News & Commentary

Last week, the ACLU of Maine participated in marches in Portland and Lewiston calling for racial justice and an end to violence. The marches were part of a nationwide response to multiple instances of excessive police violence against people of color that have gone unpunished.

On Monday, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) released guidance on the use of race by federal law enforcement agencies. These new guidelines, expanding upon guidance issued by the DOJ in 2003, follow the tragic deaths of Eric Garner, Mike Brown and Tamir Rice, and come at a time of increased public dialogue about the role of policing in America, particularly within communities of color. 

We cannot allow Eric Garner's sadly prophetic next words, 'It stops today,' to refer only to his life.Perhaps t

Last week, the United Nations Committee Against Torture issued a report in which it took the United States to task on a wide range of issues, from lack of accountability for torture and overuse of immigration detention to criminal justice practices and police accountability. This report came after a month spent reviewing U.S. compliance with a major human rights treaty, the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which the U.S. ratified in 1994. The last compliance review was in 2006.

Yesterday the grand jury in Ferguson, Mo., declined to indict Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson on charges in the Aug. 9 shooting death of Michael Brown.

The ACLU released the following comment on the grand jury decision not to indict Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson:

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. 

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.

Last week, the public radio show “This American Life” dedicated an entire show to the connection between school discipline policies and involvement in our criminal justice system, a phenomenon known as the school-to-prison-pipeline.