There are many who seek to consolidate their power at the expense of others, and the ACLU helps balance the scales by defending justice, freedom and fairness.
The American Civil Liberties Union has earned a four-star rating from 
Women in combat: policy, meet reality
By Ariela Migdal, ACLU Women’s Rights Project Until today, official United States policy banned all women from being assigned to ground combat units. The policy was military-wide and covered our whole gender – no exceptions for women who were fast, … Continue reading
Forty Years After Roe, the American people have spoken. Will politicians finally listen?
By Jennifer Dalven, Reproductive Freedom Project Forty years ago today, the Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade, the landmark case that recognized that a pregnant woman has a right to make her own decision about whether to have a child or have … Continue reading
Curtailing immigration prison system can reduce spending without hurting public safety
By Michael Tan, ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project, & Joanne Lin, Washington Legislative Office Today, Roll Call published an op-ed we wrote on how curtailing immigration prisons is an easy way for Congress to begin to reduce the deficit, cut government spending, and reform our … Continue reading
Wasteful spending to detain immigrants in a maximum security jail
By Michael Kaufman and Carmen Iguina In 2009, the Obama administration announced plans to transform the immigration detention system to make it “truly civil” – a recognition that detainees are being held for civil immigration violations, not as punishment for … Continue reading
Married twice, but second-class status
By Jason Howe The passport control agent almost seemed apologetic. “Sir, he has to fill out a separate family entry card,” he told me, “he” meaning my husband, Adrián. And then, he mumbled “DOMA.” Jetlagged and groggy after an overnight … Continue reading
Baca’s epiphany
By Jason Howe You have to hand it to Sheriff Lee Baca. He sometimes arrives at the correct conclusion. It’s just not very often that he does it quickly, easily or without a lot of coercion – i.e. being sued. … Continue reading
California Attorney General: immigration detainers are voluntary
By Jennie Pasquarella, ACLU of Southern California and Julia Mass, ACLU of Northern California For the first time yesterday, California Attorney General Kamala Harris publicly weighed in on the hotly-contested federal immigration program, Secure Communities (S-Comm). In an information bulletin … Continue reading
Illegally detained in jail for three months
By Duncan Roy, ACLU client Duncan Roy was arrested in November 2011 on a charge of extortion for threatening to blog about the legality of a real estate deal. He was held at a sheriff’s station in Lost Hills before … Continue reading
Baca’s strike force
by Peter Eliasberg, Legal Director The announcement this week by Sheriff Lee Baca that he agrees with and intends to implement all 63 recommendations laid out in a new report by the Citizen’s Commission on Jail Violence is welcome news. … Continue reading
How many of your new Facebook friends are undercover cops?
By Yaman Salahi, Arthur Liman fellow This is the second in a two-part series of posts covering the impact of proposed changes to two major Los Angeles Police Department programs related to intelligence-gathering. Do you know who your Facebook friends are? … Continue reading
Buses, bookworms, and bullies
By Joey Hernández, LGBTQ Student Rights Advocate After a long, lazy summer break, the first month back to school can seem like a blur of activity and excitement. But for 8 out of 10 LGBTQ students, the first month of … Continue reading
Protecting our protectors
By Michael Kaufman, Staff Attorney A Democratic consultant ignited a firestorm several months ago when she questioned whether Ann Romney – who had tweeted that raising five children had been “hard work” – had “actually worked a day in her … Continue reading
One year without DADT
By Jason Howe, Director of Communications Did you hear on the news about the mass exodus of a half-million troops from the U.S. military? No? Well then, you must have heard about gay soldiers causing their comrades to desert their … Continue reading
And pigs “may” fly
By Hector Villagra, Executive Director John Morton, the director of U.S. Immigrations and Enforcement (ICE), has suggested that policies that restrict compliance with immigration detainers “may” violate federal law. If he thinks this is true of the TRUST Act, a … Continue reading
Immigration detainees have the right to due process, too
By Ahilan Arulanantham, ACLU/SC Deputy Legal Director; Michael Kaufman, ACLU/SC Staff Attorney; Michael Tan, ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project Alejandro Rodriguez’s parents brought him from Mexico when he was a baby. Prior to his detention, Alejandro earned his green card and lived … Continue reading
