ACLU News Archives

Ward 6 voters must choose between two candidates whose lives began in similar situations, but whose opportunities put them on dramatically different paths.

U.S. v. Kilbride , 2009 WL 3448360 Jeffrey Kilbride and James Schaffer were porn spammers, operating through Ganymede Marketing, a Mauritian company.

Police Brutality Aftermath: Rochester Calls for New Independent Civilian Review Board After October 7th Police Riot Rochester Center For Dispute Settlement inadequate; police brutality at October 7th anti-war rally will not be swept under the rug.

INDIANAPOLIS - Two sophomore girls have sued their school district after they were punished for posting sexually suggestive photos on MySpace during their summer vacation.

The Florida Supreme Court ordered a stay of execution for a man convicted of a triple murder.

The president hailed [press release] the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 [HR 2647 materials] as a law containing long sought changes.

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco had reinstated a suit in April by five men who accused the company, Jeppesen Dataplan of San Jose, of taking part in the CIA's extraordinary rendition program that led to their imprisonment and torture.

A proposal under consideration by the Virginia Supreme Court to keep juries anonymous in all criminal trials has been withdrawn.

The arraignment for Elie Curtis Jr., came and went on Monday, but Curtis' attorney Donald Evans and the Churchill County District Attorney's Office agreed to move the case to District Court and waive the preliminary hearing.

Second in a four-part series. As you answer questions for a quiz on Facebook, do you know what it could be doing in the background? Much has been made in recent years of the so-called "Facebook Generation," which supposedly consists of 20-somethings who like to go online and spill their guts without regard for privacy.

Chanting "no justice, no peace," around 200 demonstrators marched along Crenshaw Boulevard Oct.

Freedom of speech isn't overwhelmingly popular in America. The most recent CBS survey on the subject found that 49 per cent of those polled believe that the protections of the First Amendment go too far.

The ' innocent until proven guilty ' concept is at the very heart of our legal system.

Buju Banton - File Buju Banton, whose Rasta Got Soul tour of the United States has been dogged by protests from gay rights groups, will perform at the Reggae Bash show in Miami this week.

Military To Work With FEMA During Swine Flu Pandemic CNN report stokes fears of martial law, mandatory vaccination program Paul Joseph Watson Prison Planet.com Wednesday, July 29, 2009 According to a CNN report, the military will assist civilian authorities in the event of a significant swine flu outbreak in the U.S. this fall, stoking fears that ...

For the record, both of these idiot judges were appointed by Republican governors, Moses by Jane Swift in 2002 and Sanders first to the district court in 1994 by Bill Weld.

IT HAS BEEN established law in New Jersey for eight decades that voters must have unimpeded access to the polling place.

Submitted by voicesweb on Tue, 2009-01-27 18:36. By Suzan Erem Hamad Algnis is a well-spoken, well-dressed man with close cropped hair and a short, carefully-groomed beard.

We know many on the political left aren't all that fond of U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.

Read the entire letter from the ACLU to Boulder city officials here. The actions taken by Boulder police to discourage two men who wanted to revive the Mall Crawl are "unfounded and unconstitutional, chilling and threatening rights protected by the First, Fifth and 14th amendments to the Constitution," American Civil Liberties Union representatives ...

Religious authorities utilized the word - heretic' in the 16th century to silence or - slap down' anyone that brought facts, figures and new concepts to the public.A If a new scientific concept contradicted the Catholic Church, they placed the scoundrel under house arrest - such as Galileo for proving the Earth revolved around the sun.

Three human rights groups said Friday they will spurn an invitation to tour the Guantanamo Bay prison next month because it doesn't include an opportunity to speak with prisoners.

Abortion and civil rights advocates said Thursday that they are reviewing the description wording of a proposed initiative petition that seeks to define a person and override Nevada's abortion laws.

The federal public defender in Pittsburgh says the Allegheny County Jail has been inappropriately recording telephone calls between defense attorneys and their clients and in some cases turning those recordings over to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

A Nevada judge is releasing warrant documents similar to those previously disclosed in the Michael Jackson death investigation.

Noreen Hyslop photo Heather Ellis, arm-in-arm with her mother, Hester Ellis, exits the Stoddard County Justice Center Wednesday afternoon following a pre-trial hearing in a case that has gained national attention.

