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Innocent Victim Of CIA Extraordinary Rendition Program Takes Case To International Tribunal (04/09/2008)
NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union today filed a petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) on behalf of Khaled El-Masri, an innocent victim of the CIA's "extraordinary rendition" program. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear El-Masri's case in October 2007.

MALDEF, ACLU and Otero County Sheriff's Department Resolve Civil Rights Suit (04/09/2008)
LAS CRUCES, NM - MALDEF and the ACLU of New Mexico today announced a landmark settlement with the Otero County Sheriff's Department that addresses what plaintiffs alleged were civil rights violations committed by county deputies during immigration sweeps last September in the southern New Mexico town of Chaparral. Civil rights advocates say the agreement will help restore community trust in local law enforcement and greatly improve the safety of all people living in the County.

Military Commission Proceedings Put Credibility Of U.S. Justice System On The Line (04/09/2008)
NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union will be at Guantánamo Bay this week to observe the U.S. military commission hearings of Sudanese national Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al-Qosi, Saudi national Ahmed Mohammad al-Darbi and Canadian national Omar Ahmed Khadr. The ACLU has been present as an independent observer at each and every commission hearing and continues to see no indication that the proceedings are fair, impartial or in accordance with constitutional principles.

ACLU Argues That Ashcroft Can Be Held Accountable For Wrongful Detention (04/08/2008)
SEATTLE – The American Civil Liberties Union is arguing today in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that former Attorney General John Ashcroft can be held personally responsible for the wrongful detention of an innocent American, Abdullah al-Kidd. The ACLU is also arguing that the federal material witness law cannot be used to preventively detain or investigate suspects without sufficient evidence that they have actually committed crimes.

ACLU Calls for Investigation into NSL Abuse (04/08/2008)
Washington, DC – The American Civil Liberties Union yesterday called on Department of Justice Inspector General Glenn Fine to begin an internal investigation into the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) use of National Security Letters (NSLs), and whether they were used to funnel Americans’ private information to the Department of Defense (DOD). The NSL statute is a tool used by law enforcement to compel the release of information, such as communications or business records, without a court order. The revelation that the military is getting the FBI to issue NSLs in strictly DOD investigations was disclosed in documents obtained by the ACLU through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. The ACLU sent a letter to Fine yesterday asking him to investigate whether the FBI has aided the DOD in circumventing the law.

E-Verify Would Cost $40 Billion, CBO Says (04/08/2008)
WASHINGTON – The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released the estimated cost to implement H.R. 4088, the Secure America through Verification and Enforcement (SAVE) Act of 2007, and found that the proposed legislation would cost taxpayers more than $40 billion over 10 years. H.R. 4088, introduced by Representatives Heath Shuler (D-NC) and Tom Tancredo (R-CO), would implement a national employer verification system and mandate it for all new hires. It is currently under consideration for a “discharge petition” that would allow the bill to bypass the traditional committee markup process and instead go directly to the House floor.

Opponents of Equal Opportunity Seek To Withdraw Their Own Ballot Measure (04/08/2008)
NEW YORK - In a significant blow to a national campaign against equal opportunity in America, backers of a proposed amendment to the Oklahoma Constitution that would end equal access and opportunity programs in the state have asked the state supreme court to withdraw the measure from consideration. The move comes after supporters of the so-called Oklahoma Civil Rights Initiative - spearheaded by Ward Connerly's American Civil Rights Institute (ACRI) as part of a national crusade against affirmative action - failed to collect the signatures needed to get the proposal on this November's ballot. In conceding defeat, Connerly characterized the ACRI's efforts in Oklahoma as a "miscalculation."

ACLU Requests Georgia School District Disclose Sex Segregation Plans (04/07/2008)
GREENSBORO, GA -In a letter sent today to the Greene County School District, the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Georgia requested that the school district make public any and all plans to segregate Greene County schools by sex. The request - made under Georgia's Open Records Act - includes all policies, memoranda, letters, emails, directives, minutes, handbooks, and all other documents in the school district's possession from the past two years addressing sex-segregation.

ACLU And Civil Rights Lawyers Strike Agreement To Desegregate Hartford Public Schools (04/04/2008)
HARTFORD - The American Civil Liberties Union, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), the Center for Children’s Advocacy and cooperating attorneys struck an agreement today with the state of Connecticut to implement compliance with a longstanding order from the state Supreme Court to desegregate Hartford public schools. The agreement, the latest stage in the case of Sheff v. O’Neill, for the first time requires the state to create a detailed roadmap to follow in its effort to end the racial segregation faced by Hartford’s minority schoolchildren.

ACLU Introduces First Amendment Argument In Key Patent Law Case (04/04/2008)
WASHINGTON - Introducing a rare argument applying the First Amendment to patent law, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a friend of the court brief today urging a federal court to uphold the denial of a patent that would, if awarded, violate freedom of speech. In the brief, the ACLU argues that Bernard L. Bilski is seeking a patent for an abstract idea, and that abstract ideas are not patentable under the First Amendment.

ACLU Slams Administration Attempts to Curb First Amendment (04/04/2008)
Washington, DC – The American Civil Liberties Union today reiterated the need for a strong federal shield law for journalists in light of letters sent to the Senate by Attorney General Michael Mukasey, Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell, Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, outlining administration concerns about the “The Free Flow of Information Act.” This legislation, introduced by Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA), is designed to protect journalists from being forced to reveal confidential sources. It was marked up earlier this year by the Senate Judiciary Committee but has not been voted on by the full Senate. The House passed its version of the bill in 2007 by a wide bipartisan supermajority.

