Don't miss this edition of the ACLU of Illinois' quarterly newsletter, the Illinois Brief. One of the benefits of membership, the Illinois Brief provides an in-depth look at ongoing litigation, the latest developments on our legislative agenda and opportunities to take action.

While normally we mail a print copy of the Illinois Brief to every current member, in an effort to hold down costs the Winter 2010 edition of the Illinois Brief is available only online.

Highlights from the Winter 2010 edition:

• Extended coverage of the ACLU of Illinois' work to protect vulnerable young women by challenging Illinois' Parental Notice of Abortion Law:
  

  “Parental notification laws pose a real threat to the small percentage of young women who feel they cannot involve a parent in their decision to terminate their unintended pregnancy,” said Lorie Chaiten, Director of the Reproductive Rights Project at the ACLU of Illinois.

• An overview of current issues in the ACLU's legislative agenda from Mary Dixon, our legislative director, focusing on the Civil Union bill, Illinois' Accuracy in Government Reporting Act and an update to the Illinois Human Rights Act to protect victims of discriminatory conduct in the classroom.




• A letter from Executive Director Colleen Connell, proposing action to combat the dysfunction that characterizes much of our political life. She challenges us to:
  

  resist cynicism and instead embrace the concept that ours is a government of, by and for the people. Most importantly, “we the people” must demand and assume a more active role in the governing process.

You can also read updates on several important ACLU legal cases, learn about opportunities to take action on ACLU issues and read more about the work your membership goes to support. Download the Illinois Brief now.

By Ellyn Fortino, Communications Intern

A federal investigation, prompted by reports from the Chicago Tribune and complaints from a Chicago alderman, is underway at the North Side nursing home, Somerset Place.

Federal officials declined to comment on the probe or what specifically investigators are targeting at the facility. But state Department of Public Health spokeswoman Melaney Arnold said federal authorities asked state officials to postpone their own enforcement actions against Somerset until the federal probe is complete.

"The facility has been a concern to the state and the feds," Arnold said.
From April 2008 to July 2009, records show, Chicago police investigated 15 alleged assaults or batteries inside Somerset, as well as five reported cases of criminal sexual assault and another five reports of narcotics possession. State public health authorities last year cited the home for failing to monitor and treat mentally ill patients, and state and federal agencies have levied more than $80,000 in fines for alleged safety infractions, Arnold has said.
The ACLU of Illinois continues to work extensively to protect the rights of patients at Somerset Place.

"Somerset, with about 400 beds, is one of the largest of the institutions housing our clients in the Williams case," said ACLU of Illinois Assistant Legal Director and Director of the Institutionalized Persons and Children Project, Ben Wolf. "We're trying in that litigation to give them the opportunity to live in smaller community settings and move out of large nursing homes like Somerset that often provide inadequate care and services."

Williams v. Quinn, et al: The ACLU of Illinois filed suit on behalf of the mentally ill Illinois residents who are currently living in large-scale institutional housing in conditions that range from cold and institutional to filthy and dangerous. Our suit argues that these residents could be better served for the same or less expense in small, community-based settings.

Two updates on some important civil liberties issues:

• The American Law Institute, a group which created much of the intellectual framework for the death penalty as used in the United States has abandonded the cause:
  

  ...the institute voted in October to disavow the structure it had created "in light of the current intractable institutional and structural obstacles to ensuring a minimally adequate system for administering capital punishment."
  
  That last sentence contains some pretty dense lawyer talk, but it can be untangled. What the institute was saying is that the capital justice system in the United States is irretrievably broken.

  Hat tip Feministe




• FWD/Forward provides an important perspective on the international moves towards the use of full-body scanners (aka electronic strip-search) in airports. While the civil liberties concerns for able-bodied individuals are in the media forefront, lauredhel explores the implications for individuals with various disabilities.
  
  Hat Tip Shapely Prose.