Home : Affiliates

ACLU Urges Supreme Court to Review NSA Warrantless Wiretapping Case (10/03/2007)
WASHINGTON - The American Civil Liberties Union today urged the U.S. Supreme Court to review a legal challenge to the Bush administration's warrantless surveillance activities. The case was filed on behalf of prominent journalists, scholars, attorneys and national advocacy organizations charging that the government's illegal surveillance activities disrupt their ability to communicate effectively with sources and clients. Although the groups submitted uncontested evidence that the government's illegal surveillance activities had compromised their ability to do their jobs, an appeals court dismissed the case last July because the plaintiffs could not state with certainty that they had been wiretapped by the National Security Agency.

Citing History of Discrimination, ACLU of Virginia Asks Richmond City Council to Reject Appointed School Board (10/01/2007)
RICHMOND, VA— The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia today is asking Richmond City Council to reject attempts by a group of local civic and business leaders to eliminate the city’s elected school board in favor of an appointed one.

ACLU Sues Maryland State Police for Withholding Public Records and Overcharging for Documents Related to "Driving While Black" Lawsuit (09/26/2007)
TOWSON, MD – Charging that the Maryland State Police (MSP) are flouting the letter and spirit of the Maryland Public Information Act (MPIA), the American Civil Liberties Union teamed with Venable, LLP to file a lawsuit today against the MSP for improperly withholding records and imposing excessive costs for records it is producing. The case was filed in Baltimore County Circuit Court on behalf of the Maryland State Conference of NAACP Branches in order to force MSP to produce information and documents relating to its compliance with a federal court order in the organizations’ "Driving While Black" litigation.

ACLU Sues Over Exclusion of South African Democracy Scholar from U.S. (09/25/2007)
BOSTON – The Departments of State and Homeland Security are illegally blocking South African scholar Adam Habib from entering the U.S. under circumstances that suggest it is because of his political views, according to a lawsuit filed today by the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Massachusetts. Censorship at the border prevents U.S. citizens and residents from hearing speech that is protected by the First Amendment, the ACLU charges.

ACLU Cheers DOD Amendment Restoring Habeas Corpus Due Process Rights (09/19/2007)
Washington, DC – The American Civil Liberties Union applauds today’s Senate vote of 56 to 43 on a procedural motion related to an amendment to the defense authorization bill that would restore habeas corpus rights. It is now clear that with a majority of senators voting for the amendment, habeas restoration is not only needed, but also desired by the Senate. To restore Habeas Corpus for those detained by the United States (S.AMDT. 2022), offered by Senators Specter (R-PA), Leahy (D-VT) and Dodd (D-CT), would restore the constitutional due process right of habeas corpus that was stripped away by the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (MCA).

ACLU Urges House Panel to Get Answers From Spy Chief, Says FISA Legislation Needs to Be Fixed, Not Misrepresented (09/18/2007)
Washington, DC – The American Civil Liberties Union today urged the House Judiciary Committee to grill the Director of National Intelligence Michael "Mike" McConnell at a hearing on recently passed wiretapping legislation. The law, inaccurately named the "Protect America Act," caused public outcry when it was rushed through Congress before the August recess and overhauled the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The hearing was McConnell’s first appearance before Congress after misleading a Senate panel regarding the role the new law played in foiling a terror plot in Germany.

Treatment of Jena Six Raises Questions of Racial Injustice (09/14/2007)
JENA, LA – The American Civil Liberties Union today expressed concern about the possibility of racially-motivated unequal treatment in the Jena Six case, in which six black high school students were charged with attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder for fighting with a white student last year in Jena, Louisiana. Although some of the charges were later reduced to aggravated battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated battery, one student still faces an attempted murder charge and up to 50 years in prison without suspension, probation or parole. Mychal Bell, the only member of the Jena Six to be tried so far, was convicted of aggravated battery in July and could face a 15 year prison sentence.

ACLU Applauds House Judiciary Action to Restore Habeas Corpus (09/06/2007)
Subcommittee marks up bill restoring habeas rights to Guantanamo detainees

Federal Court Strikes Down National Security Letter Provision of Patriot Act (09/06/2007)
NEW YORK - A federal court today struck down the amended Patriot Act's National Security Letter (NSL) provision. The law has permitted the FBI to issue NSLs demanding private information about people within the United States without court approval, and to gag those who receive NSLs from discussing them. The court found that the gag power was unconstitutional and that because the statute prevented courts from engaging in meaningful judicial review of gags, it violated the First Amendment and the principle of separation of powers.

