News & Commentary
Three Years in a Cage. No Charges and No Lawyer.
Octavious Burks has been waiting for 10 months.
By By Brandon Buskey, ACLU Criminal Law Reform Project
Hello, My Name Is NOT "Gaytard." How May I Help You?
I've been out to my family and friends since I was in the 5th grade. I'm not ashamed of being gay, and I don't hide who I am from anyone.
By By Tyler Brandt
Documents in ACLU Case Reveal More Detail on FBI Attempt to Cover Up Stingray Technology
What is used by dozens of local law enforcement agencies around the country, featured in numerous news stories, and discussed in court, yet treated by the FBI like it is top secret? That would be "Stingray" cell phone surveillance gear, of course.
By By Nathan Freed Wessler, Staff Attorney, ACLU Speech, Privacy & Technology Project
Do Cops Really Need Tanks to Keep Us Safe?
This piece was originally published on The Crime Report.
By By Kara Dansky, Senior Counsel, ACLU Center for Justice
Arizona’s Naked Photo Law Makes Free Speech a Felony
Which of the following could land you a felony conviction in Arizona?
By By Lee Rowland, Staff Attorney, ACLU Speech, Privacy & Technology Project
This Is What Happens When the Secretary of Defense is in Charge of Your Medical Care
When Chelsea Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison on August 21, 2013, she was immediately worried that she would be denied desperately needed medical care for gender dysphoria.
By By Chase Strangio, Staff Attorney, ACLU
Government Placing Itself at Top of New Air Travel Caste System
A new report from the Government Accountability Office shows that the government is going easy on itself when it comes to aviation security screening, and in the process it is stretching the concept of watchlisting to the breaking point. Not only has the Transportation Security Administration expanded its use of blacklists for security screening to identify passengers who may be "unknown threats," but it also has compiled vast whitelists of individuals—including members of Congress, federal judges, and millions of Department of Defense personnel—who are automatically eligible for expedited screening at airports. These changes have made a broken watchlisting system even more arbitrary, unfair, and discriminatory.
By By Hugh Handeyside, Staff Attorney, ACLU, National Security Project
Fighting for Captain Underpants
"Captain Underpants and the Perilous Plot of Professor Poopypants." "Captain Underpants and the Wrath of the Wicked Wedgie Woman." "Captain Underpants and the Farty Fight for Free Speech." Okay fine, I made up the last one.
By By Samia Hossain, William J. Brennan Fellow, ACLU Speech, Privacy, & Technology Project
A Mother Landed in Jail for Trying to Help Her Daughter. And She Might Not Be the Last.
Earlier this month, a judge sentenced a Pennsylvania mother to up to a year and a half in prison for helping her 16-year-old daughter end a pregnancy by purchasing abortion medication online. The mother, who has a low-paying job, ordered the medication online because there was no health center that provides abortions nearby, and she lacked health insurance to pay for an abortion at a hospital. She was sentenced after pleading guilty to performing an illegal abortion.
By By Jennifer Dalven, Reproductive Freedom Project
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