 VICTORY! Judge Orders Air Force to Reinstate Maj. Margaret Witt If You Care about Private Online Communications, You Should Read This Giving 'Em Hope: The "It Gets Better Project" When Being Poor Is a Crime High Profile Terrorism Trial Starts in NYC Civil Liberties Minute: Expelled for your religion? American Indian Women Pressured To Induce Labor Jail Policy Banning Books and Magazines Is Unconstitutional Civil Liberties Minute: Expelled for your religion?  May a high school throw a student out of class-expel her from the school-for wearing a religious symbol? >> Listen to the podcast. back to top American Indian Women Pressured To Induce Labor The ACLU filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit last week against Indian Health Services (IHS) seeking information about reports that pregnant women on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation are being pressured into taking medication to induce labor against their wishes. There is no obstetric care available on the reservation. Although plans to build such a facility have been pending since 2002, construction has not moved beyond its earliest stages. Since most women on the reservation depend on IHS for healthcare, they are forced to travel 90 miles to St. Mary's Healthcare Center in Pierre for labor and delivery—the nearest facility with an IHS contract. Many women are simply told that they must have their labor induced on a particular day without being given any information about the risks and benefits of induction, any discussion of their options or any choice in the matter. Many of the women undergo the forced inductions because they are dependent on IHS for their healthcare and feel they have no option but to comply, creating an inherently coercive situation. "A woman living on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation has the same rights as any other woman to make medical decisions during pregnancy," said Alexa Kolbi-Molinas, staff attorney with the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project. "No woman should be compelled to undergo induced labor against her will." >> Learn more. back to top  Jail Policy Banning Books and Magazines Is Unconstitutional This week, the ACLU filed a lawsuit challenging an unconstitutional policy at the Berkeley County Detention Center in Moncks Corner, SC barring all books, magazines and newspapers—except for the Bible—from being sent to prisoners. Filed on behalf of Prison Legal News, a monthly journal on prison law distributed across the nation to prisoners, attorneys, judges, law libraries and other subscribers, the lawsuit charges that jail officials violated the rights of Prison Legal News’ First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution by refusing to deliver copies of the journal and other magazines and books to detainees. The ACLU lawsuit charges that, since 2008, copies of Prison Legal News and other books sent to detainees at Berkeley County have been returned to sender, or simply discarded. The books rejected by the jail's officials include "Protecting Your Health and Safety," which is designed to help prisoners not represented by an attorney and explains the legal rights inmates have regarding health and safety including the right to medical care and to be free from inhumane treatment. There is no library at the Berkeley County Detention Center, meaning that some prisoners who are incarcerated for extended periods of time have been deprived of all access to magazines, newspapers and books—other than the Bible—for months or even years on end. There is also no process through which the unconstitutional policy can be challenged. "This is nothing less than unjustified censorship," said David Shapiro, staff attorney with the ACLU National Prison Project. "There is no legitimate justification for denying detainees access to periodicals and, in the process, shutting them off from the outside world in draconian ways." >> Learn more about this lawsuit. back to top  Do you know somebody who would be interested in getting news about the ACLU and what we're doing to protect civil liberties? Help us spread the word about ACLU Online — forward this newsletter to a friend. | October 9, 2010 VICTORY! Judge Orders Air Force to Reinstate Maj. Margaret Witt
Great news! U.S. District Court Judge Ronald B. Leighton ordered the Air Force to reinstate ACLU client and flight nurse Major Margaret Witt, who was discharged from the Air Force in 2006 under the military's unconstitutional "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) policy. Judge Leighton found, after a six-day trial, that Maj. Witt's sexual orientation did not negatively impact unit cohesion or morale. In fact, as several members of Maj. Witt's former unit testified at trial, her discharge was "devastating" and "negatively impacted the unit." "I want to serve my country," Maj. Witt said. "I have loved being in the military—my fellow airmen have been my family. I am proud of my career and want to continue doing my job. Wounded people never asked me about my sexual orientation. They were just glad to see me there." A decision by federal court Judge Virginia A. Phillips found that DADT had a "direct and deleterious effect" on the armed services. The combination of this and the decision in Maj. Witt's case demonstrates, yet again, the counterproductive and discriminatory nature of the DADT policy. While the Senate failed to take up the Defense Authorization Act and DADT repeal before going on recess, the issue will be back in a matter of weeks, and it is critical to keep the pressure on. >> Take action: Urge Congress to act this year to finally end DADT once and for all. back to top If You Care about Private Online Communications, You Should Read ThisAn outrageous proposal by the Obama administration would mandate that all online communications services use technologies that would make it easier for the government to collect private communications and decode encrypted messages that Americans send. This includes communications sent using texting platforms, BlackBerries, social networking sites, and other "peer to peer" communications software such as Skype. There are a number of problems with this proposal. Instead