ACLU Demands Shutdown of Unlawful Passenger-Tracking System (09/05/2007)
WASHINGTON – In formal comments filed today with the Department of Homeland Security, the American Civil Liberties Union demanded that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shut down its illegal Automated Targeting System (ATS) program. The program, which violates a congressional mandate barring DHS from assigning risk levels to ordinary Americans, uses secret criteria and computer algorithms to calculate the security risks of ordinary Americans.

Court Denies Government’s Broad Assertions of Secrecy in Refusal to Turn Over NSA Eavesdropping Documents (09/05/2007)
WASHINGTON ‑ A federal judge today rejected the government’s broad claims of secrecy in its refusal to make public documents involving the National Security Agency’s (NSA) warrantless wiretapping program. U.S. District Judge Henry Kennedy’s ruling comes in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought last year by the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Security Archive and the Electronic Privacy Information Center. According to the court order, the Department of Justice must, by October 26, provide more substantial reasons for refusing to turn over certain documents.

ACLU Applauds Decision to Shut Down Pentagon Database of Secret Information on Peaceful Groups (08/21/2007)
NEW YORK -- The American Civil Liberties Union today applauded the decision of the U.S. Department of Defense to shut down its TALON anti-terrorism database.

ACLU Calls on American Psychological Association to Ban Torture (08/17/2007)
NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union today called on the American Psychological Association (APA), which is holding its annual meeting in San Francisco this weekend, to prohibit its members from participating in coercive interrogations.

ACLU Obtains New Details of Possible "Cover-Up" of Iraqi Prisoner Abuse (08/15/2007)
NEW YORK - Documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union provide new evidence of a possible “cover-up” of Iraqi prisoner abuse by U.S. forces in 2003, and suggest that senior military officials failed to act promptly upon receiving reports of the abuse. The documents, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, also reveal that an Army investigator found that the conditions of prisoners held in isolation at Abu Ghraib qualified as torture.

Patriot Act Gag Power is Unconstitutional, ACLU Tells Court (08/15/2007)
NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union appeared before a federal district court today to argue that the reauthorized Patriot Act's National Security Letter (NSL) provision is unconstitutional. The law permits the FBI to gag those who receive NSLs from disclosing that the FBI has sought or obtained information from them.

ACLU Rebukes U.S. Government for Failing to Act on Visa Request of South African Scholar (08/10/2007)
NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union today criticized the State Department for failing to respond to a visa application by South African scholar Adam Habib. The ACLU said the government's actions suggest the Bush administration is excluding Habib because it disagrees with his politics.

ACLU Sues TSA Official, JetBlue for Discriminating Against Passenger Wearing Arabic T-Shirt (08/09/2007)
NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union and New York Civil Liberties Union today filed a federal civil rights lawsuit charging that a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) official and JetBlue Airways illegally discriminated against an American resident based solely on the Arabic message on his t-shirt and his ethnicity.

Congress Legalizes Warrantless Wiretapping for Americans (08/07/2007)
"This past weekend, Congress capitulated to the Bush administration and gave it the authority to conduct warrantless dragnets of American's international phone calls and emails. And did the administration thank Congress? No. It called for more authority and for a hand out to the telecommunications companies that turned over our records and calls in the absence of a warrant, which they knew was required."

ACLU Condemns Senate for Passing Spy Law Changes (08/04/2007)
WASHINGTON – The American Civil Liberties Union today condemned the House and Senate for bowing to pressure from the Bush administration and rushing to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The administration lobbied heavily to alter the legislation before Congress recessed. The White House pushed for sweeping changes to the spy law after a FISA court judge recently rejected its use of wide-scale, untargeted surveillance. The bill was passed in the Senate by a vote of 60 to 28, and the House is poised to take up the same legislation late tonight.

Two More Victims of CIA’s Rendition Program, Including Former Guantánamo Detainee, Join ACLU Lawsuit Against Boeing Subsidiary (08/01/2007)
NEW YORK -- Today, two additional victims of the United States government’s unlawful “extraordinary rendition” program joined a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union against Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc., a subsidiary of Boeing Company. The ACLU charges in its amended complaint that Jeppesen knowingly provided direct flight services to the CIA enabling the clandestine transportation of Bisher al-Rawi and Mohamed Farag Ahmad Bashmilah to secret overseas locations where they were subjected to torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.