News & Commentary

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

Tonya Lee* and her two children had been living in their Maryland apartment complex for five years when her boyfriend became enraged during an argument and stabbed her and her older son. After the police arrested him, her landlord sent her a notice: They were evicting her because of the violence. Her lease included a standard provision authorizing eviction of tenants when there is criminal activity in their homes.  Domestic violence survivors shouldn’t face eviction just because the crime takes place in their home. The ACLU has been ad

In the United States, people have the right to protest, and the press has the right to write about it. But over the past month, multiple journalists, documentary filmmakers, and activists have been arrested in three different states for engaging in and reporting on protests against fossil fuel infrastructure projects. While the arrests are concerning, many of the charges leveled at members of the press, particularly the documentarians, are excessive and clearly designed to send a message to other activists and members of the independent media who might cover the protests: Want to join them? Earlier this month, Amy Goodman with Democracy Now! was charged with

Norma (not her real name) was the wife of a police officer in El Salvador. She lived in a neighborhood where gang members waged frequent gunfights, committed murders, and forced her to pay extortion fees. In late 2014, four gang members abducted Norma and took her to a cemetery, where three of them tied her hands, stuffed her mouth closed, and raped her. Even after she fled to another town, the groups continued to threaten Norma and her children. When she finally escaped to the United States to seek asylum, federal authorities locked her in a detention center. The mass detention of asylum-seekers like Norma is a major reason why The Wall Street Journal recen

The New York Times is publishing a devastating exposé series on the lasting psychological effects of U.S. government torture on men who once were held in CIA-run secret overseas prisons or at Guantanamo Bay. Two psychologists, James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen, were independent contractors for the CIA and designed an

Back in the day, a student who broke school rules or otherwise misbehaved would be reprimanded by a teacher or sent to the principal’s office. But today, school administrators are increasingly relying on law enforcement to keep students in line, and the results can be dire. Take the case of Michael Davis, a five-year-old student with disabilities in the Stockton Unified School District.  

There are still many questions to be answered about Yahoo’s secret scanning of all of its customers’ incoming emails under a mysterious government order. Anonymous officials have

The most recent numbers showing lead levels in the water of Flint’s public schools continue to hit with spine-chilling impact. Thirty months after an appointed emergency manager made the ill-fated decision to begin using the dangerously corrosive F