Here’s a quick run-down of what we’re working on this week.
Tuesday, July 17
The ACLU is in federal court today seeking to force the government to disclose how often it uses surveillance tools against Americans simply by stating to a judge that it’s relevant to an investigation. The surveillance tools at issue are called and , which capture information such as the phone numbers you call and that call you, and the email addresses of the people you send emails to and who email you.
The Department of Justice is required to disclose these statistics to Congress each year. In the past, it has failed to do so. Earlier this year, the ACLU filed a lawsuit in an effort to compel the DOJ to inform the public whether it filed these reports and, if so, to disclose the reports to the public (here are our complaint and our FOIA request).
In Washington, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will hold a hearing on how the fight against human trafficking might be carried out over the next 10 years, focusing on attacking the problem with the right tools. You can read the joint report from the ACLU and Yale Law School, titled Victims of Complacency, on human trafficking here.
Wednesday, July 18
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) will hold a meeting on to discuss its Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2012-2016. The Commission will hear publicly from five roundtables of invited guests on what the agency’s national enforcement priorities should be for the next three years, in order to have the greatest impact on combating discrimination in the workplace. The participants will also address recommendations for improving enforcement, outreach and prevention, and customer service. The ACLU worked on coalition recommendations for the EEOC.
Thursday, July 19
The ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project is in court this week in Phoenix for a trial in which Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office is being sued for racial discrimination against Latinos. The lawsuit charges that Arpaio and MCSO have unlawfully instituted a pattern and practice of targeting Latino drivers and passengers in Maricopa County during traffic stops.
Also Thursday, in Washington there will be a few key hearings. First, the House Judiciary Committee will hold an oversight hearing of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano will testify. We’ll be watching for her answers on immigration policy.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is due to hold a mark-up of S. 3276, the FAA Sunsets Extension Act of 2012. Our legislative counsel, Michelle Richardson, will be live-tweeting the mark-up and we’ll have a wrap-up blog on the site to let you know how the bill will look.
Also, the Oversight, Investigations and Management Subcommittee of House Homeland Security Committee will hold a hearing titled "Using Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Within the Homeland: Security Game Changer?" Unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, are currently prohibited in domestic airspace, but in its 2012 reauthorization, the Federal Aviation Administration was directed by Congress to safely integrate UAS into the nation's airspace by 2015. Later this year, the agency plans to release a proposed rule that will establish policies, procedures and standards for a wide spectrum of users in the smaller unmanned aircraft community. We’ll be monitoring this hearing closely.
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News & CommentaryDec 2024
Civil Liberties
We Need to Know More About State Supreme Court CasesWe Need to Know More About 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’s on the docket. -
Press ReleaseDec 2024
Civil Liberties
New ACLU Report Reveals Most State Supreme Courts Fail to Meet Key Transparency MeasuresNew ACLU Report Reveals Most State Supreme Courts Fail to Meet Key Transparency Measures
NEW YORK — 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 American Civil Liberties Union. 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 “Scorecard for State Supreme Court Transparency: How Does Your State Stack Up?” 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. “State courts regularly hear — and are the final word on — 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,” said Julie Murray, co-director of the ACLU’s State Supreme Court Initiative. “In 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,” said Bridget Lavender, Skadden Fellow with the Initiative. The report emphasizes that state courts “play an outsized role” in many parts of the law, but their ability to “guard our liberties depends in significant part on whether those courts adopt transparent processes.” 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’s at stake. -
Press ReleaseNov 2024
National Security
+2 Issues
ACLU Urges House to Kill Bill that Could Give Trump Admin Power to Crush Dissent and Go After Political EnemiesACLU Urges House to Kill Bill that Could Give Trump Admin Power to Crush Dissent and Go After Political Enemies
WASHINGTON — The American Civil Liberties Union 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 — including news outlets, universities, and civil society groups — by stripping them of tax-exempt status based on an unilateral accusation of wrongdoing. “Passing 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,” said Kia Hamadanchy, senior policy counsel at ACLU. “The 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’s too late.” While there is a 90-day “cure” 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 ACLU and a diverse array of over 130 other tax-exempt organizations — including human rights, reproductive health, and immigrants’ rights groups — 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 ACLU is Ready.Donald Trump Will Return to the White House in January. The ACLU is Ready.
Starting in 2016, the ACLU filed more than 400 legal actions against Trump and his administration. As Trump returns to the White House, we’re ready to return to the courts and Congress to fight for our civil liberties.