For those of us who are lucky enough to get to spend our first year or two after law school working for a judge, the experience invariably shapes our expectations about who a judge is and how she should go about her work. My judge set a high bar (clerks always use the possessive when referring to their bosses). | continue reading

It's Tuesday, but I'm still coming down from a very full weekend!

My partner Trish and I were busy attending the annual Equality Maine dinner, visiting with friends, sharing a birthday dinner with my brother in Boston and taking in a hockey game.

Somehow, we managed to find time to start planning our wedding. We spent almost a whole day looking at venues, thinking about a guest list, talking to a photographer and wondering whether or not the Supreme Court of the United States would overturn Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act. 
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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

Each Friday, we’ll bring you updates on the latest civil liberties news from Maine and the nation.

Government Transparency:
Today, the ACLU and others told the Maine Legislature’s Transportation Committee that the public has a right to know about public-private transportation projects. Currently, information about public-private partnership projects are kept secret. A proposed law would change that. Read more here.
 
March Anti-Choice Madness: | continue reading

Today was my FAVORITE day of the session, every session. Today was Girls Day at the State House, an annual event sponsored by our friends at Maine Women's Lobby. 

100 eighth grade girls come to Augusta from all over the state. They learn about the legislative process, participate in a mock public hearing and stage a press conference. Every year, I am amazed by how smart, opinioned and articulate the girls are. It gives me great hope for our future as a state. These young women might consider running for office some day and it all started today!
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Check out this blog post from our national Washington Legislative Office on the bipartisan push for digital due process rights:

It's a big week for reforming the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), a little-known law which safeguards internet communications but hasn't been touched in nearly 30 years.
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Dorothea Dix, born in Maine in 1802, was a champion of the rights of the mentally ill before most people even considered the idea that the mentally ill should have rights.

As a volunteer Sunday School teacher for women incarcerated in the East Cambridge Jail in Massachusetts, Dix witnessed conditions that would shape her work forever: the jail was unheated and dirty, and no consideration was given to the care of the mentally ill.
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On January 8, 1962, a letter appeared at the Supreme Court. It was written in pencil, from a jail cell at Florida State Prison, and began: “To the Honorable Earl Warren, Chief Justice of the United States, Comes now the petitioner, Clarence Earl Gideon, a citizen of the United States of America, in proper person, and appearing as his own counsel.”
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