This month in civil liberties: Protecting the Indian Child Welfare Act at the State Level, Showing Up for Trans Students in Virginia, AMP v. Myriad: The Fight To Take Back Our Genes, LGBTQ Lawmakers Will Not Be Silenced, The Historic New Law Protecting Pregnant Workers, Advocates Call for Reparations Within Our Lifetime, Police Shouldn't Have Easy Access to Your DNA1JUL23

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SUPREME COURT VICTORY

Protecting the Indian Child Welfare Act at the State Level The Supreme Court issued a landmark victory for tribal sovereignty by rejecting all the constitutional challenges to the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) in Brackeen v. Haaland, requiring state courts to make active efforts to protect Native children and keep Native families together. Now that the Supreme Court has reaffirmed ICWA, it is time for states to take action and pass their own state laws building on the protections in the federal law. Read more

TRANS JUSTICE

Showing Up for Trans Students in Virginia State legislatures and school boards across the country are advancing policies that attack the rights of trans students – trying to prevent them from participating in school activities like sports, censoring in-school discussions of LGBTQ people and issues, and preventing trans students from having an inclusive and safe learning environment. To get a deeper look at the issue, we spoke with three advocates in Hanover County, Virginia, about their experience working alongside the ACLU to fight back against a discriminatory school board policy. Read more

OWNING OUR GENES

AMP v. Myriad: The Fight To Take Back Our Genes Should companies be able to patent human genes? For decades, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office said yes. The ACLU believes this is wrong: No private entity should be able to control something as essential to humanity as our genes. In 2009, we filed a lawsuit that ended up in the Supreme Court, where the justices unanimously decided to strike down two gene patents. Today, we're revisiting this landmark case amid renewed calls for legalizing gene patenting in Congress. Read more

AT LIBERTY PODCAST

LGBTQ Lawmakers Will Not Be Silenced We've seen a disturbing trend of legislative bodies silencing dissent, especially against Black and LGBTQ lawmakers. In March, Rep. Mauree Turner – the first non-binary and Muslim representative in Oklahoma – was censured for offering a protester the use of an office in the aftermath of an arrest. And then in May, Rep. Zooey Zephyr – the first transgender representative in Montana – was censured for her vocal opposition to a bill banning gender-affirming care for minors. We spoke to these two leaders to discuss anti-democratic efforts to silence them. Listen now  |  More episodes

MAKING HISTORY

The Historic New Law Protecting Pregnant Workers After more than a decade of advocacy on Capitol Hill, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), signed by President Biden in December 2022, went into effect this month. PWFA mandates "reasonable accommodations" for pregnant workers unless providing them would impose an "undue hardship" on their employer. For millions of U.S. workers, the new law promises to assure they no longer will have to choose between their paycheck and a healthy pregnancy. Read more

REPARATIONS NOW

Advocates Call for Reparations Within Our Lifetime The quest for reparations for the descendants of African people enslaved in the United States is now being embraced by faith organizations, sororities and fraternities, professional and social justice groups, and civil and human rights organizations. Leaders across the country – including Rep. Cori Bush and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee in Congress – are making progress toward implementing reparations in our lifetime. Read more

PRIVATE HEALTH DATA

Police Shouldn't Have Easy Access to Your DNA The police shouldn't be able to access your genetic information after you donate blood if they don't have a warrant. That's a clear violation of privacy. And yet, an Arizona police department believes it has the power to obtain DNA profiles from any biological sample in its lawful possession, without court oversight or approval. The ACLU took the state to court to stop this chilling practice. Read more

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