News & Commentary

An obscure West Virginia law that came to light during the teachers strike gives police expansive powers to crack down on peaceful protesters. While the strike ended on Tuesday with a victory for the teachers, lawmakers should still address the deficiencies of the state’s “crimes against the peace” law — its literal riot act. The law, as interpreted by a 1946 court

This essay is adapted from the first Tony Judt Memorial Lecture, delivered at New York University in February 2018, and first appeared in 

Tuesday was the first day of the Fish v. Kobach voting rights trial. The ACLU and Kris Kobach, Secretary of State of Kansas, squared off over a 2013 Kansas law which requires people to produce citizenship documents, like a birth certificate or U.S. passport, in order to register to vote. Kansas is one of only two states that imposes such a requirement, known as a documentary proof-of-citizenship or the DPOC law. The ACLU successfully blocked the law in 2016, prevailing in both the federal district court in Kansas and

This piece originally appeared at USA Today on Monday, March 5, 2018.

Around noon, on April 10, 2017, Alicia Amaya Carmona glanced through her partially closed blinds at the Wing Pointe apartment complex in Heber City, Utah. What the 48-year-old grandmother saw terrified her. A group of men in blue and green vests, carrying assault weapons and pistols, were running through the parking

When Roz, a mother raising three children with special needs on a razor-thin budget in Washington, wrote a check for $41.19 to Goodwill to buy secondhand clothing for her children, she had no idea it would lead to threats of criminal prosecution and jail. But that’s exactly what happened when the check bounced, and her inability to pay a bill led to her being sucked into the criminal justice system. That the check bounced because of a banking mix-up didn’t matter. Roz received a letter in the mail that looked like

The Barrow County Sheriff’s Office is holding a “training course” on Wednesday apparently approved by the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police. The title, “Islam in America,” sounds educational and harmless. But the course description and instructor tell another story that raises questions about the goals of law enforcement in Georgia. The course instructor, David Bores, has a documented history of making inaccurate and d

At the East Mississippi Correctional Facility, where Mississippi sends some of the most seriously mentally ill people in the state prison system, even the most troubled patients are routinely ignored and the worst cases of self-harm are treated with certain neglect. The conditions at EMCF have cost some prisoners their limbs, their eyesight, and even their lives.In 2013, the ACLU, Southern Poverty Law Center, and prisoner rights attorney Elizabeth Alexander filed a class-action complaint on behalf of all the prisoners held at EMCF. As the case heated up, the law firm of Covington & Burling LLP joined as co-counsel, providing major staffing and support. Despite years of attempts by Mississippi to derail the lawsuit before our clients even saw the inside of the courtroom, the case will finally proceed to trial Monday. The lawsuit against EMCF describes horrific conditions at the facility: rampant violence, including by staff against priso

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Jennings v. Rodriguez, a class action lawsuit challenging the federal government’s practice of jailing immigrants for months or years while they litigate their deportation cases. The ACLU had argued that neither the immigration laws nor the Constitution permit such detention unless a judge determines, at a hearing, that the immigrant will pose a danger or flight risk if released. In a 5-to-3 decision (Justice Kagan was recused), the court overturned a