News & Commentary

As we wait to hear the decision from a grand jury in Missouri about whether or not charges will be brought against Officer Wilson in the killing of Michael Brown, ACLU staff is in Ferguson to support the work of our local affiliate there, to educate protesters about their rights, and to react immediately should there be any civil liberties violations.

The 1 in 3 Campaign has organized an online abortion speakout forthis Thursday, November 20 from 1:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. EST. The event will feature over 100 people sharing stories about their experiences with abortion. The speakout brings together movement leaders, celebrities, politicians and abortion advocates from across the country to share their experiences during this premiere event. Some notable participants include Cecile Richards, President of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America; Jessica Valenti, author of The Purity Myth; Jessica González-Rojas, Executive Director of the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health; and Illinois Congressman Mike Quigley. You can tune in to the livestreamed event here. 

On November 5, we received the exciting news that Proposition 47 passed in California with a solid 59 percent of the vote. Not only will this measure reclassify six low-level offenses from felonies to misdemeanors, it is retroactive - meaning that thousands of individuals sentenced under these laws may now go before a judge to be resentenced or released, and hundreds of thousands of people with felony convictions for these offenses may have them removed from their record. Prop 47 enjoyed widespread support, from advocacy organizations, faith leaders, law enforcement, crime victims, judges, labor unions and republican and democratic leaders. 

As early as this week, the U.S. Senate may vote on the USA Freedom Act, a bi-partisan bill that would significantly scale back the federal government’s ability to illegally spy.

Been hearing a lot about net neutrality lately? Wondering what, exactly, that means? 

Tuesday night, I had the chance to spend a couple of hours in the presence of SisterSong’s execute director, Monica Simpson. The SisterSong collective, one of the first reproductive justice organizations, was formed in 1997 to address the reproductive and sexual health and rights for women of color. You can read more about Monica Simpson here. 

On Wednesday night at Bowdoin College (my alma mater), I'm going to give a talk on the first nine years of the Roberts Court. The focus will be on four areas of law - free speech, racial justice, privacy and criminal law - that are connected to my work as an ACLU lawyer who litigates questions of civil rights and civil liberties. But, I think these areas are worth focusing on not just because they are my job, but also because of their importance in the national conversation about what kind of country we want to have. These areas of law, each in their own way, tell a story about our relation to our government and our relation to one another that transcends the courtroom.

The following is adapted from a blog post at aclu.org:

Does this biology textbook’s page on contraceptives seem inappropriate? According to a school district in Arizona, some of the content on the page is so inappropriate, it needs to be removed. Last week, officials on the Gilbert Public Schools Governing Board voted 3-2 to redact content from a textbook used in the district’s honors biology classes. Alliance Defending Freedom, a Scottsdale-based conservative Christian legal and advocacy group, brought the offending content to the board’s attention. After listening to a presentation from Natalie Decker, a lawyer for Alliance Defending Freedom, the board came to the decision that the content should be removed from the textbook.