Protect Mourners' Rights, But Not at Expense of First Amendment (04/04/2008)
COLUMBIA, Mo. - The quiet reverence of a funeral service held in honor of a fallen soldier is punctuated by the jarring retort of a 21-gun salute. A folded American flag, once draping the coffin of the deceased, is handed respectfully to the surviving spouse. A few short words "from a grateful nation" are uttered, followed by a crisp salute and the solemn playing of "Taps." A few yards away mulls a group of protesters holding signs and chanting "Thank God for dead soldiers." It's the juxtaposition of these two rituals that is at the heart of one University of Missouri professor's examination of the legal issues surrounding privacy and free speech.

ACLU And NACDL Assembling Guantánamo Defense Teams (04/03/2008)
NEW YORK – In order to protect American values of fairness and justice and the constitutional guarantee of due process, the American Civil Liberties Union, together with National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL), announced today that it is assembling defense teams to be available to assist in the representation of detainees facing prosecution in the military commissions proceedings at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The Guantánamo military commissions process – which allows detainees to be convicted on the basis of secret evidence, hearsay, and confessions derived from torture – is an affront to civil liberties and a stain on America’s reputation around the world.

ACLU y NACDL preparan grupos de abogados defensores para Guantánamo (04/03/2008)
NUEVA YORK - Para poder proteger los valores estadounidenses de equidad y justicia y la garantía constitucional del debido proceso de la ley, la Unión de Libertades Civiles de los Estados Unidos, o ACLU (por sus siglas en inglés) junto con la Asociación Nacional de Abogados Defensores Penales (NACDL, por sus siglas en inglés), anunciaron el día de hoy que están integrando los grupos de abogados defensores que estarán dispuestos a auxiliar en la representación de los detenidos que se enfrentan a su procesamiento mediante los tribunales de las comisiones militares en la Bahía de Guantánamo, Cuba. Los tribunales de las comisiones militares de Guantánamo, los cuales permiten que los detenidos sean condenados con base en evidencia secreta, rumores y confesiones deribadas de la tortura, son una afrenta a las libertades civiles y una mancha en la reputación de los EE.UU. en todo el mundo.

MCLU Seeks Public Records on REAL ID Waiver (04/03/2008)
PORTLAND - Today, the Maine Civil Liberties Union Foundation filed a public records request with the Office of Governor John E. Baldacci for records relating to the debate over REAL ID. After more than a week of back and forth between the Governor's Office and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the two parties announced yesterday that Maine was granted a waiver in exchange for promises by the Governor to propose changes to Maine driver license law. Just last year, Governor Baldacci signed into law a statute prohibiting Maine's participation Real ID.

ACLU Urges Senate Judiciary Committee to Probe Department of Homeland Security (04/02/2008)
WASHINGTON, DC -- Today, as Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff goes before the Senate Judiciary Committee for an annual oversight hearing, the American Civil Liberties Union calls on the committee to demand he answer tough questions about DHS’s most troubling initiatives. The ACLU submitted a statement for the record detailing concerns the organization has with some of the department’s activities, namely recent policies regarding immigration raids, deaths in immigration detention facilities, Real ID, Total Information Awareness and fusion centers.

ACLU Wants Broadcast Cross-Ownership Rule Reversed (04/02/2008)
Washington, DC -- In a letter to Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Senator Daniel Inouye (D-HI) and Vice Chairman Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK), the American Civil Liberties Union urged support of a resolution (S. J. Res 28) disapproving of the rule submitted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on broadcast media cross-ownership.

Bush Administration Memo Says Fourth Amendment Does Not Apply To Military Operations Within U.S. (04/02/2008)
NEW YORK – A newly disclosed secret memo authored by the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) in March 2003 that asserts President Bush has unlimited power to order brutal interrogations of detainees also reveals a radical interpretation of the Constitution's Fourth Amendment protection from unreasonable search and seizure. The memo, declassified yesterday as the result of an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit, cites a still-secret DOJ memo from 2001 that found that the "Fourth Amendment had no application to domestic military operations."

Landmark Settlement Reached With Maryland State Police In "Driving While Black" Case (04/02/2008)
BALTIMORE -- After more than a decade of fighting for justice on behalf of individuals who were racially profiled on Interstate 95 in Maryland, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Maryland, and the law firm of Hogan & Hartson, LLP are pleased to announce that a landmark settlement has been reached today with the Maryland State Police (MSP) to end the "Driving While Black" lawsuit. The agreement provides substantial damages to the individual plaintiffs, a requirement that the MSP retain an independent consultant to assess its progress towards eliminating the practice of racial profiling, and a joint statement by all parties involved in the lawsuit condemning racial profiling and highlighting the importance of taking preventative action against this practice in the future.

New Report Supports ACLU Warnings on Fusion Centers (04/02/2008)
Washington, DC – A new document obtained by the Washington Post supports warnings by the American Civil Liberties Union regarding the post-9/11 institutions known as fusion centers. A story published today in the Post confirms fusion centers’ growing role in law enforcement and reveals their expanding ties to private industry, including relationships with massive data-brokering companies. The ACLU released a report last year outlining serious concerns with fusion centers.