News & Commentary

In the past seven days, the House of Representatives has held two historic hearings on the Equality Act, HR 5, a bipartisan bill that would add explicit protections from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity to our civil rights laws, and update the laws to provide increased protection for all women and people of color. What was most notable from the hearing is that (apart from one witness), no one denied that it is wrong to discriminate against someone because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Opponents of equality are faced with the undeniable truth that a significant majority of the American public

For more than a decade, Tarana Burke and survivors across the country have used #MeToo to share their experiences of sexual violence, raise women’s voices, and respond to the needs of survivors. In its current incarnation, #MeToo has sparked an unprecedented examination of sexual harassment, including sexual assault, in our workplaces, and illuminated the multiple manifestations of workplace discrimination. In the midst of this historic reckoning, the ACLU and coalition partners drafted and

For the first time since President Trump issued his Muslim ban, Congress proposed a legislative solution today to protect immigrant communities from discriminatory bans, immediately and permanently. The long-awaited

With his selection of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Kevin McAleenan to serve as acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), President Trump has once again shown that he has no regrets over his administration’s disastrous policy of separating families. McAleenan was one of the three DHS officials to

Utah is known for its red rock canyons, steep ski slopes, and a mega-majority Republican legislature. And now it can be recognized as one of just a handful of states to pass legislation that helps noncitizens avoid deportation if they are convicted of a misdemeanor. The bill, which was signed into law by Gov. Gary Herbert

Late yesterday, President Trump announced that Kirstjen Nielsen has resigned as the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Trump said that Kevin McAleenan, the commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), will serve as Acting Secretary. Nielsen’s tenure as head of one of the country’s largest government agencies was a humanitarian cata

The events that led to the murder of Willie McCoy by City of Vallejo police began with a 911 call came from a Taco Bell employee. In the recording, the employee sounds perplexed: “I have a person unresponsive to car horn honks in my drive-through,” he said. He then added, “He’s unresponsive. I’ve already had, like people try to knock on the window. I have no idea what’s going on.” The dispatcher sent out Vallejo police officers for what’s known as a “wellness check.” Officers arrived, saw that Willie McCoy was passed out in the driver’s seat of his car, and began to evaluate the situation. That this led to police to shooting and killing a Black man who had been sleeping in his car speaks volumes about deadly force and racial bias not just in California, but across the nation.   The thirty minutes of body camera

Of all the ACLU’s advocacy efforts, few have as ironic a sounding mission as our fight to keep students safe from certain school safety measures. Unfortunately, a recently released

In the land of the free, people still get arrested for speaking out about what they believe in.A little over a year ago, I was arrested and detained for 10 hours in New York City because I was handing out leaflets advocating jury nullification. I was arrested under a state law that makes it a crime to talk about judicial proceedings within 200 feet of a courthouse. I filed a First Amendment lawsuit because political speech shouldn’t be a crime, no matter where it takes place. Jury nullification is a power that the jury has to acquit a defendant, despite the law, if