News & Commentary

Today, a military court-martial sentenced Pfc. Bradley Manning to 35 years in prison for leaking government documents to Wikileaks. In July, Manning was found not guilty of the most serious charge against him, "aiding the enemy." However, he was found guilty of another 19 charges, including 5 counts of espionage. 

In response to Federal Judge Shira Scheindin’s August 12th ruling finding the NYPD’s use of stop-and-frisk unconstitutional, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg wrote an opinion piece in the Washington Post. In the article, he accused Judge Scheindlin of “brazen activism” and claimed that stop-and-frisk was an invaluable crime fighting tool that had significantly contributed to New York City’s recent drop in crime.

Last week the Washington Post reported that the NSA has been violating restrictions on surveillance powers thousands of times a year. The Post's reporting also made clear that the chief judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court doesn't even think his court has the tools or capacity to evaluate the government's representations about its compliance with the law.

Each Friday, we’ll bring you updates on the latest civil liberties news from Maine and the nation. 

Today, the U.S. has the highest incarceration rate of any country in the world. With over 2.3 million men and women living behind bars, our imprisonment rate is the highest it’s ever been in U.S. history.  At the ACLU, we cheered Attorney General Eric Holder's long overdue acknowledgement on Monday that this addiction to incarceration was ineffective and unsustainable.  It's about time we hear a top level government official call our bloated prison system broken.  We understand, however, that it's going to take tremendous work to undo the damage that so called "war on drugs" and "tough on crime" policies have caused.

Portland's ban on standing or sitting or loitering in any way on any of the median strips in the city goes into effect today. If you stand in a median strip holding a political sign (even one opposing the median strip ban), you will be breaking the law. Also, if you stop to smell the flowers on the median strip on Congress Street in front of City Hall. There is a lovely bench on the grassy median strip on Fore Street near the Custom House that was, according to a small plaque, placed there in memory of Gene and Madelyn Cohen. Sit on this bench at your own risk, as you will be breaking the law.  WMTW did a nice story on the ban last evening, which included footage of some of these places. The interview with me took place on the Franklin Arterial median strip near Middle Street. 

As my summer with the ACLU of Maine comes to a close, it hardly seems like any time has passed at all. I have been so very fortunate to have had this opportunity to work on such important issues with such a great group of people.  As someone who has never really had the chance to be in on the ground floor of policy reform, this was an incredible and eye-opening experience! I am very proud of what little contributions I have been able make. Whether it was calling our members to help mobilize people to fight against a Maine drone surveillance bill, or spending untold hours pouring over government documents about the militarization of police, or even simply holding a sign outside city hall directing people to the press conference after the Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act.  Sometimes we won and sometimes we lost, but I like to think that I was able to make at least a little difference, and that is something I will carry with me into my final year at college and wherever I go from there! I won’t soon forget the excitement that I felt on my first day here or the passion that everyone here has for the work that they do. 

We went into the 126th Legislature with a plan: to bring Maine's privacy laws up to speed with advancing technology. To that end, we proposed a 5-bill privacy package with bipartisan sponsorship. And while it was an uphill battle the whole way, we were successful in winning privacy protections and standing up for the 4th Amendment! 

Yesterday, we saw an unprecedented move towards criminal justice reform nationwide. In his address at the 2013 annual meeting of the American Bar Association, United States Attorney General Eric Holder called for “significant actions to recalibrate America's federal criminal justice system", asserting that mass incarceration “at the federal, state and local level is both ineffective and unsustainable.” The transcript of his speech can be found here. Some of the highlights include: