News & Commentary

Local CBS affiliate WCIA in Champaign spoke with Mindy Swank, a woman who was denied information about her options during a troubled pregnancy because of the religious objections of her care-givers. Mindy joined the ACLU of Illinois in testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee in Springfield on Tuesday, about a bill that would fix Illinois law so that patients can no longer be denied information about their health, due to religious objections. The bill - Senate Bill 1564 - passed out of committee with a vote of 7 to 3, and is now on its way to the Senate floor. Watch the segment below.

Colleen Connell, Executive Director of the ACLU of Illinois, testified before the Illinois Senate Appropriations I Committee on Tuesday about how Governor Bruce Rauner's budget will harm some of the most vulnerable Illinoisans. The Governor's budget cuts will eliminate funding for foster youth ages 18-21. This is a critical age range in development, and a period when adolescents need support in preparing for a full and productive adulthood. The ACLU of Illinois represents all Illinois foster youth under a decades-long consent decree designed to improve care and services for children in the custody of the Illinois Department of Children and Family services (DCFS). Progress Illinois quotes from Connell's testimony: 

The State Journal-Register wrote about the ACLU-led effort to fix the Illinois Health Care Right of Conscience Act (HCRCA) - one of the broadest and most radical religious health care refusal laws in the country. Senate Bill 1564 seeks to insure that patients get the information they need to make an informed decision about their healthcare. After a hearing on Tuesday, the bill passed 7-3 out of the Senate Judiciary Committee and is now on its way to the floor of the Illinois Senate. The State Journal-Register spoke with the bill's sponsor, State Senate Daniel Biss:

In These Times spoke with ACLU Senior Staff Attorney Adam Schwartz about legislation the ACLU supports, Senate Bill 1753, which will place modest regulations on the use of Automatic License Plate Readers (ALPRs) by Illinois law enforcement. ALPRs are cameras mounted on police cars which scan and record the license plates, and store the dates, times and GPS locations of every vehicle in its vicinity.

On February 18, Governor Rauner announced his intention to craft a state budget that protects our most “vulnerable” youth. To accomplish this goal, however, he seeks to eliminate all funding and services for a uniquely vulnerable population: foster youth ages 18 to 21. These are critical ages in development, and a period when adolescents need our support in preparing for a full and productive adulthood. The undersigned have long advocated for this vulnerable age group. Ending essential supports for this population is morally unconscionable and fiscally irresponsible. It also would violate Illinois' laws, federal and state court consent decrees, and accepted best practices.

With thousands of children in the care of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, and terrifying documentation of mistreatment and neglect, U.S. District Court Judge Jorge Alonso approved an agreed interim plan presented by the Department and the ACLU of Illinois to help insure the safety and quality of care for wards of the state while longer-term reforms are pursued.

As part of an ongoing legal battle to reform the Illinois Department of Child and Family Services (DCFS), a federal judge ordered an evaluation of agency facilities, the Chicago Tribune reports. Independent monitors will be sent into the most troubled facilities in order to protect the youth that are housed there.

In These Times has an ongoing investigative series called "We Surveil and Protect" that looks at the surveillance activities of the Chicago Police Department (CPD). This article highlights inconsistencies in the data released by the CPD regarding police use of automatic license plate readers (ALPRs). ALPRs are cameras mounted on the dashboards of police cars and are used to scan the license plates of every car in its vicinity, regardless of whether or not the driver is suspected of criminal activity. The data scanned by the ALPR are stored in a database, and can be shared with other law enforcement agencies across state lines. The power of the CPD to surveil citizens is completely unregulated, which is why the ACLU of Illinois has worked with State Senator Daniel Biss to draft a bill - Senate Bill 1753 - that would place modest regulations on the use of ALPRs in Illinois. In These Times reports:

I gave birth to my first child 8 weeks ago and took the bar exam last week. For a time, this grueling combination did not seem possible – and not because of the exhausting nature of both experiences. But thanks to the Illinois Bar Examiners, who granted me and three other nursing mothers the essential accommodations to pump breast milk for our babies during the exam, I now await the test results.I recently moved to Illinois