The Boulder Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is asking police in that city to stop using Tasers after the stun gun's manufacturer admitted that, in rare cases, they can cause heart attacks .

Next week, the USA Patriot Act will turn 8 years old. Passed just six weeks after 9/11, on Oct.

An Arizona judge ordered Maricopa County Sheriff Joseph Arpaio to end a requirement for inmates to prepay transportation and security costs prior to obtaining an abortion.

"We want to change the American workforce and revolutionize social norms...Our current public policies undermine the moral and political unit of same sex couples and families and that's a moral wrong that needs to be rectified." - Chai Feldblum, Nominee to the EEOC , Source Chai Feldblum, Obama's nominee for the EEOC, aims to fundamentally change ...

One of the longest-running court battles over the public display of the Ten Commandments returned to Cincinnati on Tuesday, but this time it had a new twist.

Imagine that every time you printed a document, it automatically included a secret code that could be used to identify the printer - and potentially, the person who used it.

In many U.S. states, the DNA of those arrested but not convicted is held indefinitely.

The Obama administration on Monday told federal authorities not to arrest or prosecute medical marijuana users and suppliers, paving the way for some states to move forward with plans to create officially sanctioned dispensaries to provide the drug as relief for a series of maladies.

JACKSON, Miss. - A teenager involved in a federal complaint accusing the DeSoto County School District of racial discrimination has been expelled, and the ACLU says it's an act of retaliation.

In this new piece , headlined "Should Sex Offenders Be Barred from Church?," Time magazine asks a question that always seems certain to prompt lots of different reactions from lots of different people in and outside the criminal justice system.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has been battling with the American Civil Liberties Union over a jail inmate's right to be transported to an abortion clinic since 2004, and Arpaio has lost the battle all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court.

President Barack Obama has nominated a lesbian activist lawyer to serve as a member of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Blogroll Archives Posted on: October 12, 2009 9:30 AM, by Ed Brayton Let me spell out in a bit more detail why I don't think Obama deserves the Nobel Peace Prize.

A western Pennsylvania town will pay a church $100,000 to settle a feud created after it forced the parish to stop housing the homeless.

A Louisiana judge, Keith Bardwell, from the Tangipahoa parish is yet another symptom that racism is still a problem in America in 2009, despite the election of the first African-American President.

Blogroll Archives Declaring Independence podcast feed YearlyKos 2007 Video of speech on Dover and the Future of the Anti-Evolution Movement Audio of Greg Raymer Interview Posted on: October 15, 2009 9:30 AM, by Ed Brayton You may remember the case of Judge James DeWeese of Richland County, Ohio.

Stung by criticism from yours truly this past Sunday when I pointed out that Sheriff Arpaio had cited a nonexistent law as the legal justification for his anti-immigrant, down-on-the-brown sweeps , the MCSO has just sent out an e-mail admitting their fumble, and attempting to right it.

Comprehensive Immigration Reform Must Protect Privacy And Civil Liberties, Says ACLU FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 13, 2009 CONTACT: Claire O Brien, 675-2312; media@dcaclu.org WASHINGTON - Rep.

A federal judge ruled Friday in a case on detainees at Guantanamo Bay that the government can maintain the secrecy of portions of some records that allegedly describe torture and abuse.The American Civil Liberties Union has been seeking release of the material under the Freedom of Information Act on 14 detainees who went before U.S. military panels ...

An amendment from Sen. Joseph Lieberman , which was part of a homeland security appropriations bill that passed in the House Oct.

Forbidden from following JADE officers around, Elisha Strom still questions the task force's effectiveness.

A Louisiana justice of the peace said he refused to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple out of concern for any children the couple might have.Keith Bardwell, justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish, says it is his experience that most interracial marriages do not last long.Neither Bardwell nor the couple immediately returned phone ...

A lesbian student in Mississippi is fighting to make her school use a photograph of her dressed in a tuxedo in her senior yearbook.

