ACLU Press Releases

• Published on December 19, 2018 - 21:13 GMT

  

  Brutality Against Prisoners Is Often Unseen. In this Virgin Islands Jail, It Was Caught on Video.

  When Benjamin Hodge, who is serving a nine-month sentence at the Criminal Justice Complex (CJC) on St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, told a corrections officer he had found a cockroach in his food, he did not expect that officer would choke him to …

  Distribution channels: Religion
• Published on December 19, 2018 - 18:29 GMT

  

  Federal Judge Blocks Trump’s Policy Gutting Asylum for People Fleeing Domestic and Gang Violence

  The Trump administration’s campaign to dismantle our asylum system just suffered another major setback. A federal judge in Washington, D.C., permanently blocked a June 2018 “expedited removal” policy that gutted asylum protections for immigrants fleeing …

  Distribution channels: Religion
• Published on December 18, 2018 - 23:31 GMT

  

  People Should Be Allowed to Sue Facebook If It Violates Law on Face Recognition Privacy

  Ten years ago, Illinois enacted a law that imposes important protections against companies collecting and storing our biometric information — including using facial recognition— without our knowledge and consent. The law is called the Biometric Information …

  Distribution channels: Religion
• Published on December 18, 2018 - 15:46 GMT

  

  New Hampshire Police Arrested a Man for Being Mean to Them on the Internet

  Should it be a crime to call public officials corrupt? Yes, according to the police in Exeter, New Hampshire. Earlier this year, they arrested a local man for writing a comment on a news website accusing Police Chief William Shupe of covering for a corrupt …

  Distribution channels: Religion
• Published on December 17, 2018 - 23:02 GMT

  

  Will the Supreme Court Overturn Roe v. Wade After All?

  This piece was originally published in The New York Times. When the Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear cases brought by Louisiana and Kansas attempting to exclude Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers from their Medicaid programs, legal …

  Distribution channels: Religion
• Published on December 17, 2018 - 22:22 GMT

  

  We Need to Address Police Brutality in Alabama

  E.J. Bradford. Chikesia Clemons. Ulysses Wilkerson. Sureshbhai Patel. Greg Gunn. These are only a few of the names of those who have been in headlines after being brutalized or killed at the hands of law enforcement in the state of Alabama in recent years. …

  Distribution channels: Religion
• Published on December 14, 2018 - 21:24 GMT

  

  The Right to Record Police Doesn’t Disappear When You Put Your Phone in Your Pocket

  The First Amendment right to record the police is a critical check and balance for people living in a free, open, and democratic society. It promotes the free discussion of governmental affairs as well as protects the democratic process. And for some …

  Distribution channels: Religion
• Published on December 13, 2018 - 17:33 GMT

  

  Arkansas Is Attempting to Ban a Safe and Effective Abortion Method

  The ACLU is in a federal appeals court on Thursday, challenging a slate of Arkansas laws intended to prevent women from being able to get abortions. One of the four laws we are challenging is a ban on the dilation and evacuation (D&E) procedure, a safe …

  Distribution channels: Religion
• Published on December 13, 2018 - 00:00 GMT

  

  Amazon’s Disturbing Plan to Add Face Surveillance to Your Front Door

  Recently, a patent application from Amazon became public that would pair face surveillance — like Rekognition, the product that the company is aggressively marketing to police and Immigration and Customs Enforcement — with Ring, a doorbell camera company …

  Distribution channels: Religion
• Published on December 12, 2018 - 21:01 GMT

  

  The Use of Civil Asset Forfeiture in New Jersey Is Broken

  I’ve spent the last year representing people in civil asset forfeiture cases across New Jersey. It looks nothing like justice. In theory, civil asset forfeiture empowers law enforcement authorities to deprive individuals of the ill-gotten gains associated …

  Distribution channels: Religion
• Published on December 11, 2018 - 00:39 GMT

  

  Congress Is Trying to Use the Spending Bill to Criminalize Boycotts of Israel and Other Countries

  According to recent reports, congressional leaders from both sides of the aisle are planning to sneak a bill criminalizing politically motivated boycotts of Israel into the end-of-the-year omnibus spending bill. The bill’s original sponsor, Sen. Ben Cardin …

  Distribution channels: Religion
• Published on December 10, 2018 - 16:49 GMT

  

  Doctors Who Facilitate Torture Must Be Held to Account

  Physicians hold a special position in U.S. society. They are given a place of honor in return for the expectation that they will use their knowledge and skills in the public interest and adhere to a clear set of ethical standards. Under pressure from the …

  Distribution channels: Religion
• Published on December 8, 2018 - 00:04 GMT

  

  No Relief: William Barr Is as Bad as Jeff Sessions — if Not Worse

  Donald Trump’s nomination of William Barr to succeed Jeff Sessions as attorney general ought to raise alarm bells across the country. Barr is as bad as Sessions was on the full range of civil rights issues that fall with the Justice Department’s purview. …

  Distribution channels: Religion
• Published on December 7, 2018 - 21:13 GMT

  

  New NYPD Drone Policy Represents a Serious Threat to Privacy

  The New York Police Department announced this week that it will deploy 14 new drones as part of its policing activities across New York City. The use of this highly invasive technology represents a new frontier for both public safety and abuses of power. …

  Distribution channels: Religion
• Published on December 7, 2018 - 21:13 GMT

  

  CIA Torture Killed My Father. I Want to Know What They Did With His Body.

  This piece was originally published by The Washington Post. I believe there are two paths in life — the paths of right and wrong — and that all people know the right path in their hearts. So I believe that people in America, if they can read this, will …

  Distribution channels: Religion
• Published on December 7, 2018 - 00:10 GMT

  

  Americans Endorsed Voting Rights in 2018, but Some State Lawmakers Want to Sabotage These Victories

  The 2018 election ushered in a wave of voting rights victories. Voters in Florida, Michigan, Maryland, and Nevada all made it easier to register and vote, showing that voters reject voter suppression efforts and bogus “voter fraud” myths. But politicians …

  Distribution channels: Religion
• Published on December 6, 2018 - 00:39 GMT

  

  President Trump Is Accelerating the Militarization of the Southwest Border

  For decades, the ACLU has fought back against the militarization of domestic law enforcement agencies and the use of the military in our communities. Nowhere is this militarization more pronounced than on the border between the U.S. and Mexico — and …

  Distribution channels: Religion
• Published on December 5, 2018 - 22:50 GMT

  

  Why I Ended the Horror of Long-Term Solitary in Colorado's Prisons

  In Colorado, long-term solitary confinement used to be a tool that was regularly used in corrections. The problem is that it was not corrective at all. It was indiscriminate punishment that too often amounted to torture and did not make anyone safer. The …

  Distribution channels: Religion
• Published on December 5, 2018 - 20:53 GMT

  

  This State Agency Is Refusing to Help a Trans Woman Who Says She Was Assaulted by Police

  DeAnna LeTray of Watertown, New York, was arrested in September 2017 during a domestic dispute with her daughter’s boyfriend, who she says pointed a gun at her.  LeTray, who is trans, says the Watertown police officers who arrested her mocked her gender …

  Distribution channels: Religion
• Published on December 5, 2018 - 20:53 GMT

  

  Does the Second Amendment Protect Only White Gun Owners?

  The most common refrain from gun rights supporters in the wake of mass shootings or other gun violence is that the best response to a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. Yet in recent weeks, we have seen two Black men, a group already …

  Distribution channels: Religion