News & Commentary

Proponents of expanding the use of artificial intelligence (AI) often point to its potential to stimulate economic growth — increased productivity at lower costs, a higher GDP per capita, and job creation have all been touted as possible benefits. The promise of an economic boost via machine learning is understandably seductive, and private and government actors are now regularly using AI in key areas of economic opportunity, including education, housing, employment, and credit, to name just a few. But as AI adoption is cast as a smart economic investment in the future, it’s important to pause and ask: Whose futures and whose wallets are we talking about? T

The Supreme Court took action on three cases directly affecting LGBTQ+ rights, and now the term is over. One of the rulings may well turn out to be a watershed moment in trans rights, while the other two suggest that the court has reached a stalemate on the scope of religious exemptions to LGBTQ+ non-discrimination laws. While this stalemate lasts, we need to keep fighting both in court and in legislatures to protect non-discrimination laws from being pock-marked with exceptions that could render them meaningless.

Conservatorships, which often strip people with disabilities of their civil liberties, have gained media attention through Britney Spears’ efforts to bring her own conservatorship to an end. July is Disability Pride Month, and though Spears’ conservatorship has been highly publicized, she is only one of the more than an estimated one million disabled Americans living under some form of conservatorship or guardianship. S

On July 8, as part of an extensive executive order covering a range of technology related issues, President Joe Biden wrote that he “encourages the FCC to restore Net Neutrality rules undone by the prior administration.” While President Biden’s statement of support for net neutrality is welcome, it rings somewhat hollow given that his failure to appoint a fifth FCC commissioner is the sole reason efforts to restore net neutrality are stalled in the first place. I

For the first time in this country’s history, a president has announced a national strategy to address domestic terrorism. The strategy is grounded in good intentions, rightly emphasizing America’s history and present escalation of white supremacist violence and the chronic contributors to that violence, including racism and bigotry. The strategy also emphasizes adherence to cherished civil rights and civil liberties in any responsive actions the government takes, and the need to foster resilience in the face of disinformation and hate. B

A prosecutor’s primary duty is “to seek justice … not merely to convict,” according to the American Bar Association. Prosecutors in Maricopa County’s Early Disposition Courts (EDCs) do precisely the opposite. The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office (MCAO) has an iron clad policy of making plea offers in the EDCs “substantially harsher” — their words, not ours — if an accused person seeks a preliminary hearing or rejects a plea offer to go to trial. I

As a significant term in Supreme Court history comes to an end, the ACLU is reflecting on the court’s decisions, the conclusion of Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s first year on the bench, and a session that saw significant rulings on voting rights, free speech, and anti-discrimination protections. With the appointment of Justice Barrett, the court’s new 6-3 conservative supermajority ruled on a range of historic cases that expanded, as well as contracted, our fundamental freedoms — including a landmark ruling to preserve the Affordable Care Act. The ACLU also saw decisions on our cases, from Fulton v. City of Philadelphia to Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L., that set significant precedents for the protection of civil rights and civil liberties across the nation. A

Today, the Supreme Court decided two Arizona voting laws were not racially discriminatory and did not violate Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) in Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee. The VRA is a landmark piece of federal legislation that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. As Justice Kagan wrote in dissent, the VRA “represents the best of America … It marries two great ideals: democracy and racial equality.” Congress enacted Section 2 of the VRA to address discrimination imposed by voting laws — no matter how blunt or subtle — considering local circumstances and history, as the ACLU and ACLU of Arizona described in their amicus brief. T

On President Biden’s 100th day in office, Nilson Barahona-Marriaga joined demonstrators who greeted the president at a rally in Atlanta. “End detention now!” they chanted. “Communities are afraid!” A