News & Commentary

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit recognized that "liking" something on Facebook is a form of constitutionally-protected expression. The case involved six former employees of the Hampton Sheriff's Office in Virginia, who claimed that they were fired from their jobs for "liking" the Facebook page of a candidate for Sheriff who was running against their boss. The Court held that "liking" on Facebook was the "Internet equivalent of displaying a political sign in one's front yard"--a highly protected form of public expression. The ACLU was amicus curiae in the case, arguing that, even though clicking on the "like" button on a Facebook page was a relatively small gesture, it could nonetheless have significant implications: "With “one click of a button,” an Internet user can upload or view a video, donate money to a campaign, forward an email, sign a petition, send a pre-written letter to a politician, or do a myriad of other indisputably expressive activities. The ease of these actions does not negate their expressive nature."

Last week the Lewiston Sun Journal published two articles focused on the controversial law LD 1515, which would have transferred forensic patients (people found not criminally responsible or incompetent to stand trial) from the Riverview State Psychiatric Hospital to a new mental health unit located within the Maine State Prison. Not surprisingly this proposal was met with considerable opposition. Find the ACLU of Maine’s letter to the legislature here. Fortunately the bill was amended so that both patients found not criminal responsible and incompetent to stand trial would not be transferred to this unit.

The Bill of Rights was intended to protect us all from unreasonable government intrusions into our lives. Nearly three decades ago, Congress recognized that the courts were not keeping up with the times, so it passed the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) to preserve privacy rights in electronic communications. While ECPA established some critical protections, it was written in an era with no Google, no Facebook, no World Wide Web. Now, it is woefully out of date.

Nine years ago, Congress passed a law establishing September 17th as “Constitution Day” and requiring all schools that receive federal funding to observe the new holiday by providing educational programming on that day about the history of the U.S. Constitution.

In response to a letter we sent to the Town of Fairfield earlier this week, Fairfield's Town Council voted last night to temporarily suspend enforcement of the town's social media policy. The policy, adopted by the town over the summer, sought to govern town employee use of social media and the internet in order to protect the town's reputation and relationships. But in fact, the policy as written went much further - impremissibly restricting the free speech rights of town personnel. We raised our concerns in a letter to the town and are pleased to know that the town is taking the issue seriously. You can read the full story here.

A recent Portland Press Herald article featured the story of Thomas Schoolcraft, a New Hampshire man whose request for pardon of his felony conviction was denied last Wednesday by New Hampshire’s Executive Council.

After last year’s flop in the AFC Championship game, yesterday was the first step in redemption for the New England Patriots. Like many Mainers, I was excited to watch our new team kick off their season – and I was even more excited that they (barely) pulled out the win against Buffalo. But with all that’s gone on this offseason for the Pats, it was hard not to think back on differences between this year’s team and last – and no, I’m not talking about Wes Welker leaving for Denver.

Today is the first day in a long while that I stepped out of my door this morning and felt cold. The air felt brisk and wet, the leaves are not far from morphing into their splendid crimson autumn phases and then falling from the branches and I half expected my breath to issue from my mouth in a cloud of white. Fall is fast approaching, signalling the beginning of my last year of high school and the end of my time here at the ACLU. This summer has flown by and my time at the ACLU has been short but sweet. I have learned so much here, from listening to conference calls with ACLU National, to reading articles in order to create blog posts, to listening to the ACLU of Maine's astonishingly intelligent staff members talk about important issues today. I have been truly blessed with this opportunity to gain a unique insight on the current issues that affect both our state of Maine and the country as a whole.

Last Thursday U.S Attorney General Eric Holder made the much awaited announcement that the Department of Justice would allow laws legalizing the use of marijuana for adults in Colorado and Washington to go into effect. Though contingent on the states’ abilities to “implement strong and effective and regulatory enforcement systems,” this directive marks a significant shift in federal thinking on marijuana policy reform.