A Partial Victory For Judicial Transparency

In a partial victory for the public’s right to access and scrutinize court proceedings, a federal judge recently made public most of two previously sealed opinions authorizing gag orders on Twitter and Yahoo to prevent the companies from disclosing grand jury subpoenas demanding some of their subscribers’ records.

By By Bennett Stein, ACLU Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project

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Killing Russell Bucklew: Missouri's Planned Departure from Decency

Something is scheduled to happen in Missouri at 12:01am on Wednesday morning that the state desperately doesn't want you to see.

By By Cassandra Stubbs, ACLU Capital Punishment Project

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Anti-Backpage.com Bill Will Shut Down Free Speech

The House of Representatives is set to take up a bill this morning that would result in severe unintended consequences for free speech online. We are understandably concerned. The measure aims to target the deliberate commercial promotion of either coerced or underage prostitution – both of which are, rightly, serious federal crimes – but would unfortunately go much further.

By By Gabe Rottman, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office

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Putting the Brakes on Voter Suppression in North Carolina

Voters get to decide who represents them, but elected officials don't get to decide which eligible voters can and can't vote. Right?

By By Molly Rugg, Paralegal, ACLU

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Karma: Private Prison Company Throws Shade and Fails, Badly

How can you tell that a private prison company is getting desperate? When its lobbyists and PR reps start throwing shade at the ACLU for "politics and posturing."

By Carl Takei, ACLU National Prison Project

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Playing Politics with the World War II Memorial

Today, a subcommittee in the House of Representatives will hold a hearing on a bill to require that an inscription of a D-Day prayer given by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, reflecting a specific religious viewpoint, be added to the World War II Memorial. The bill plays politics with religion and detracts from the stated purpose of this important memorial: national unity.

By By Ian S. Thompson, ACLU Washington Legislative Office

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Segregation 2.0: America's School-to-Prison Pipeline

This piece originally appeared at MSNBC.com.

By By Dennis Parker, Director, ACLU Racial Justice Program

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On the Agenda: May 19-23

One week until the unofficial start of summer, folks. With Memorial Day and DC's inevitable barrage of heat waves around the corner, it's easy to forget that Election Day is less than six months away. That leaves us with limited time to pass all of the bills we want before the next Congress starts in January.

By By Meghan Groob, Media Strategist, ACLU Washington Legislative Office

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Keeping Our Promise: Brown, 60 Years Later

Sixty years ago this Saturday, the Supreme Court handed down their decision in the landmark civil rights case Brown v. Board of Education. This decision, which ruled state-sanctioned public school segregation unconstitutional, was a tremendous victory in the long-fought battle for civil rights in this country. The unanimous decision affirmed what civil rights leaders had always understood to be the "inherently unequal" state of segregated schools.

By By Keely Mullen

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