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ACLU Comments Submitted to Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Leavitt (05/19/2008)
The American Civil Liberties Union (“ACLU”) submits these comments1 on the proposed rule published at 73 Fed. Reg. 20900 (April 17, 2008) to implement the “pledge requirement” of the United States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act of 2003, set forth at 22 U.S.C. § 7631(f) (Leadership Act). As applied to U.S. individuals and entities, the requirement that non-governmental organizations receiving federal funds must have a “policy explicitly opposing prostitution and sex trafficking” is a fundamental restriction on speech that cannot withstand First Amendment scrutiny. The proposed regulation regarding the “organizational integrity” of entities engaged in HIV/AIDS programs and activities” fails to cure the constitutional defect; if anything, the proposed rule only exacerbates the constitutional infirmities.

ACLU Letter to the Senate Urging A Yes Vote on H.R. 2831, The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2007 (04/21/2008)

ACLU Letter to Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Leadership Urging Implementation of the 2005 Violence Against Women Act (03/11/2008)
On March 12, 2008, the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs will hold an oversight hearing for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). On behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and its more than half a million members and activists and 53 affiliates nationwide, we ask the Committee to examine HUD’s implementation, or lack thereof, of the 2005 Violence Against Women Act (“VAWA”) housing provisions as part of its mandate.

ACLU Letter to House Financial Services Committee Leadership Urging Implementation of the 2005 Violence Against Women Act (PDF) (03/11/2008)
On March 11, 2008, the House Finance Committee will hold an oversight hearing for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). On behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and its more than half a million members and activists and 53 affiliates nationwide, we ask the Committee to examine HUD’s implementation, or lack thereof, of the 2005 Violence Against Women Act (“VAWA”) housing provisions as part of its mandate.

ACLU Letter to Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Leadership in Support of Fair Pay Restoration Act (01/22/2008)
On behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and its hundreds of thousands of members, activists, and fifty-three affiliates nationwide, we thank the Committee for holding a hearing on S. 1843, the “Fair Pay Restoration Act.” S. 1843, whose companion measure, H.R. 2831, passed the House of Representatives July 31, 2007, is necessary to ensure that victims of workplace discrimination receive effective remedies. We urge the Committee to support S. 1843 in order to fix a recent Supreme Court decision that undermines protections against discrimination in compensation that have been bedrock principles of civil rights laws for decades.

ACLU Letter to Senate Foreign Relations Committee Asking to Protect Trafficked Domestic Workers (01/09/2008)

ACLU Letter to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Asking for its Return to its Historical Role (12/17/2007)
Thank you for your letter dated October 22, 2007 to Nadine Strossen seeking the ACLU’s input into your project planning process for fiscal year 2010. We commend your commitment to strengthen your work products by reaching out to a variety of external groups. However, we have grown increasingly concerned with the politicization of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights as demonstrated by a shift from its historic mission of vigorously investigating and reporting on civil rights abuses against minority and disenfranchised communities, to a new mission, which has called into question programs designed to ameliorate the historic effects of discrimination.

Written Testimony of Janet Caldero for Department of Justice Civil Rights Division Oversight Hearing Before the House Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties of the House Judiciary Committee (09/25/2007)

ACLU Testimony on Department of Justice Civil Rights Division Oversight Hearing Before the House Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties of the House Judiciary Committee (09/25/2007)

Testimony of the ACLU Before the House Judiciary Committee, Addressing the Need for Oversight of the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division (09/25/2007)

Testimony of Janet Caldero Before the House Judiciary Committee (09/25/2007)

ACLU Letter to Vote Yes on the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (07/26/2007)

ACLU letter supporting the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2007 (06/26/2007)

ACLU Letter to Senators Leahy and Specter Regarding the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice (06/21/2007)

ACLU Letter to Representatives Nadler and Franks Exploring the Current State of Civil Rights Enforcement within the Department of Justice (03/22/2007)
Dear Representatives Nadler and Franks: On behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union, a non-partisan organization with hundreds of thousands of activists and members and 53 affiliates nationwide, we write to express our serious concerns about the Department of Justice’s (“DOJ”) enforcement of civil rights laws under the Bush Administration. The Department of Justice is the nation’s largest law enforcement agency and DOJ’s Civil Rights Division could be considered the nation’s largest civil rights legal organization. It should bring great power and resources to bear in defense of America’s most vulnerable. It wields the authority and resources of the federal government on difficult and complex issues and has helped bring about some of the greatest global advances for civil rights. However, DOJ’s record under the Bush administration shows it is not living up to this critical mission. The Civil Rights Division has avoided challenging cases that could yield significant rulings and advance civil rights.

U.N. Housing Consultation Testimony (10/05/2005)
Written testimony of the ACLU before the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, North American Consultation on Women and Housing

Written Statement in Support of the New York City Human Rights Government Audit Law (GOAL) (04/13/2005)
Written Statement in Support of the New York City Human Rights Government Audit Law (GOAL) Int. No. 512

ACLU Written Statement in Support of the New York City Human Rights Government Audit Law (GOAL) (04/07/2005)

Coalition Sign-On Letter to Secretary Tommy Thompson of the Department of Health and Human Services Expressing Dismay at the Women's Health 2004 Daybook's Failure to Provide Information on Pregnancy Prevention and Contraceptive Services (01/09/2004)

ACLU Letter to the House Urging Support for H.R. 1155, the Civil Rights Tax Relief Act (12/15/2003)