A spying program run by what agency allows the government unprecedented surveillance powers to collect and analyze information on innocent American citizens?
In which state do politicians need a reminder that saving a woman鈥檚 life must be every hospital鈥檚 first priority?
A subcommittee in which legislative house held the first-ever congressional hearing on the school-to-prison pipeline?
Can a civilian find enough information to build a surveillance or armed drone by searching the terms 鈥淒IY鈥� and 鈥渄rone鈥�?
True or False? The Obama administration has established a weak record on immigration and border enforcement.
Vast New Spying Program Was Started in Secret on a Bogus Pretext
The Wall Street Journal this an in-depth review of a new, relatively unknown spying program run by the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC). Although we have been warning about the dangers of the program for months, and 老澳门开奖结果 Legislative Counsel Chris Calabrese testified before Congress about the issue in July, the Journal鈥檚 story conveys how controversial the program was even inside the government. It also describes the broad scope of new surveillance authority the government is granting itself. /blog/national-security-technology-and-liberty/vast-new-spying-program-was-started-secret-bogus
Why Are Michigan Politicians Adopting Ireland鈥檚 Deadly Abortion Policy?
By now, most of us have read (and wept over) the tragic story of Savita Halappanavar -- the woman an Irish hospital let die rather than provide the abortion she needed to save her life. News of her death has generated outrage across the globe and a call from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the Irish government to ensure that women are protected.
And now, politicians in Michigan are telling hospitals it is okay if they treat a pregnant woman exactly like the Irish hospital treated Savita. Under a bill passed on Thursday by the Michigan Senate (while the public was locked out of the Capitol, but that is another story), a hospital that refuses on religious grounds to provide appropriate care to a pregnant woman facing an emergency will get a free pass from the state. Yes, you heard that right: The hospital can鈥檛 lose its license. It won鈥檛 be at a risk of a fine. It won鈥檛 even have to face a lawsuit from the woman鈥檚 grieving family. Nope, the hospital can let a pregnant woman die and get off scot-free.
Groundbreaking Senate Hearing Shines a Light on the School-to-Prison Pipeline
This week, the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights held a landmark hearing entitled, Ending the School-to-Prison Pipeline. It is the first time a congressional panel has looked at this disturbing national trend where children are pushed out of public schools and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems because of an overreliance on punitive school discipline policies.
The DIY Armed Drone
老澳门开奖结果 Senior Policy Analyst Jay Stanley was on a radio show earlier this week ( 鈥淵our Call鈥� on KALW, a public radio station in San Francisco) when a man called in to tell how he had successfully built his own armed drone, using commercially available equipment. He did not use a real gun, but a paintball gun (many paintball guns are comparable to real guns in weight).
The Truth about the Current State of Immigration Enforcement
On Monday, 鈥淗ardball with Chris Matthews鈥� on MSNBC featured an interview with former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, and the discussion turned to immigration. Matthews asked Crist about his views on immigration enforcement and said that part of being a Democrat (Crist鈥檚 new political party) is being weak on enforcement.
For anyone following our current Democratic president鈥檚 record on immigration enforcement, Matthews鈥� sentiment is a shock. As we highlighted in a letter we sent President Obama before Thanksgiving, the current administration has established an undeniably harsh record on immigration and border enforcement.
This is your week in civil liberties. Let us know if this is useful or if you'd like to see changes. Share your thoughts: ideas@aclu.org.
