News & Commentary

Our Constitution promises all people, regardless of race, equal protection under the law. Yet the San Francisco Police Department has consistently singled out Black people for enforcement of criminal laws. In 2013 and 2014, the SFPD collaborated with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the United States

On Friday, Sept. 28, following the Senate Judiciary hearing at which both Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and Judge Brett Kavanaugh testified, the ACLU  decided to depart from its usual policy in order to oppose the nomination of Judge Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. It was not a decision we took lightly. As a matter of policy, the ACLU does not endorse or oppose presidential nominations. We have ma

Earlier this year, the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility released an ethical opinion that required federal prosecutors working in the state to disclose all information favorable to criminal defendants. It stated those disclosures must be even broader and earlier in the process than the U.S. Constitution requires. This is a praiseworthy move that could help stem the tide of coercive plea bargains and wrongful convictions in Tennessee, which fuels the epidemic of mass incarceration in the state and across the nation.   But rather than applaud the state for its reforms, the federal Department of Justice is attem

In May of 2013, Astrid Morataya, a legal permanent resident, woke up to a knock on the door. Looking outside the window, she saw law enforcement agents with bulletproof vests encircling her home in Illinois. “They must have the wrong house,” she thought. But they were, in fact, there for her. The government waite

Tanisha (a pseudonym) is a 25-year-old mother of four who was arrested in Oklahoma in 2017 following a domestic dispute with her boyfriend. Three of her children, a toddler and twin infants, were present. Once jailed, Tanisha’s bail was set at $61,000. She couldn’t afford to pay it, so she stayed behind bars, separated from her children.   This is wealth-based family separation perpetuated by the criminal justice system. A new joint report from the ACLU and Human Rights Wa

An American family that underwent a harrowing detention at the hands of U.S. Customs and Border Protection can now seek some measure of justice. That’s the result of a recent ruling by the federal judge presiding over the lawsuit we filed on behalf of Abdisalam Wilwal, Sagal Abdigani, and their four young children after a brutal experience at the U.S.-Canada border. The Wilwal-Abdigani family was on the way home to the Minneapolis area from a trip to visit relatives in Canada

When the government believes that someone should be deported, it usually has to prove its case in an immigration court. And although the immigration courts have long been plagued by due process problems—including the lack of any right to an appointed lawyer, even for kids—those courts have at least held out the promise of neutrality: a neutral immigration judge hears the case, and the losing party may appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals. But Jeff Sessions is aggressively working to make these courts instruments of the Trum

A new wave of state laws that try to limit Americans’ constitutional right to engage in political boycotts is now 0 for 2 in federal court. On Thursday night, a federal court blocked Arizona from enforcing a law requiring state contractors to certify t

When it reconvenes this fall, the Supreme Court will decide whether the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution can help stop state and local authorities from using people who come in contact with the justice system as their piggy banks. The case has ramifications for communities across the country, finally settling a question about whether the Constitution’s prohibition on excessive financial penalties only applies to the federal government or to all public authorities.  The court will hear Timbs v. Indiana, wh