Our friends at the Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty celebrated the end of the death penalty last night - and took a moment to honor ACLU Legislative Director Mary Dixon's work in making it happen. The plaque reads:

On July 1, 2011, Illinois will become the 16th state to repeal the death penalty as a result of the tireless advocacy of MARY DIXON to whom this award is presented with the sincere appreciation from the Board of Directors, Staff and Membership of the Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. April 20, 2011.

Congratulations Mary, on an award well-earned!

It's been a busy few months in Springfield. ACLU members and supporters have been working hard - contacting their legislators in Springfield on dozens of bills - fighting back bad ideas, and pushing forward important legislation to protect civil liberties. Here are a few updates on some of the issues we've been working on together:

• Discriminating Against Couples with Civil Unions (SB 1123)

  Victory! Defeated in Committee 6-7. An amendment to SB 1123 would have permitted religiously-based adoption agencies, acting on behalf of the State of Illinois, to discriminate against couples with a civil union - putting children at risk of being denied the best family placement for them. The ACLU testified and hundreds of ACLU supporters called their senators in opposition to this dangerous bill. Despite this victory, we expect proponents to try again this session. We'll keep you posted.



• Regulating abortion out of existence in Illinois (HB 3156)

  Victory! Defeated in House. After several months of protests, legislative activity, and thousands of calls and emails by ACLU supporters, HB 3156 was defeated in the Illinois House. Drafted by anti-abortion zealots, the bill would have forced health care providers to build the functional equivalent of small hospitals before providing abortion care including non-surgical, medication abortions.

• Transparency in use of surveillance cameras (HB 1948)

  Victory! Passed House 110-0. This ACLU initiative would require police agencies that own or have access to video surveillance cameras to disclose to the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority the number of their cameras, and their privacy regulations, if they have any. It would also require the Authority to post this information on its website. It now moves on to the Senate.

• Putting Politicians in the Doctor's Exam Room (HB 786)

  Victory! Not called for a vote. As part of the effort to shut down abortion care in Illinois, HB 786 would have forced  women seeking abortion to view an ultrasound of their fetus, or attest in writing that they refused. The true intent of the legislation was simply to try to prevent women from having an abortion, even when they have made a fully informed decision that it is in their own best interest to do so. We testified in opposition, and ACLU members and supporters called and emailed against this terrible bill.

We believe the ACLU of Illinois' legislative team is the best in the business - because YOU have their backs. Thanks for taking action when we call!

Updated May 4, 2011: A handful of national journalism organizations have filed an amici curiae brief in support of the ACLU’s appeal. They are the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, American Society of News Editors, Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors, Citizen Media Law Project, National Press Photographers Association, Radio Television Digital News Association and the Society of Professional Journalists.  Download Amicus Brief

Late last week, the ACLU of Illinois filed its appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in the case of The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois v. Anita Alvarez. The case involves our challenge to the application of Illinois’ Eavesdropping Act to ACLU’s police monitoring program, an aspect of which is the open audio recording of publicly made conversations of police who are performing their official duties in a public place and speaking in a voice loud enough to be heard by the unassisted human ear.

For decades, the ACLU has monitored the conduct of police at public demonstrations, rallies and parades. While in the past we have limited our monitoring to still photos and note-taking, with the advent of low cost audio-video equipment and our access to the internet, we decided to expand our monitoring to include such technologies. Unfortunately, there were a number of incidents in Illinois in the recent past in which States Attorneys in various counties, including Cook County, brought prosecutions against individuals who audio recorded police under similar circumstances. The ACLU of Illinois was concerned that we would be prosecuted if we instituted our expanded monitoring program and brought the lawsuit on behalf of the organization. The district court granted the government’s motion to dismiss the case and so we have appealed.

In our brief, we assert that the ACLU has a First Amendment right to gather, record, and disseminate information on the performance of public officials and further that we may do so as part of advancing civil liberties by using the information in petitioning for redress of grievances. Moreover, we note that the “basic tools for gathering, recording, and disseminating expression are changing dramatically in free societies around the world.”

The ACLU brief continues:

Citizens no longer are dependent upon government and private media organizations to obtain information necessary for effective participation in the process of governance. Individuals and the organizations with which they choose to associate are empowered with new technologies to seek out information on their own, to incorporate that information into their own communications, and to quickly and economically disseminate that information to millions of their fellow citizens.

We will keep you posted on developments in the case.

Download a copy of the brief.