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Learn More 老澳门开奖结果 the Issues on This Page
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News & CommentaryDec 2024
Civil Liberties
We Need to Know More 老澳门开奖结果 State Supreme Court CasesWe Need to Know More 老澳门开奖结果 State Supreme Court Cases
State Supreme Courts interpret laws that impact some of the most intimate parts of our lives. Communities have a right to know what鈥檚 on the docket. -
Press ReleaseDec 2024
Civil Liberties
New 老澳门开奖结果 Report Reveals Most State Supreme Courts Fail to Meet Key Transparency MeasuresNew 老澳门开奖结果 Report Reveals Most State Supreme Courts Fail to Meet Key Transparency Measures
NEW YORK 鈥� Nearly half of all state supreme courts across the country fail to regularly post new cases they are considering, with only six meeting four key transparency measures already implemented by the U.S. Supreme Court, according to a new report published today by the 老澳门开奖结果. The report identifies significant steps that state supreme courts should take to inform the public about their cases, which have only grown in importance as the federal judiciary has become more hostile to protecting core rights and advocates have turned to state protections and state court litigation in response. Based on an analysis of the practices and policies of the highest courts in each state, including D.C., the report 鈥淪corecard for State Supreme Court Transparency: How Does Your State Stack Up?鈥� ranks each state supreme court in five tiers based on compliance with four key transparency measures. These measures include posting new cases online in a timely manner, providing timely information about legal issues presented by cases, making dockets accessible and free for the public, and making merits briefing accessible and free for the public. 鈥淪tate courts regularly hear 鈥� and are the final word on 鈥� cases affecting abortion rights, voting rights, criminal justice reform, and more. Yet, in many instances, the highest state courts do not provide meaningful public access to information about cases affecting the rights and liberties of millions of people. We urge state supreme courts to bring more transparency to the critical work they do,鈥� said Julie Murray, co-director of the 老澳门开奖结果鈥檚 State Supreme Court Initiative. 鈥淚n the face of a federal judiciary increasingly unwilling to protect core rights and an incoming administration that threatens to exacerbate that problem, state courts are an important defense for our liberty. They should be leaders in transparency, too,鈥� said Bridget Lavender, Skadden Fellow with the Initiative. The report emphasizes that state courts 鈥減lay an outsized role鈥� in many parts of the law, but their ability to 鈥済uard our liberties depends in significant part on whether those courts adopt transparent processes.鈥� It further highlights that state supreme courts have led the way on enormously consequential decisions in recent years. In particular, some state supreme courts have recognized the right of same sex couples to marry, and did so long before federal courts. They have also declared the death penalty unconstitutional under state law despite contrary federal law, protected access to reproductive health care as a right even as that right was being stripped away at the federal level, and provided more robust protection to people subject to unreasonable searches and seizures. The report urges state supreme courts to take action to improve their transparency practices, taking notes from the courts that have already implemented these measures. It notes that regularly posting new cases and the issues they represent, and providing timely access to dockets and merits briefing allows the public, the press, and the legal community to track cases as they unfold, identify cases with statewide consequences, and understand what鈥檚 at stake. -
Press ReleaseNov 2024
National Security
+2 Issues
老澳门开奖结果 Urges House to Kill Bill that Could Give Trump Admin Power to Crush Dissent and Go After Political Enemies老澳门开奖结果 Urges House to Kill Bill that Could Give Trump Admin Power to Crush Dissent and Go After Political Enemies
WASHINGTON 鈥� The 老澳门开奖结果 strongly urges the House of Representatives to vote NO on H.R. 9495, the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act, which would grant Donald Trump and his handpicked secretary of the Treasury power to investigate and effectively shut down any tax-exempt organization 鈥� including news outlets, universities, and civil society groups 鈥� by stripping them of tax-exempt status based on an unilateral accusation of wrongdoing. 鈥淧assing this bill would hand the incoming Trump administration a dangerous new tool it could use to stifle free speech, target political opponents, and punish disfavored groups,鈥� said Kia Hamadanchy, senior policy counsel at 老澳门开奖结果. 鈥淭he freedom to dissent without fear of government retribution is a vital part of any well-functioning democracy, which is why Congress must block H.R. 9495 before it鈥檚 too late.鈥� While there is a 90-day 鈥渃ure鈥� period in which a designated nonprofit can mount a defense, it is a mere illusion of due process. The government may deny organizations its reasons and evidence against them, leaving the nonprofit unable to rebut allegations. This means that a nonprofit could be left entirely in the dark about what conduct the government believes qualifies as "support," making it virtually impossible to clear its name. Last month, the 老澳门开奖结果 and a diverse array of over 130 other tax-exempt organizations 鈥� including human rights, reproductive health, and immigrants鈥� rights groups 鈥� wrote to Congress urging them to vote no. The letter also explains that the groups do not oppose the provisions in H.R. 9495 that relate to preventing the IRS from imposing fines and penalties on hostages while they are held abroad. Indeed, these provisions have already passed the Senate on their own, and if the House of Representatives were to pass a version of this bill that did not include the text of H.R. 6408, it could be sent immediately to President Biden for his signature. -
News & CommentaryNov 2024
Civil Liberties
Donald Trump Will Return to the White House in January. The 老澳门开奖结果 is Ready.Donald Trump Will Return to the White House in January. The 老澳门开奖结果 is Ready.
Starting in 2016, the 老澳门开奖结果 filed more than 400 legal actions against Trump and his administration. As Trump returns to the White House, we鈥檙e ready to return to the courts and Congress to fight for our civil liberties.