News & Commentary

Earlier this week, former Sheriff Joe Arpaio announced that he plans to run for U.S. Senate from Arizona. The ACLU has aggressively and successfully sued Arpaio for denying incarcerated women access to abortion, victimizing people with disabilities, and racially profiling Latinos. Now, sadly, he thinks that record of illegal and inhumane conduct qualifies him to be a senator. And in Kansas, Secretary of State Kris Kobach is running for governor, campaigning on his platform of cruelty to u

Walter Jordan tried to tell the world he was dying in prison in Arizona when he mailed a handwritten message, titled “Notice of Impending Death,” to the federal court in Phoenix. Nine days later, he was dead. According to Dr. Todd Wilcox, a physician who reviewed Jordan’s case, the 67-year-old might have survived if he had received competent treatment by the Arizona Department of Corrections (ADOC) and its private, for-profit health care contractor, Corizon Health. Jordan died of an invasive squamous cell skin cancer that ate through his skull and invaded hi

First there was Jane Doe. Then there were Jane Roe and Poe. Now Jane Moe has come to our attention. Earlier this week, we learned that yet another 17-year-old immigrant in government custody was being b

In the latest in a long line of attacks on freedom of the press, President Trump has once again threatened today to change libel laws to make it easier to sue news organizations, publishers, and others after the publication of an unflattering book. “We are going to take a strong look at our country’s libel laws s

Rahim Mohamed’s daughter was born in October, but the 32-year old father, who has been detained in immigration custody since April, has not seen or held her. If Immigration and Customs Enforcement has its way, he won’t get that chance. Instead, he will be summarily deported to Somalia, despite the fact that Rahim fears persecution by Al-Shabaab, the Somali-based affiliate of Al-Qaeda, and would be leaving behind his U.S. citizen wife, toddler son, and infant daughter. Rahim is one of 92 Somali nationals, currently locked up in Florida, who ICE is rushing to deport before th

Michelle Alexander dedicates her book, “The New Jim Crow,” to the people who have been swept up by America’s racist criminal justice system. “You may be locked up or locked out of mainstream society, but you are not forgotten.” For the first time, all prisoners across New Jersey can read her words. The ACLU of New Jersey learned that “The New Jim Crow” was banned as a matter of official policy i

At Letcher County Central High in Whitesburg, Kentucky, students enrolled in the school’s elective Bible courses are instructed by one worksheet to “[d]o your best to build close relationships with other Christians, so that you may help one another through tough times.”Another worksheet used in the same class asks students, “What are some promises in the Bible that God gives everyone who believes in him?”Both curricular materials were sourced through “Teen Sunday School Place,” an online database of Sunday school lessons. Letcher County Bible course students are also encouraged to take part in religious activities, such as Bible Club. This is flagrantly unconstitutional but, unfortunately, not surprising: While it is technically possible fo

On Wednesday, the ACLU will be in the Supreme Court, defending a victory that preserved the voting rights of thousands of Ohio voters in the 2016 election. Along with Dēmos and the ACLU of Ohio, we represent the Ohio A. Philip Randolph Institute, the Northeast Ohio Coalit

Senate Democrats today reached an important milestone in the path to saving net neutrality after the Federal Communications Commission announced last month it would roll back protections from discrimination by internet service providers. A