The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Massachussetts, and others filed a lawsuit in Massachussetts challenging the state’s requirement that eligible voters register 20 days before an election. The arbitrary deadline interferes with the fundamental right to vote and unnecessarily disenfranchises voters.

Update: On January 18, 2017, the Massachusetts Supreme Court directed district attorneys to dismiss thousands of drug offense cases that were tainted by the misconduct of chemist Annie Dookhan. Prosecutors must produce a list of all drug convictions they plan to dismiss, and also produce a list of cases that they wish to re-prosecute, both within 90 days. They will be permitted to re-prosecute cases only if they certify they can do so on the basis of untainted evidence. The people hurt by Annie Dookhan’s actions deserve justice from the prosecutors who have the power to right thousands of grave wrongs by dismissing these cases.

In Gordon v. Johnson, the ACLU and its partners obtained a class action ruling making some 150 Massachusetts detainees a year eligible for individual bond hearings. Rather than being held in “mandatory” immigration detention, without a bond hearing, these noncitizens may now obtain their release if an immigration judge concludes that they do not pose a danger or flight risk. Since May 2014, the federal district court’s ruling has allowed more than 100 noncitizens to be released from mandatory detention and remain with their families while their immigration cases are resolved.