On this day in 1870, the United States took a momentous step forward in the long struggle for universal suffrage, ratifying the 15^th Amendment to the Constitution and declaring that the right to vote “shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”
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The best thing I've seen on Netflix lately is Werner Herzog's "Cave of Forgotten Dreams"--a documentary about the Chauvet cave paintings in France, which are the earliest known examples of representational art in the world, created 30,000 years ago.  The worst thing I've seen is a 20-way tie among all the Barney the Dinosaur videos my daughter watches while I am getting her breakfast.
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Yesterday’s announcement from us and our coalition partners to put marriage on the ballot has garnered local and national press coverage.
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Today, the ACLU of Maine joined our partners, EqualityMaine, EngageMaine, GLAD, and Maine Women's Lobby in launching a campaign to legalize civil marriage for same sex couples in 2012.  If successful, we would be making history by being the first state to pass marriage equality via referendum.  Below are the comments I made to the more than 100 supporters packed into the Welcome Center of the State House today:
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I spent today in Augusta lobbying against LD 199, a bill that would make it harder for Maine citizens to vote by requiring a photo ID.  The good news is that lawmakers seem poised to abandon a voter ID.  Unfortunately, the Committee on Veterans and Legal Affairs did not vote today to kill LD 199.  Instead, they tabled the measure to allow time to discuss a possible "study."  That's because the Secretary of State reported new allegations of possible vo | continue reading

Yesterday, the Transportation Security Agency held its official unveiling of three new full-body scanners at the Portland International Jetport.  These are, of course, the same scanners that notoriously produced "nude" images of passengers and the corresponding heavy handed TSA policy of patting down anyone who refused to go through the machine.
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We received some excellent news from Augusta this afternoon when Maine's anti-bullying bill, LD 1237, passed unanimously out of committee. Bullying is a major problem at all grade levels in our state, and this bill will help make our schools safer and provide students with better protection against discrimination and harassment.
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The Supreme Court ruled unanimously today on a “major victory for privacy”  in the case of U.S. v. Jones. The court ruled that the government violated the Fourth Amendment when they attached a GPS to a car—without a search warrant—to track the movements of Antoine Jones. This round-the-clock surveillance allowed government officials to note repeated visits to a particular location, ultimately leading to a conviction for charges of conspiracy to distribute cocaine—and a life-in-prison sentence for Jones.
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