News & Commentary

As the Administration is poised to reach the 2 million deportation mark, the question we all should be asking is not just why but how?

A new battleground has opened up in the war over who has access to our electronic data trails: legislation is now being debated in states across the country to require a warrant for law enforcement access to location information in criminal investigations. The biggest roadblock these bills are facing? Attempts to reduce their protections to cover only "real-time" location tracking, leaving inconsistent and often completely absent rules governing law enforcement access to "historical" data.

Imagine you have just returned from maternity leave, still nursing your baby, and you find that your workplace has no place available for you to pump breast milk.  After trying for several hours to find a place, you ask for help from your department head, who says “You know, I think it’s best that you just go home to be with your babies.”  She hands you a pen and paper, advises you to resign, and even dictates what you should write down as your letter of resignation. 

As a lesbian of Asian descent, I hear not very kind comments based on gender, ethnicity, or sexual orientation often enough. Most of the time I can blame ignorance, not take it personally, and not let it bother me. But the way I was treated when my wife Kris died, that one really hurt.

Today, the ACLU’s Jameel Jaffer will appear before the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board as its members question government officials, privacy advocates, law professors, and policy experts about the government’s surveillance programs operating under the FISA Amendments Act (“FAA”), also known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

I had a homie who was arrested for having an ounce of weed that was just for his personal use. He had full custody of his four children and still did 8 long months. My friend hasn't been the same since, to be quite honest, and I just can't get over the fact that before he went into the system, he was funny, sensitive, and charismatic, and now, he's just different. 

Representatives of the online advertising industry headed to the White House last week to speak with the task force on “big data and privacy” that President Obama asked advisor John Podesta to head up. The executives said they would bring the White House their usual message: that advertising supports free content on the Web. After the meeting, the ad executives reported being pleased, with one telling Adweek, “It was clear they knew the importance of the digital economy.”

Imagine if your child was ridiculed in front of his classmates for his religious beliefs until he was physically ill. Can’t believe it? Neither could we, and that’s why the ACLU and the ACLU of Louisiana sued the Sabine Parish School District on behalf of C.C., a sixth-grader of Thai descent and a practicing Buddhist. You remember C.C.: He was chastised by teachers and administrators at his Louisiana public school for his religious beliefs. School officials also repeatedly, and illegally, imposed their religious beliefs on students in a number of ways.

What NSA whistleblower joined the ACLU at South by Southwest for his first live conversation with an audience?