News & Commentary

When officer Lisa Mearkle shot and killed 59-year-old David Kassick while he lay facedown on the ground, officials in Hummelstown, Pennsylvania, released the officer’s name to the public almost immediately. It was a strategic decision.In a community of about 4,000 residents with a poli

A federal district court this week blocked two abortion restrictions in Alabama that would have dramatically reduced abortion access in the state by closing clinics and limiting the procedures doctors are able to provide. The decision should send a message to politicians across the country that they should stop interfering with a woman’s right to have an abortion if she needs one.   The first law, SB 205, would have forced abortion clinics wit

This op-ed was originally published by The Guardian. In recent weeks, the Hollywood film about Edward Snowden and the mo

Gavin Grimm, a 17-year-old boy in rural Virginia, just needs to pee. That wouldn’t be the focus of much attention, except that Gavin is transgender. With the permission of the school principal, he used the boys’ restroom for nearly two months without any problems. But after some parents complained, the school board passed a new policy prohibiting him from using the boys’ restroom and forcing him to use the girls’ room or a single-user restroom constructed especially for him.   Gavin didn’t think it was right for him to be treated differently than all the other boys at his scho

This piece was originally published by the ACLU of Michigan. The story behind the disability rights case being argued in the U.S. Supreme Court this Halloween is a sto

“I have several birthdays, all of them near October 25th. I am 74 or 75 years old, and I’m still f**king here.”

Earlier this week Virginia celebrated a huge victory when the state board of health voted to repeal the worst of our unconstitutional abortion restrictions that have closed clinics across our great state. Targeted Restrictions of Abortion Providers, known quite rightly as

This article first appeared in The Los Angeles Times. When is it appropriate for police to conduct a face recognition search? To figure out who’s who in a crowd of prot

Since its inception, the United States’ targeted killing program has been shrouded in secrecy. For years, the ACLU has sought basic facts about the way the program operates, as well as its legal and policy justifications, through multiple Freedom of Information Act lawsuits. Today, we’re back in front of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York for the third time in three years, again asking for records that will yield a more complete public picture of the government’s law and policy governing the program. At stake are 59 documents that the Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of Defense, and the OLC identified