As I noted on Friday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi claims the latest version of the federal hate crime bill, which the House passed last week and the Senate is expected to approve any day now, includes "protections for freedom of speech and association" that are "stronger" than the language in the version passed by the House last April.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is so insensitive to the religious beliefs of others that during an oral argument on Wednesday he had the nerve to denounce the idea that Jewish veterans may not feel honored by a Latin cross war memorial that sits atop a rocky slope at Californiaa s Mojave National Preserve.

Sullivan County elections officials are building a case against a group of 25 to 75 people they claim committed voter fraud during last year's election cycle.

Flags are OK again at an Albany apartment complex after the property manager reviewed the policy and decided she didn't have the legal standing to ban flags from the exteriors of apartments and vehicles parked at the complex.

The straight man for the classic Honeymooners TV show could deliver a line sorely needed at today's Supreme Court hearing on the fate of the Mojave Desert war memorial cross: "Simmer down, Ralphie boy!" In this case, Ralphie is Ralph Buono, a man who has gone to absurd lengths to find offense.

"Any person who remains or loiters on property, whether such property is publicly or privately owned, in such a manner as to impede or hinder the passage of pedestrians or vehicles, or in such manner as to interfere with or interrupt the conduct of business, or who remains or loiters on such property knowing that an offense is being committed, or ...

One such law, the 287 , is a section of the Immigration and Nationality Act allowing performance of immigration officer functions by state officers and employees after proper training.

Family members of a former Hawthorne man imprisoned for 14 months in the United Arab Emirates on terrorism charges were elated Monday after the foreign government decided to release him.

The Obama administration is shying away from some of its promises, and contrary to some critics' beliefs, the American Civil Liberties Union doesn't pull punches for Democrats, ACLU President Susan Herman said Thursday.

The American Civil Liberties Union , National Immigration Law Center and the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations [advocacy websites] filed suit [case materials] against DHS in 2007 challenging the "no-match" rule [NILC backgrounder, PDF], concerned that inaccurate records and clerical errors would threaten legal US ...

A 2-year-old program that gives the Cobb County sheriff's office power to enforce federal immigration laws has led to racial profiling and other problems, a civil liberties group said in a report released Monday.

The United Arab Emirates' highest court convicted an American citizen Monday on terrorism-related charges amid claims that torture was used to extract a confession.

Still always good to have... a San Francisco is about to get a lot more friendly to unlicensed drivers.

Congress is set to allow the Pentagon to keep new pictures of foreign detainees abused by their U.S. captors from the public, a move intended to end a legal fight over the photographs' release that has reached the Supreme Court.

Riot police respond to a group of protesters gathered Sept. 25 in Oakland's Schenley Plaza.

Question: If a cross rises in the desert and no one knows about it, does it make a sound? Answer: Only in Washington.

Hollywood newcomer Nicole Beharie stars as Dee Roberts alongside Alfre Woodard as Alma Roberts in American Violet .

Thursday, October 08, 2009 From http://lifenews.com/state4491.html Chicago Pro-Life Advocates Ask Mayor Daley to Not Approve Abortion-Bubble Zone by Steven Ertelt LifeNews.com Editor October 8, 2009 Email RSS Print Chicago, IL -- Pro-life advocates have one last hope before a newly-proposed bubble zone goes into place that would revoke their free ...

Congress is set to allow the Pentagon to keep new pictures of foreign detainees abused by their U.S. captors from the public, a move intended to end a legal fight over the photographs' release that has reached the Supreme Court.

Congress is set to allow the Pentagon to keep new pictures of foreign detainees abused by their U.S. captors from the public, a move intended to end a legal fight over the photographs' release that has reached the Supreme Court.

Since the first musket shot at Lexington and Concord, Americans have fought to defend liberty.

The local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is suing a Omaha high school over an issue of freedom of expression.

The American Civil Liberties Union releases Defense Department documents that include reports of suicide attempts by Guantanamo detainees.

Last Friday, the ACLU and the ACLU of Texas submitted a brief to the Texas Attorney General's office arguing that a District Attorney in East Texas should be barred from using money unfairly taken from motorists under Texas's asset forfeiture law to defend herself from a lawsuit brought by motorists who claim that their property was taken ...

California's law requiring the authorities to take a DNA sample from every person arrested on felony accusations was challenged in federal court Wednesday as an unconstitutional privacy breach.

AFP/Getty Images/File A view of the US Supreme Court building in Washington, DC.