of securing our online communications and protecting our privacy, the government wants to pave the road for more out-of-control government spying. Concern over cyber security is at an all-time high. This proposal will create even more security risks by mandating that our communications have a 'backdoor' for government use—making our online interactions even more vulnerable and easier to collect. It's not only the government that will go through this 'door.' In 2004, hackers took advantage of a similar law in Greece to hack into mobile communications systems and listen to the calls of high government officials—including the Prime Minister. The government has yet to make the case that encryption is actually hindering their investigations. According to the most recent Wiretap Report, law enforcement encountered only a single encrypted call last year, and they were able to learn the contents of that call in spite of the encryption. There is no justification for this move to put our personal online communications within easy reach of the government's prying eyes. >> Take a stand against this proposal. Sign the ACLU's petition to Attorney General Holder: Rein in FBI surveillance power. Giving 'Em Hope: The "It Gets Better Project"
In Greensburg, Indiana, 15-year-old Billy Lucas was found by his mother in the family's barn after he had taken his own life. Asher Brown, of Houston, Texas, died after shooting himself. 13-year-old Seth Walsh of Tehachapi, California, passed away after spending nine days on life support after he hanged himself from a tree in his backyard. The body of 18-year-old Rutgers University freshman Tyler Clementi was pulled from the Hudson River in New York, days after he was allegedly humiliated and outed to other students by his roommate. And 19-year-old college student Raymond Chase hanged himself in his dorm room in Rhode Island. Each of these preventable tragedies speaks to the need for our schools to do a much better job at protecting students who are (or are thought to be) LGBT from harassment and abuse—and teaching all students to treat each other with respect and dignity. But in addition to that, youth like Seth, Asher, Billy, Tyler, and Raymond need to know that they are not alone. They need to know that they will be okay and that people will love them for who they are. In late September, Seattle writer, sex advice columnist, and activist Dan Savage announced he'd started a YouTube channel called the "It Gets Better Project" to reach out to young people like Seth, Asher, and Billy. The idea is simple: videos featuring LGBT adults sharing their personal experiences talk directly to LGBT youth to show them that life usually improves immensely for LGBT people as they get older. The message to these young people is also simple: "It gets better." Staff at ACLU's national offices in New York and Washington, D.C. created videos to spread the message. >> Watch the videos. back to top When Being Poor Is a Crime
A man in Washington State was jailed for two weeks for his legal debts. How much did he owe? $60. In a time when states are laying off school teachers and firefighters, cities and counties are locking up people who can't pay legal fees—at costs that exceed the actual amount owed. The aggressive pursuit of defendants who do not pay legal fees seems like a good idea to cash-strapped states, but when that defendant is poor, it's taxpayers who end up paying. The chances plummet for these people to successfully re-enter society, increasing the likelihood that they'll end up back in prison. Thus, a vicious cycle is born. New reports released by the ACLU and the Brennan Center for Justice document this resurgence of debtors' prisons, despite the fact that the Supreme Court found that imprisoning someone because they are poor violates the 14th Amendment. These debtors' prisons waste resources by attempting to extract payments from defendants who often are homeless, unemployed or simply too poor to pay. A former chief judge in Orleans Parish Criminal District Court once wondered: "[H]ow can you describe a system where the City pays $23 a day to the Sheriff to house someone in the Jail for 30 days to collect $100 as anything other than crazy?" "Crazy" is possibly the only way to describe it. >> Read the report, "In for a Penny: The Rise of Debtors' Prisons." back to top High Profile Terrorism Trial Starts in NYCA major terrorism trial is about to commence in New York City. This week, jury selection began in a federal district court in lower Manhattan in the case against Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a man accused of involvement in the August 1998 bombing of the U.S. embassy in Tanzania. Ghailani is the first Guantánamo detainee to stand trial in U.S. federal court instead of the flawed military commissions. Ghailani was captured in 2004, and while four of his co-conspirators were charged, tried, convicted and sentenced to life without parole in U.S. federal court, Ghailani caught the eye of the CIA, which held him for two years and subjected him to its "enhanced interrogation techniques" at a secret CIA prison in Poland. He was then sent to Guantánamo in 2006 and was arraigned in the military commissions in 2008. But then the case was kicked out of the military commissions and sent to federal criminal court—a move President Obama announced himself in his national security speech last May. The government considers Ghailani a "high-value detainee." Groups like Liz Cheney's Keep America Safe have claimed that trying "high-value detainees" like Ghailani in federal court will invite more terrorist attacks. But did NYC police commissioner Ray Kelly get that memo? Security at the downtown Manhattan courthouse where Ghailani's trial will take place has been pretty much business as usual—a far cry from the $200 million New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said would be needed to try the 9/11 defendants there. So, high-profile terrorism detainee? Check. High-profile trial in New York? Check. End of the world? Not so much. >> Take action: Tell President Obama to try the 9/11 suspects in federal criminal court. back to top Join us on...
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