News & Commentary

This op-ed originally appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times.

Testimony of Carolyn Wald, Staff Attorney, LGBTQ & HIV Rights Project, ACLU of Illinois, Before the Cook County Board of Commissioners

In response to a recent Chicago Tribune editorial “Gov. Pritzker, DCFS' revolving door puts kids at risk," ACLU of Illinois Legal Director Ben Wolf wrote the below letter to the editor (published here):

Our client Sarah Spriesch – a paramedic with the Chicago Fire Department (CFD) - was featured in a new report from the Center for WorkLife Law detailing discrimination against breastfeeding workers across the country. Sarah’s harrowing experience with pregnancy discrimination and her bravery in stepping forward led to a settlement and new policies governing how CFD treats pregnant employees and mothers who need to express breastmilk at work.

Across the country, survivors of domestic violence can face eviction as a result of laws in their local communities that punish them for crimes committed against them and/or for needing police assistance. The ACLU’s National Office recently settled a lawsuit against a town in Missouri on behalf of one of these survivors who was kicked out of her home – and banished from her city for six months – because she called the police to get protection against an abusive ex-boyfriend. 

For years, law enforcement agencies have extracted millions of dollars in cash, vehicles, and other property from Illinois residents through the little-understood practice of civil asset forfeiture. Civil asset forfeiture laws allow the government to permanently take property away from someone on the basis that the property is associated with a crime—even though the person may never have been convicted or even arrested for any offense.

Testimony of Heidi Dalenberg (B.H. v. Walker Class Counsel and Partner, Riley, Safer Holmes & Cancilla) Before the Illinois Senate House Human Services Committee

Every day, we learn about new data breaches caused by inadequate security, faulty and exploitable systems, or intentional attempts to obtain sensitive data by malicious actors or hackers. Whether a case of negligence or malfeasance, there is one constant in these stories: sensitive information, often personal information, gets compromised. And when that information falls into the wrong hands or is misused, it can have profoundly damaging effects – especially on our young people.Our laws give companies broad discretion to collect, use, and sh

Anyone who regularly drives a car in Chicago knows that it’s easy to get a ticket. The City issues millions of vehicle-related tickets every year. The majority are for non-moving violations totally unrelated to unsafe driving. This is a big money maker for Chicago, which collects hundreds of millions of dollars every year (7% of the City’s entire operating budget) from parking tickets.