When Cory Wigal was told he had to stop worshipping with other students and the homeless in a downtown Nashville park, he turned to an organization many see as an opponent of religious symbols on public lands.

A northern Michigan sheriff says his office will investigate allegations that deputies have illegally entered homes and forced young people to take a breath test for alcohol.

Prosecutors in Prince William County have dropped loitering charges against four Hispanic men after the American Civil Liberties Union challenged the case.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has declared meeting Obamaa s January 2010 deadline for closing the Guantanamo detention center will be a oedifficulta .

Did Congress try to bypass court orders and keep a cross on federal land? That's one question in the Supreme Court case about a cross erected in a national park in 1934 to honor the war dead.

Convicted sex offender James Nichols said he was trying to better himself by going to church.

Witnesses took the stand Tuesday to testify whether or not convicted killer Paul Devoe would cause violence in jail if given life in prison over the death penalty.

Part I Wednesday, October 07, 2009 Anjum Niaz The writer is a freelance journalist with over twenty years of experience in national and international reporting This is a two-part tale of family honour; domestic abuse; incompatibility; male dominance; misguided Islamic values; callousness of a Pakistani community towards a homeless mother and her ...

High school sucks. Did you forget? Don't believe it? Check out Facebook. Contrary to the evidence on Facebook student pages however, high schools aren't the only educational institutions capable of totally sucking.

More Government Ohio Supreme Court rules limits on settlements with cities constitutional Religious groups enter fight against casino issue Governor Strickland's proposed tax cut delay is getting support Governor Strickland announces plan to freeze tax cuts to help fill budget hole Support shown for Strickland's income tax cuts Ohio legislature ...

Driving along a pockmarked road amid rocks and Joshua trees in a lonely southern California desert, religious controversy might be the last thing you'd expect to encounter.

The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal to review a Florida law that requires public school students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance each day unless they have their parents' written permission excusing them.

General Douglas MacArthur famously noted that "old soldiers never die; they just fade away." Sometimes, though, before they fade away, they get angry.

Top County Law Enforcement Official Accused Of Illegally Seizing Cash From Minority Motorists AUSTIN - October 2 - The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Texas today filed a brief with the Texas Attorney General's office opposing a request by Shelby County District Attorney Lynda K. Russell to use money she allegedly seized illegally ...

As the end of the year approaches, Congress is facing a looming deadline: three sections of the infamous USA Patriot Act are due to sunset on December 31.

Activists are still waiting for police to turn over files more than 14 months after the American Civil Liberties Union uncovered evidence that state police conducted covert surveillance on anti-war and anti-death penalty activists, an ACLU official said Monday.

A U.S. federal judge has ruled that hundreds of documents detailing the Central Intelligence Agency's now-shuttered overseas secret detention program of suspected terrorists, including extreme interrogation methods, may be kept secret.

When Congress enacted the Patriot Act in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, it provided for a four-year expiration date for some of the more controversial provisions.

In the wake of February's shooting death of Bernard Monroe by Homer police, the ACLU Foundation of Louisiana today reports a pattern of discrepancies in the racial composition of those arrested in Homer and Claiborne Parish.

Texas DA Accused of Stealing From Motorists Wants To Defend Herself With Money She's Accused of Stealing From Motorists Friday, October 2nd, 2009 The little town of Tenaha, Texas has been all over the news in the last year after several defense attorneys revealed the town's police had been pulling over motorists along a main highway, seizing their ...

A court decision that bars exit polling within 100 feet of New Jersey polling places is unlikely to stand because federal courts around the country have consistently rejected such restrictions, according to legal and polling experts.

Civil liberties lawyers are standing behind the free speech rights of students in southwest Virginia who plan to protest the ACLU.

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By Michelle Z. Chen Doug Griswold, via realcostofprisons.org Schools, town halls, and even legislative chambers are feeling increasingly uneasy these days, besieged by an onslaught of racist hostility.

The 15th anniversary of "Operation Gatekeeper" is being observed with outrage by humanitarian activists on both sides of the U.S.- Mexico border.

The Sacramento City Council voted Tuesday night to accept a federal grant to pay for 32 surveillance cameras to be placed in crime hot spots.