Home : Newsroom

ACLU Obtains Defense Department Documents About Prisoner Deaths And Interrogations (5/14/2008)
NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union has obtained previously withheld documents from the Defense Department, including internal investigations into the abuse of detainees in U.S. custody overseas. Uncensored documents released as a result of the ACLU's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit shed light on the deaths of detainees in Iraq and internal disagreement within the military over harsh interrogation practices used at Guantánamo Bay.

ACLU Urges LGBT People To "Get Busy, Get Equal" (5/13/2008)
NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union launched a new version of its Get Busy, Get Equal online activist toolkit, www.aclu.org/getequal . Get Busy, Get Equal now incorporates new technology to make it easier for LGBT people to work for change in their communities. The website offers tools for ending gay and transgender discrimination, making schools safe, and winning recognition for LGBT relationships.

ACLU Welcomes Detainee Basic Medical Care Act (5/13/2008)
WASHINGTON – The American Civil Liberties Union applauds Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) for introducing the Detainee Basic Medical Care Act of 2008. This legislation requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to develop procedures to ensure adequate medical care for all detainees held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The legislation also requires ICE to report detainee deaths to the DHS and Department of Justice Offices of Inspector General.

As Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Is Formally Charged, Government Delays Security Clearance For Civilian Defense Lawyers (5/13/2008)
NEW YORK – The U.S. government continues to delay security clearances for attorneys seeking to represent Khalid Sheikh Mohammed even as formal charges are announced against him and four other detainees today as part of the Bush administration's military commission system. The efforts of civilian attorneys to represent Mohammed are part of the John Adams Project – a partnership between the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers – designed to provide legal teams to represent Guantánamo detainees.

Federal Judge Rules That Students Can’t Be Barred From Expressing Support for Gay People (5/13/2008)
PANAMA CITY, FL – After a two-day trial in which a Florida high school principal testified that he believed clothing or stickers featuring rainbows would make students automatically picture gay people having sex, a federal judge today ruled that the school violated students’ First Amendment rights of students. The case was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of a junior at the school who had been forbidden by her principal to wear any sort of clothing, stickers, buttons, or symbols to show her support of equal rights for gay people.