thousands of marriages in Pennsylvania.

Civil Rights Groups File Lawsuit Over Van Nuys Workplace Raid After ICE Bars Attorneys From Immigration Interviews (02/14/2008)
LOS ANGELES — The ACLU of Southern California, National Lawyers Guild, and National Immigration Law Center asked a federal judge today to order U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to allow attorneys for workers arrested in last Thursday’s raid in Van Nuys to represent their clients at their immigration interviews. Over the past few days, ICE officials barred attorneys from accompanying their clients to the hearings, where workers were interviewed and then charged with immigration violations.

Court Decision Denies Extraordinary Rendition Victims Their Day In Court (02/14/2008)
SAN JOSE, CA - A federal court yesterday bowed to pressure from the Bush administration and dismissed a case against Boeing subsidiary Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc. for the company’s role in the CIA’s “extraordinary rendition” program. The lawsuit, brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, charged that Jeppesen knowingly aided the program by providing flight planning and logistical support services for aircraft and crews used by the CIA to transport victims to U.S.-run prisons or foreign intelligence agencies overseas, where they were subjected to harsh interrogation techniques and torture.

Federal Judge Rules that the state of Hawaii Department of Education Must Fulfill Its Obligation to Homeless Children (02/14/2008)
HONOLULU – U.S. District Court Chief Judge Helen Gillmor has ordered the Hawaii Department of Education (DOE) to change its enrollment procedures to ensure equal access for homeless children. After hearing from civil rights groups and attorneys representing three homeless parents and their five children on 2/11/08, Judge Gillmor granted their motion for preliminary injunction in part and their motion to proceed as a class action.

House Stands Up to Threats from the White House on Domestic Surveillance (02/14/2008)
Washington, DC – The Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives stared down the White House today and decided to stick with their version of revisions to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The House voted to adjourn without letting the phone companies off the hook for breaking the law by helping the government spy on Americas. The House is leaving town and allowing the unconstitutional Protect America Act to expire this weekend.

Office of Legal Counsel to Defend Torture Memos and Warrantless Wiretapping of Americans (02/14/2008)
Washington, DC – Today’s oversight hearing of the Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) by the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties is expected to examine the issues of torture and waterboarding, as well as the warrantless wiretapping being conducted by the U.S. government. The acting head of the OLC, Steven Bradbury, will testify before the subcommittee. Mr. Bradbury is thought to be the author of controversial legal opinions from the OLC that have approved the use of harsh interrogation methods and spying on Americans through warrantless wiretaps.

Charges Dismissed Against Reporter Who Was Victim of NYPD Racial Profiling as Figures Show Hundreds of Thousands of Innocent Black New Yorkers Were Stopped-and-Frisked in 2007 (02/13/2008)
NEW YORK – A Bronx Criminal Court judge has dismissed charges against a black New York Post reporter who was the victim of racial profiling by NYPD officers. The dismissal came on the same day that the NYPD quietly released figures showing that police made nearly half a million stops in 2007, most of which were of black and Latino New Yorkers.

ACLU Demands ICE End Illegal Deportation of U.S. Citizens (02/13/2008)
Washington, DC – The story of Pedro Guzman, a U.S. citizen born and raised in California, was invoked today throughout a hearing examining Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s illegal deportation of United States citizens. James Brosnahan, of Morrison & Foerster, who is representing Guzman alongside the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, testified about the plight of the 30-year-old cognitively impaired American citizen illegally deported to Mexico after he was arrested on misdemeanor charges and sent to Los Angeles County jail.

ACLU Says “Clean Teams” Cannot Wash Away Dirty Interrogation Tactics (02/13/2008)
NEW YORK – Just days after the Bush administration announced its intention to seek the death penalty for six men allegedly involved in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Department of Justice and the Pentagon confirmed the existence of “clean teams” of agents and investigators who allegedly conducted traditional law enforcement interviews with the prisoners after they had already been subjected to torture or “dirty” interrogation practices. The effort began in 2006 when the administration became concerned over legal challenges based on the abuse of these former CIA prisoners.

