News & Commentary

A 22 year old pregnant Iowa woman was accused by police for intentionally falling down the stairs to kill her baby.

On Tuesday, ACLU of MAINE members from all over the state met at the Welcome Center in Augusta to discuss civil liberties concerns in Maine, and prepared to lobby legislators on two of our priority bills: LD 1561, which bans surveillance cameras and the databases they create, which are currently being used in South Portland, and LD 1611, which will limit the use of solitary confinement in Maine prisons.

Posted by Caroline Cincotta, from the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project on the ACLU Blog of Rights:

On Friday the MCLU testified in support of LD 1561, An Act to Regulate the use of Traffic Surveillance Cameras.  The traffic surveillance cameras are a concerning technology because they can spy on people and create databases and maps of innocent people’s travel.    At the Public Hearing Legislators heard from concerned citizens, the Ma

I want to say at that outset that I do not own an All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV), and as far as I can remember I have never even riden one.  I remember that some neighbors of mine growing up had one, and it looked like fun, but my parents wouldn't let me anywhere near it.  So, it is not out of any deep personal affection for the ATV that I keep urging that, before law-enforcement officials stop and question ATV driver, they need to have a reason.  The Fourth Amendment says that in order to be lawful, a search or a seizure must be reasonable, and in most instances, the complete lack of a reason means the stop is not reasonable.  This is not too difficult.

By now hopefully you’ve heard we’re supporting a bill sponsored by Senator Damon that will ban Automatic License Plate Readers (ALPRs) in our state. When we first started working on the issue, I have to admit I wasn’t that alarmed. Really, how much do I understand about technology like that anyway?

It's hard to see why anyone would oppose LD 1611: "An Act to Ensure Humane Treatment of Special Management Unit Prisoners". 

Last week, President Obama announced that 2010 would be the year that he sign a law that would repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, a “compromise” policy signed by President Clinton to allow gay men and women to serve in the military, albeit they could never tell