News & Commentary

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday that an Ohio voter purge program can resume, finding that the practice does not violate the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. The decision is a setback for voting rights in America and devastating for the thousands of Ohio voters who will show up at the polls only to learn that they have been purged and barred from casting a ballot — which happened to our client Larry Harmon in 2015.  The ruling, however, is not a green light for states to initiate wholesale purges of registered voters

On September 18, 2017, Lewis Cain, a disabled Vietnam veteran living in Nashville, Tennessee, woke to a flashlight shining in his eyes. It was officers from the Mount Juliet Police Department, who had arrived at Cain’s home with an

It emerged late Thursday that the Justice Department had secretly seized years of email and phone records of a New York Times reporter in connection with a leak investigation. This marks a clear escalation of the Trump administration’s attempts to intimidate journalists and their sources. In doing so, it seems that the Justice Department may have violated its own policies for obtaining reporters’ communications — strict standards that are in place because of the importance the Constitution places on freedom of the press. News o

This piece is a shortened version of Deputy Director of the ACLU’s Washington Legislative Office Christopher Anders’ testimony delivered before the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs’ Subcommittee on Federal Spending Oversight and Emergency Management on June 6, 2018. No decision by the federal government is graver or more consequential than the decision to go to war. Over t

Last year, Melissa Braham was driving from Colorado to Missouri with her boyfriend and her two children. The car broke down in Kansas, and then her life broke down as well.  A passerby called the police after allegedly smelling marijuana, and Ms. Braham was char

For almost nine months, a U.S. citizen illegally detained by the U.S. military in Iraq without charges has been fighting in court for his freedom. Wednesday night, the Trump administration told the judge that it was going to let him go — but with a deadly catch. The government said that it plans to drop off our client in Syria, either in a town or outside a refugee camp. He wo

In an interview on Tuesday morning with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, Attorney General Jeff Sessions doubled down on his defense of the Trump administration’s practice of tearing apart families seeking refuge in the United States, including those seeking asylum. The interview revealed not only Sessions’ lack of basic empathy and compassion but also his willingness to deceive the public in defending this cruel policy. During the conversation, Hewitt pushed Sessions to consider the implications of separating a child from his

For the first time since 1950, the census will ask respondents whether or not they are U.S. citizens. It may seem innocuous, but the addition of the question — in essence, a door-to-door government inquiry as to the citizenship status of every member of every household in the United States — will have far reaching consequences. It will dramatically reduce participation by immigrant communities, stunting their growing political influence and depriving them of economic benefits. This is not an unintended side effect. It’s the reason the Trump administration sought to a

It’s not easy to accept that two of my sons are now nationally known, not for their sharp humor, musical talent, or academic achievements, but rather for the humiliation they recently endured on a campus tour. Moms are supposed to have all the answers, but it’s hard to explain why they, as Native Americans, were treated at a public university like they “don’t belong.” So when Starbucks