News & Commentary

The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois held its 3rd Annual Legislator Awards on Thursday, October 12th and honored several Illinois lawmakers for their successful advocacy in 2017.

The Nominating Committee of the ACLU of Illinois Board of Directors has submitted its slate of nominees for the election to be held in November.

Below are the remarks from Lorie Chaiten, Director, Women's and Reproductive Rights Project from the HB 40 bill signing ceremony:

I always wanted to be a police officer. Helping people has been my main goal in life, and it’s why I wanted to become an officer. I was never prouder than the day I graduated from the police academy.I’ve worked as a patrol officer for the same department for 14 years, and the depa

Something happened yesterday. Something that may seem like a fairy tale in the current political moment. A Republican governor signed a bill to lift bans on insurance coverage for abortion for low-income women enrolled in Medicaid. The bill would also protect the right to abortion in Illinois — even if the unthinkable happens and Roe v. Wade is overturned.

Playwright Rebecca Gilman talks about combining her love for theater & her love for the ACLU in her new production "Use It Or Lose It: Ten Short Plays About Your Rights."

This past summer, I initiated a project exploring the personal stories of Chicago-area DACA recipients as part of my internship with the ACLU of Illinois’ communications department.  The aim of the project was to go beyond the complicated arguments regarding DACA’s constitutionality (though, it is). I wanted to emphasize that this program is about the livelihood, the aspirations, and the future of millions of immigrants. I hoped that by allowing recipients talk about the significance of DACA, we could give more agency to their stories, hopes and dreams.My experience launching this project was humbling and a remarkable learning experience. Every step

 

To honor DACA’s fifth anniversary, the ACLU of Illinois has launched a storytelling project featuring DACA recipients. We hope that by telling these stories, we give agency to more people to tell their own story and challenge the harmful rhetoric coming from the Trump Administration. Here is our last story of this series:ESTEFANIAWhen I was little, I remember going with my parents to the doctor