Press Releases

In 2023, the State of Colorado admitted to the public that a state DNA analyst, Missy Woods, had manipulated data and tampered with evidence in potentially thousands of criminal cases. But the State did not learn of Woods’s malfeasance in 2023. In fact, Woods’s supervisors had been aware of it since 2014. Instead of investigating her fraud and disclosing it to defendants in affected cases, however, the supervisors covered it up and allowed her to continue working on cases—including Daniel Eatinger’s case here—for another decade.   The ACLU’s State Supreme Court Initiative, the ACLU of Colorado, and the Exoneration Project filed an amicus brief with the Colorado Supreme Court arguing that Woods and her supervisors violated their constitutional duty to disclose her misconduct, and that the Court should order systemic remedies for the thousands of defendants who have been harmed.

In the ACLU’s latest podcast, we learn about a 1962 Supreme Court decision recognizing that official, government-sponsored prayers in public schools are unconstitutional. As the fight for religious freedom continues, we’ve provided ideas for families who want to push back against laws that would impose religious doctrine and practices in public schools today.

In a case challenging New Hampshire’s school-funding scheme, the State has asked the New Hampshire Supreme Court to overturn decades of precedent recognizing a state constitutional right to an adequate education. The ACLU’s State Supreme Court Initiative, the ACLU of New Hampshire, and the National Education Association-New Hampshire filed an amicus brief urging the Court to uphold these precedents and preserve the state constitutional right to an adequate education.