News & Commentary

If I wanted to, I could put my pen down right now, close my office door behind me, and go for a long walk outside. Today in Nouakchott, Mauritania, it is terribly hot and dry, so that would not be the wisest choice, but freedo

Considering our nation’s merciless criminal justice policies, it comes as no surprise that the United States has the largest prison population and highest incarceration rate in the world. What you may not know, however, is that women are a fast growing demographic of the prison population

The state of Arkansas is planning to kill Jack Greene. But Jack Greene has serious mental illness and should not be executed. This doesn’t mean that Greene is not guilty of t

I am a queer woman who has been incarcerated. I was arrested for tax evasion and mail fraud 20 years ago. I was tried, convicted, and incarcerated – first in 2010. I was released shortly after that, when my conviction was overturned but then incarcerated again in 2013 and released in 2014. My queern

In June, the Frederick County school board in northern Maryland passed and updated policies addressing discrimination, harassment, and bullying of transgender and gender non-conforming students. These policies, among other things, affirm students’ right to access restrooms and locker rooms consistent with their gender identity. But in August, a parent and student sued the school district, claiming that their privacy rights are being violated by the policy.   Today the ACLU filed a motion to intervene

If you’re a resident of a small Texas city and in need of hurricane recovery funds, you’ll have to certify that you’re not boycotting Israel. Dickinson, Texas,

The war on marijuana continues to rage in Pennsylvania. Despite slow progress in loosening the commonwealth’s laws on the devil’s lettuce — including a

After Jane Doe, a 17-year-old immigrant from Central America, found out she was pregnant last month, she decided to have an abortion. But the Office of Refugee Resettlement —  the federal government agency charged with caring for unaccompanied immigrant minors once they enter the country —  is prohibiting her from getting one. The federal government has a new policy that allows it to veto an unaccompanied minors’ abortion decision,

As wildfires raged across Northern California last week, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) took to Twitter to encourage those in need to seek shelter, even if they didn’t have lawful immigration status. Senator Harris’s desire to protect all her constituents is admirable. It also may be a crime. A