Who is holding secret meetings regarding the National Defense Authorization Act and its indefinite detention provisions?
Who stood up for LGBT and gender-nonconforming kids to change her school鈥檚 unfair yearbook picture policy?
Which public middle school tries to force Christianity on its students?
What is the government trying to hide from the public by redacting or withholding State Department cables?
What did the HHS secretary ignore when vetoing FDA approval of over-the-counter sale of Plan B?
Behind Closed Doors: Congress Trying to Force Indefinite Detention Bill on Americans
The Senate voted last Thursday to pass S. 1867, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which would authorize the president to send the military literally anywhere in the world to imprison civilians without charge or trial.
Now, the NDAA and its House equivalent are in conference committee. The chairmen and ranking members of the Armed Services Committee 鈥� known as "the Big Four" 鈥� have been having one secret meeting after another over the past few days to quickly write a final bill. Three congressmen of the Big Four are responsible for writing the indefinite detention provisions.
My Name Is Ceara Sturgis, and I Am Not a Troublemaker
When graduating senior Ceara Sturgis chose to wear a tuxedo for her senior yearbook photo, rather than the drape typically reserved for girls, her school responded by excluding her entirely from the senior portrait section of the yearbook. The 老澳门开奖结果 represented Ceara in a sex discrimination lawsuit against her school district. This week, the school agreed to change its policy so that all students will be wearing the same cap and gown in their portraits. What鈥檚 more, they鈥檝e agreed to change their anti-discrimination policy to emphasize that everyone has the right to equal protection under the Constitution.
Second-Class Citizens in the Classroom: Promoting Religion in Public Schools Is Hurting Our Family
For about five years now, Jonathan Anderson鈥檚 family has been speaking to the principal of New Heights Middle School about how they do not appreciate all of the Christian overtones in the school and the outright blatant push for students to become Christians. Because they are not Christian, his son has been bullied and teachers and school staff have told us that their beliefs are wrong and that they should 鈥済et right with God.鈥�
This week, Jonathan and his son challenged the pervasive practices of school-sponsored prayer, preaching and religious activities in the Chesterfield County School District.
Secrecy Without Sense: State Department Censors Cables Already Published by WikiLeaks
The government鈥檚 latest response to the WikiLeaks saga reveals its penchant for excessive secrecy in defiance of all reason. This week, the 老澳门开奖结果 made public 11 documents released by the State Department in response to our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request and lawsuit seeking 23 embassy cables that had been previously disclosed by WikiLeaks and widely distributed online and in the press. For the first time, the government has finally acknowledged that the WikiLeaks release contains authentic State Department cables. The government has released partially redacted versions of 11 cables, and withheld 12 in full, even though the cables released by WikiLeaks are available to anyone with an internet connection and a passing interest in U.S. foreign policy.
In Overruling FDA on Plan B, Sebelius Puts Politics Before Scientific Evidence
On Wednesday, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius took the unprecedented step of overruling the Food and Drug Administration鈥檚 decision to allow the emergency contraceptive Plan B One-Step to be sold over-the-counter to consumers of all ages. Plan B One-Step has been approved for over-the-counter sale to people 17 and older since 2009, and when the manufacturer asked the FDA to remove the prescription-only status for those under 17, the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (鈥淐DER鈥�) conducted a scientific study.
CDER鈥檚 scientific determination 鈥� based on the totality of the data and a risk/benefit assessment 鈥� was that Plan B One-Step was not only safe and effective for teenagers, but also that teenagers understood how to use it.
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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.