June marks the end of the legislative session in Maine, and there are still several bills that the ACLU of Maine lobby team is actively working to defeat.  Here are some of our top priorities for defeat:

Attacks on Legal Abortion:  There are three anti-abortion bills pending in the legislature, and the Judiciary Committee votes against the bills were very close, meaning we have work to do to defeat the bills on the House and Senate floor.
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Some hugely important votes could take place in the Maine legislature any day that will have a direct impact on Mainers' privacy.  We really need your help to ensure that privacy prevails.  Click here to find your legislator and call or email them right now.  In a hurry?  Use our action alert system here.  The issue at hand is whether law enforcement should have to get a warrant based upon probable cause before spyi | continue reading

It's not every day that the ACLU of Maine contributes to saving lives, but today we did.  We supported LD 1046, a bill that would allow for the administration of naloxone in cases of opiate overdose.  The testimony at the public hearing was poignant.  Kenneth Miller of the Maine Harm Reduction Alliance testified that drug overdose deaths in Maine more than doubled from 60 in 2000 to 167 in 2010.  Naloxone helps to prevent the overdose long enough for emergency treatment to be secured.  The constitutional support for this bill is rooted in a philosophy of treating d | continue reading

Women balancing work and family know that gender discrimination is more subtle than it was just decades ago.  Women are unlikely to be told by a prospective employer "we don't hire women," like Sandra Day O'Connor was when more than forty law firms would not give her an interview following her 1950 graduation from Stanford Law School.  However, women who seek accommodations from an employer for pregnancy or breastfeeding are often denied or chall | continue reading

The news is bad, but the fight is not over.  In a very disappointing vote today, the Judiciary Committee voted down probable-cause warrant requirements for cell phone tracking in an 8 to 5 vote.  (You can read more about how intrusive cell phone tracking has become here.)  The good news is that a bi-partisan gang of five legislators stood up for privacy and the Constitution today.  We are grateful to the following leaders for defending our Fourth Amendment freedo | continue reading

Remember the song "Walk Like An Egyptian" by the Bangles?  It topped the chart for four weeks back in 1986.  That's the last time our nation's electronic privacy laws were updated when the Electronic Communications Privacy Act was signed into law by then President Ronald Reagan.  In 1986, the cell phones that were available were far too small to fit in one's pocket.  Perhaps no one envisioned then that the cell phone itself and other electronic devices would become essentially miniature tracking units that most of us carry around with us everywhere we | continue reading

Yesterday, I joined our partners at the NAACP and the League of Women Voters in testifying against LD 573, a proposed constitutional amendment that would strip some felons of the right to vote while incarcerated. 

In Maine, as in Vermont, the right to vote is not lost upon incarceration.  LD 573 would take away that right and in so doing would erode the fabric of our democracy by decreasing voter participation and discouraging people with certain criminal convictions from maintaining a stake in their constructive reintegration into society.
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The ACLU of Maine has a drone.  Actually, we have two that we borrowed from Portland residents who are using drones for recreational purposes.  Our ease in obtaining drones in a week's time demonstrates that drones are now relatively cheap, easy to obtain and within the space of a few years may be ubiquitous in the American airspace. 
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