News & Commentary

For nearly forty years, Illinois law has allowed doctors, hospitals and other health care providers to withhold medical information from their patients based on religious objections. That changed on January 1, 2017, when a new law went into effect. This law amended the Illinois Health Care Right of Conscience Act (HCRCA) to incorporate critical protections for Illinois patients, ensuring that patients receive the information they need to make appropriate medical decisions.The HCRCA has long shielded health care providers from the legal consequences of

This morning, the ACLU of Illinois joined thousands at the Chicago Women's March. The speakers, including our colleague Khadine Bennett articulated an inspiring vision of a country that lived up to its constitutional values of liberty and equal justice for all in our diverse nation.

On January 1, 2017, the CBS News program 60 Minutes aired a segment titled “Crisis in Chicago” exploring Chicago’s gun violence epidemic. The ACLU of Illinois’ Karen Sheley, Director of the Police Practice Project, sent the following letter pointing out a number of troubling omissions to the piece.

Social media is replete with memes cheering the end of 2016. It has been a tough year in many ways; though, there have been some highlights, including -- according to many of my colleagues -- the Cubs winning the World Series. But the year also has provided a number of highlights in Illinois from a civil liberties perspective. So, as the year winds down to the last few days, here are ten positive civil liberties developments in Illinois during 2016:

There have been many encouraging developments over the past few days. Millions of Americans have vocally reiterated their support for civil liberties and reaffirmed their commitment to the proposition that liberty and equality are not zero-sum games; these human rights belong to all of us! We have been overwhelmed - in a positive way - by the number of people who have called, emailed, and stopped us on the street, asking: how can we help defend the Constitution?

Each year, the nominating committee of the ACLU Board of Directors submits a slate of nominees to join the Board.  This year’s election will be held in November 2016.

“This Board should not be our students’ first bully.”

Last week, our colleague John Knight participated in a press conference with County Clerk David Orr to mark the issuance of the 10,000 marriage license to a gay or lesbian couple in Cook County. Later in the week, the Clerk’s office hit the magic number. 

Learn about what's happening across the most pressing civil liberties issues of our time, and what you can do.