News & Commentary

One consequence of the Saudi government’s horrific murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi is a renewed congressional focus on ending U.S. support for the Saudi-led war against an anti-government movement in Yemen. This has to be somewhat bittersweet for many Yemenis, who have been pleading for the world to help end Saudi war crimes and actions that have killed children, bombed hospitals, and resulted in a worsening humanitarian crisis, with millions of people starving. Now, Congress has the opportunity to make a real difference that will save Yemeni lives. But one of the mai

Anyone walking into the sole courtroom in the town of Louisa, Virginia, is met by an array of portraits covering nearly every square inch of the walls. Overwhelmingly they feature white men. Though on first glance, most of them are not recognizable, one is unmistakable. It’s a looming image that dominates the back wall of the courtroom, directly across from the judge. The portrait is of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, in uniform, sword unsheathed at his side. The presence and prominence of Lee’s portrait in a courthouse in Louisa County speak to the kinds of bi

When Mississippi Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, who is in a run-off election with Democrat Mike Espy for the state's U.S. Senate seat, attempted to show her loyalty to one of her supporters during a recent campaign stop, she quipped: “If he invited me to a public hanging, I’d be on the front row.” The comment would be wildly inappropriate anywhere, but in Mississippi, which has the distinction of being the state that lynched more African-A

The Department of Education headed by Secretary Betsy DeVos on Friday released a proposed rule that, if implemented, would dramatically limit schools’ obligations to students who experience sexual violence and would not further the stated goal of fair process. The ACLU is equally committed to ensuring students can learn in environments free from sexual harassment and violence and to guaranteeing fair process for both respondents and complainants. The new rule preserves some important protections for respondents from the Department of Education’s 2001

In an alternate reality, Tuesday’s national news headlines would have read: “Active Shooter Heroically Subdued by Brave Security Guard.” Instead, we woke up to news stories announcing that police in Midlothian, Illinois, responded to a bar shooting by killing the security guard who had bravely detained the shooting suspect. Jemel Roberson should be alive today. But he’s not, and it seems quite clear that race played a

In October 2017, Vermont-based Migrant Justice scored a major victory in the organization’s campaign to extend labor protections to undocumented farmworkers in the state. After years of public action and lobbying, they reached an agreement with Ben & Jerry’s that established basic labor standards at the farms supplying dairy products to the company. Those standards included one day off a week, a minimum wage of $10 per hour, and accommodations that included electricity and running water — a milestone for farmworkers’ rights in Vermont. For many Migrant Justice organizers, who were themselves undocumented and had worked long hours in those dairy farms, the victory was personal. But while Migrant Justice’s organizers were celebrating their victory, according t

As firefighters in California battle the deadliest wildfires in the state’s history, they are joined by unlikely allies against the blaze. About 200 prisoners in California’s Conservation Camp program are fighting the fires alongside civilian employees, earning just $1.45 a day for their work. Their pay as workers is a fraction of minimum wage. The hazard to their lives is real, as evidenced by a death toll that has climbed steadily. The prisoners battling the fires in California deserve real wages. And their rights as workers lead us to l

Before Dec. 7, Congress will have to make a decision: Will they reward the department responsible for family separation, jailing immigrants, raids on communities of color, and abuses at the border by increasing their budget? Or will they stand up and rein in Trump’s detention and deportation force?  The Department of Homeland Security is currently funded by a continuing resolution, a short-term bill that extends its budget fr

Criminal justice reform was on the ballot from coast to coast in the 2018 midterm elections. There were over 1,000 prosecutor elections. Pro-reform candidates ascended to powerful roles in cities like Birmingham, St. Louis, and Boston, including a historic number of first-ever Black and female district attorneys. Voters overturned Jim Crow laws in Florida and Louisiana. Judges that have tried to grind publicly supported reforms to a halt were swept out en masse by black women in Houston. These results alone are truly historic. But like any election, the outcomes are a result of a variety of factors, many that have little to do