News & Commentary

In the early days after 9/11, I hoped desperately — alongside so many others around the country and the world — that our government would make wise choices, that it would meet violence with justice, transparency, accountability, and a commitment to fundamental rights. We knew that too often in American history, political leaders respond to traumatic events by clamping down on our civil rights and liberties, and only come to regret it after terrible human costs. And we knew that those costs are borne primarily by Black and Brown people and immigrants, whom the government has always wrongly viewed through a security threat lens. S

COVID-19 was not the only deadly public health crisis of the past year and a half. The overdose epidemic killed a record 93,000 Americans in 2020, ravaging communities across the country, and may be on track to be worse in 2021. While the nation has combated COVID-19 by prioritizing medical research, vaccine production, treatment development, and implementation of common-sense public health measures, our response to the overdose epidemic has been tragically meager. In this moment of investment in our nation’s infrastructure, it is time for federal, state, and local governments to change course and invest in proven, life-saving public health tools to finally stem the tide of overdoses across the country. I

In 2015, the ACLU sued psychologists James Elmer Mitchell and John “Bruce” Jessen, whom the CIA enlisted to design, implement, and oversee its post-9/11 torture program. Our clients were Suleiman Abdullah Salim and Mohamed Ahmed Ben Soud, who survived the torture, and the family of the late Gul Rahman, who was kidnapped, experimented on, and tortured to death in CIA custody. W

As a Harvard graduate student and mother of three children, Zainab Merchant was accustomed to traveling frequently from her home in Orlando to Boston for her studies. In 2016, that all changed. T

“With violent crime on the rise, we must invest in more police.” You’ve probably heard this recently from the media, elected officials, and some people directly impacted by gun violence. The pain of communities facing the threat of interpersonal gun violence demands that something be done to protect families, create safer streets, and save lives. If you combine that desperate need for solutions with a society where police have been legitimized as the first, last, and only resort, it’s easy to understand why people would clamor for more police right now. W

Twenty years after 9/11, the pervasive power of our government’s mass surveillance regime is clearer than ever — and it’s past time for change. Congress now has the opportunity to enact essential reforms, by looking to the lessons of the last two decades to impose restraints that will protect us in the face of even more powerful and invasive technologies going forward. T

A total nightmare. That’s what life has felt like as a mother living with six children in virtual classes. For over a year, it’s been one challenge after another to get the tools my children need to continue their education. We needed space, so I got them folding tables for desks. We needed computers, so a local nonprofit helped supply each child with a laptop. But we learned quickly that all the space and supplies in the world didn’t mean much without a steady broadband internet connection. We could not afford it. W

Last month, the U.S. Census Bureau provided the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico with population counts to use in their redrawing of the electoral district boundaries for representation in Congress, state legislatures, and many county and municipal offices. This data release marks the official start of the once-in-a-decade redistricting process that will determine the allocation of political power and representation at every level of government across the country for the next ten years. A

Do vaccine mandates violate civil liberties? Some who have refused vaccination claim as much. W