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This year, "Hair Love," a story about a black girl and her dad navigating natural hairstyles, won the Oscar for animated short and three beauty pageant winners wore natural hairstyles under their crowns. But as more and more people step out into the world celebrating their natural hair, they are also being met with school and workplace dress codes that punish them under the auspice of "professionalism." Hair discrimination is a form of racial discrimination, but judges have been hesitant to say so because unlike skin color, people can change their hairstyles. But should they have to? On this episode, we speak with Mya and Deanna Cook, two students who faced and fought hair discrimination in their school and Ria Tabacco Mar, director of the ACLU's Women's Rights Project. Listen here → |
By ACLU Staff
February 19, 2020
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| TRANS PEOPLE (STILL) BELONG |
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On Wednesday, yet another federal appeals court ruled that allowing a transgender boy to use the boys' restrooms and locker rooms does not violate the rights of cisgender students or parents. The decision is a resounding victory for trans youth and all who care about gender justice in schools and beyond. As exciting as this victory is, it comes at a moment when trans youth are under renewed attack. After failing in their attempts to push trans people out by focusing on restrooms and locker rooms, our opponents have shifted gears to target trans people by trying to keep us from getting the healthcare many of us need, and keeping us out of sports. The ACLU is making sure that trans youth never have to fight alone. Read more → |
By Gabriel Arkles
February 19, 2020
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| AT LAST, HIS DAY IN COURT |
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Adham Hassoun, a long-time U.S. resident and a father of three, will finally have his day in court. A federal judge has rejected the government's sweeping claim that it can, on its own say-so, indefinitely imprison him without charge and without a fair trial. Adham completed his criminal sentence and was set to be released from prison almost three years ago. But the government – claiming unprecedented and unconstitutional powers – is seeking to keep him locked up indefinitely, perhaps for the rest of his life, based on executive fiat. As we argued to the court, the government cannot use the Patriot Act to circumvent Adham's constitutional rights. If the government has reason to detain Adham, it must charge him with a crime or at least present its evidence before a court and give Adham an opportunity to mount a defense – as the Constitution demands. Read more → |
By Jonathan Hafetz
February 20, 2020
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Many players have a hand in our mass incarceration crisis, but there's one actor with almost unlimited power to determine who ends up locked up and who goes free – the power to charge (or not), to divert people from incarceration (or not), to plea bargain (or not). That person is the prosecutor. Prosecutors not only have the power to ruin lives – they have the power to save them. As we have seen in a handful of places around the country, prosecutors committed to reform can use their discretion to choose liberty over incarceration and rehabilitation over punishment. This is our vision for the future of transformational prosecution. Read more → |
By ACLU Staff
February 18, 2020
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Immigration and Customs Enforcement is notorious for committing rampant unconstitutional and inhumane abuses in its detention system – something advocates, communities, and watchdog investigations have condemned for years. Public oversight of ICE detention is about to become even harder, further eroding accountability and endangering the health and safety of more than 50,000 people in custody every day. That's because the National Archives and Records Administration recently gave a green light to ICE to destroy numerous types of records – including detention and civil rights complaint records from the first year of the Trump administration. The ACLU filed a Freedom of Information Act request this week to obtain records at serious risk of destruction so that they may be preserved on behalf of the public. Read more → |
By Kate Oh and Eunice Cho
February 18, 2020
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| HIGH STAKES AT THE HIGH COURT |
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On March 2nd, we will be in front of the U.S. Supreme Court to defend the right to a day in court for asylum seekers and other vulnerable noncitizens. The case before the court considers whether immigrants are entitled to seek judicial review of their expedited removal orders in federal court. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with our argument that the Constitution guarantees that individuals deprived of their liberty have their day in federal court. That decision was a significant step towards ensuring that vulnerable asylum seekers and others will get a fair shot to prove their claims for protection, which are guaranteed by our immigration laws and the U.S. Constitution. The administration, however, subsequently challenged the ruling. The stakes are high: The administration's extreme arguments threaten to wipe out rights for millions of people, who have built their lives in the United States for decades. Read more → |
By Nicky Vogt
February 20, 2020
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| LOCAL SHERIFFS, NATIONAL MANDATE |
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At a recent national event, Attorney General William Barr encouraged sheriffs to join the Trump administration as it launches a "significant escalation" in the federal government's efforts to retaliate against cities and states with policies designed to protect immigrant communities. Making the speech at a convening of county sheriffs was no accident: Barr's speech is just the latest way the Trump administration has ratcheted up the pressure on sheriffs to collaborate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). While Barr wants to pressure sheriffs to join his administration's detention and deportation machine, people can, and should, demand better from their local elected sheriff. Read more → |
By Brian Tashman and Naureen Shah
February 13, 2020
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