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Home » E-newsletter » Archives » August 15, 2003
August 15, 2003 ACLU of Illinois E-News 8.15.03 ACLU of Illinois Sues for Data on Racial Profiling! Lawyers for the ACLU of Illinois went to federal court this week to compel the Bush Administration to release data gathered by the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security that will help the public assess whether federal law enforcement agencies engage in racial profiling. These federal agencies - including the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the Customs Bureau - began collecting the data following the issuing of a 1999 Presidential Order by then President Bill Clinton. You can read more about the lawsuit by opening a PDF file with the press release here. ACLU of Illinois Speaks Out on Religious Discrimination in Government Funded Programs On Sunday, August 10, the Peoria Journal Star ran a lengthy opinion piece, signed by Executive Director Colleen Connell and Peoria Chapter member Jim Sullivan, exposing under-publicized problems with the Bush Administration's so-called "faith based initiative." The piece was prompted by news reports that Representative Ray LaHood of Peoria will host a conference on August 15 on how local religious groups can access public funds. The Connell/Sullivan piece makes clear that "there are no obstacles to religiously affiliated agencies receiving government funding to provide social services." They go further, noting that President Bush's 2002 executive order on the subject actually allows a group using federal funds to discriminate based on religion in employment and the provision of services. You can read the entire article here. Civil Liberties Priorities Become Law in Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich has signed two more pieces of legislation that were priorities for the ACLU of Illinois in the recently concluded spring session of the General Assembly. The Governor signed House Bill 2330, the Illinois Civil Rights Act of 2003. The new law will help open up the courthouse doors in Illinois for people whose civil rights have been violated and abused. Under the law, any government policy that disparately impacts a minority community must be reasonably justified or face a court challenge. The Governor also has signed House Bill 469 allowing state employees to enjoy the same protections as employees of the federal, local and municipal governments, as well as employees in the private sector, to challenge discrimination under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act and other important federal protections. Recent Supreme Court decisions had limited the ability of state employees to bring challenges under these important federal statutes. Devotion to Accuracy In the July 15th edition of the E-Newsletter, we incorrectly identified the bill numbers on two important pieces of legislation recently signed into law by Governor Blagojevich. The measure enacted that requiring police to videotape the custodial interrogations of persons in homicide cases was House Bill 223. The measure requiring police to collect data about the race or ethnicity of all persons they target for stops was Senate Bill 30. We regret the error. Annual Report Now Available The ACLU of Illinois 2002-2003 Annual Report is now available. If you want to view a copy, please do so by opening the PDF file here. ACLU of Illinois to Honor Six at BRC It is not too early to think about the annual Bill of Rights Celebration event. The tickets for this event go quickly each year, and the speeches by BRC awardess always are inspiring. If you want to read more about the BRC awardees, their contributions to the cause of civil liberties and get information about the event, you can go here. |
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