Free Market Foundation, ACLU, Texas Eagle Forum PAC (02/13/2008)
AUSTIN, Texas – A broad-based coalition of plaintiffs today filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Austin that challenges a state law blocking individuals and organizations in Texas from engaging in true public debate over the election of the speaker of the Texas House of Representatives.

Let The Protect America Act Expire (02/13/2008)
Washington, DC –The ACLU exhorts members of the House to let the unconstitutional Protect America Act expire and stand strong on not letting the phone companies off the hook for law breaking.

Senate Votes to End CIA Use of Torture (02/13/2008)
Washington, DC – The American Civil Liberties Union was encouraged today when, by a vote of 51-45, the Senate voted to apply the Army Field Manual (AFM) on Interrogations government-wide. The Senate was voting on the Intelligence Authorization Conference Report (H.R. 2082), which includes the AFM provision. The legislation will now be sent to President Bush, who threatened to veto due to the AFM provision.

State Secrets Privilege Dangerously Overbroad (02/13/2008)
Washington, DC – Today the Senate Judiciary Committee convened to hear testimony on an evidentiary rule known as the state secret privilege. Committee member Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) introduced legislation last month to narrow the scope of the privilege. During the Bush administration, the state secrets privilege has been increasingly and improperly used as a shield to prevent investigation into executive branch misconduct. The most notable invocation of the privilege was to stall the case of an innocent German citizen, Khaled El-Masri, who was kidnapped, detained and tortured in a secret overseas prison. His suit against the government was stalled after the administration invoked the privilege.

ACLU Condemns Senate FISA Vote (02/12/2008)
Washington, DC – The American Civil Liberties Union today slammed the U.S. Senate for not only authorizing the president’s warrantless wiretapping program but for granting immunity to his accomplices, the telecommunications companies. By a vote of 68 to 29, the Senate passed legislation amending and, in the end, gutting the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The bill now must be conferenced with the House’s version of the bill – which contains no immunity and stricter Fourth Amendment protections – by February 16th, the recently extended expiration date of the equally disastrous Protect America Act.

ACLU Urges House Committee to Fix Flawed Workplace Religious Freedom Act (02/12/2008)
Washington, DC – The American Civil Liberties Union today called on the Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions subcommittee of the House Education & Labor Committee to fix the flawed Workplace Religious Freedom Act (WRFA). As written in the 110th Congress, the legislation threatens the personal and civil rights of religious and racial minorities, women, LGBT individuals, and persons seeking reproductive health care.

Department of Justice Objects To South Dakota’s Discriminatory Redistricting Law (02/12/2008)
LAKE ANDES, SD – The American Civil Liberties Union applauded the Department of Justice today for enforcing the Voting Rights Act by objecting to a discriminatory South Dakota redistricting ordinance. The law would have increased the size of the Charles Mix County Commission from three to five members – reducing the voting strength of Native Americans. The Justice Department’s objection prevents the county from implementing the change, which was scheduled to go into effect today.

Federal Court Ends County Official's Policy Of Denying Marriage Licenses Based On Immigration Status (02/12/2008)
SCRANTON, PA – A federal court in Pennsylvania yesterday approved a consent order ending a Luzerne County official's policy of denying marriage licenses based upon applicants’ immigration status. The order, issued in the case of Buck v. Stankovic, makes permanent a previous court ruling holding that the Luzerne County Register of Wills violated the constitutional rights of marriage license applicants by requiring that they show a green card or current visa in order to obtain a license.

MCLU Denounces Senate Vote to Expand Warrantless Surveillance (02/12/2008)
PORTLAND- The MCLU expressed strong disappointment with Maine’s two Senators after they backed the Bush Administration’s extension of a law that would vastly expand the government’s ability to spy on Americans without a warrant. The Senate bill, which passed on Tuesday in a 68-29 vote with both Maine’s Senators voting in favor, would extend the government’s power to bypass the safeguards that have been part of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, (FISA), which was enacted after the Watergate scandal to provide a court check on government surveillance. Several amendments that would have safeguarded civil liberties were defeated as was an amendment that would have stripped telecom immunity from the bill. Telecom immunity could possibly bring to a close the Maine Public Utilities Commission inquiry into whether Verizon violated Mainers’ privacy by collaborating with the National Security Agency.