ACLU MAY DEBRIEF Supreme Court Allows Enforcement of Idaho's Ban on Gender-Affirming Care, Special Edition of ACLU's At Liberty Podcast: Emergency Abortion Care at SCOTUS,Fighting Voter Suppression in Alabama, Challenging California's Death Penalty, Fourth Circuit Rejects West Virginia Law Barring Transgender Girls From Student Athletics, Fighting for Asylum Seekers' Language Access, Suing to Ensure People in Crisis Receive the Care They Need and Deserve, At Liberty Podcast: The Supreme Court Will Decide if Homelessness Can Be Punished, Holding the CIA Accountable, Tell Congress: Protect Families Seeking Asylum! 11MAI24

 

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Thanks to our nationwide network of attorneys and advocates, and generous supporters like you, the ACLU is well positioned to take on so many consequential fights leading up to Election Day, and beyond. We invite you to read more about them in this month's Debrief.

Supreme Court Allows Enforcement of Idaho's Ban on Gender-Affirming Care The ACLU and ACLU of Idaho sued on behalf of two families to overturn the state's ban on gender affirming medical care for transgender youth, which violates the constitutional rights of transgender youth and their parents. The Supreme Court's ruling allowing for enforcement of this ban is awful, but the ACLU is more determined than ever to defeat this law in the district court. Learn more.

FROM THE FRONT LINES

Special Edition of ACLU's At Liberty Podcast: Emergency Abortion Care at SCOTUS The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Idaho v. United States – considering the future of emergency abortion care in states where abortion is banned. At Liberty host Kendall Ciesemier speaks with Dr. Robyn Powell, an associate professor at the University of Oklahoma College of Law, about the case and what's at stake for those in need of emergency abortion care. Tune in. Fighting Voter Suppression in Alabama Alabama recently passed Senate Bill 1 (S.B. 1), one of the most restrictive anti-voting bills ever passed. The legislation would criminalize most forms of helping voters apply for absentee ballots – with felony penalties up to 20 years in prison – and is yet another attempt to restrict Black voters and other marginalized communities. The ACLU joined a coalition of civil rights, voting rights, and disability rights organizations suing to block this blatant voter suppression. At the end of March, the Texas Second Court of Appeals reversed Crystal Mason's conviction, resulting in an acquittal. Read more. Challenging California's Death Penalty The ACLU Capital Punishment Project, the ACLU of Northern California, and partners filed a petition in the Supreme Court of California challenging the state's death penalty statute as racially discriminatory and unconstitutional under the equal protection guarantees of the California Constitution. This is the first time a petition of this nature has been filed with the court. Read more. Fourth Circuit Rejects West Virginia Law Barring Transgender Girls From Student Athletics After West Virginia Governor Jim Justice signed a bill into law barring transgender student-athletes from participating on the school athletic teams most consistent with their gender identity, the ACLU and our partners sued to block the discriminatory law – and won. Read more about the tremendous victory for transgender West Virginians here. Fighting for Asylum Seekers' Language Access In another act of the federal government denying asylum seekers critical language access, applicants seeking asylum are now forced to use an app to obtain their appointment. Beyond well-documented problems with accessibility, appointment shortages, racist facial recognition bugs, and more, this app is also only available in English, Spanish, or Haitian Creole. That's why the ACLU is fighting back. Read more. Suing to Ensure People in Crisis Receive the Care They Need and Deserve The ACLU and coalition partners are suing Washington County and the local 911 dispatch center to stop discrimination against people with mental health disabilities. Nobody should be exposed to injury, arrest, or incarceration when they are in the midst of a psychiatric crisis. Learn more about the case.

TUNE IN

At Liberty Podcast: The Supreme Court Will Decide if Homelessness Can Be Punished Last month, the Supreme Court heard City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson, the most significant court case about the rights of people experiencing homelessness in decades. At its core, Grants Pass will decide whether cities are allowed to punish people for things like sleeping outside – even when there are no safe shelter options. Jennifer Friedenbach, the executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness, San Francisco, joined us to talk about the Supreme Court case and the broader systemic issue of housing instability. Tune In.

WHAT'S NEXT

Holding the CIA Accountable For decades, the CIA has used a nonresponse known as a "Glomar" – i.e., “we can neither confirm nor deny” – to evade transparency and accountability. They've used Glomar to obstruct attempts to obtain records that would publicly shine a light on the agency's failures and abuse, including the agency's torture program. In an ACLU case involving one such torture program at Guantanamo Bay, we have brought an appeal in federal court to help break the CIA's evasion of transparency and accountability. Read more about the case.

TAKE ACTION

Tell Congress: Protect Families Seeking Asylum! Right now, our lawmakers are considering writing extreme anti-immigrant policies favored by Donald Trump into permanent law. We must tell our members of Congress that this is not who we are: Send a message today and let them know that sacrificing the rights and safety of families and children seeking asylum for short-term political points is unacceptable.