News & Commentary

The Washington Post reports U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon, citing the “almost Orwellian technology” used by the NSA, ruled that the government had failed to justify its case for the “indiscriminate” collection and retention of personal information. The ruling addressed government collection of metadata on American's phone calls. This metadata includes the time and length of calls, as well as the numbers dialed. The Judge called the government programs a violation of privacy granted under the Fourth Amendment and granted an injunction against further NSA collection but he simultaneously stayed his order to allow for a government appeal.  Seeking comments from a number of legal authorities, the Post reported reaction from the ACLU, “which has also sued the government over the program’s constitutionality:”

The Chicago Tribune reports Cook County Clerk David Orr may immediately begin to issue marriage licenses to same-sex partners combating life-threatening diseases. Couples who present the clerk’s office with physician-certified verification of their illness will not have to wait for the new marriage equality law to go into effect on June 1 of next year. The judge’s order came in response to a class action suit brought by a coalition of attorneys that included the ACLU. The Tribune writes:

By: Reynolds Wintersmith

The Springfield Mass Transit District (SMTD) has issued a ban on wearing "sagging pants" on its buses, local station WICS-TV reports. The ACLU of Illinois has been alerted to similar instances in the past, when a community has attempted to ban pants that hang below the waistline. The First Amendment protects individuals' freedom of expression, and as we have sometimes seen, the attempts to ban sagging pants also have racial profiling implications.

According to The Daily Beast, closing Guantanamo may finally become a reality. Congressional momentum, fed by operating-cost realities, began to rally with Senate hearings in late July, chaired by a frustrated Senator Richard Durbin (D-Il).  Since then, tangible legislative action has been spurred by a focused executive branch push, coordinated by President Obama himself. The ACLU, which has persistently called on Congress and the Administration to close the prison, applauds the momentum:

The Washington Post reports an internet petition, demanding modernization of electronic privacy laws, has generated enough signatures to require a response from the Administration. Generated by a coalition, including the ACLU, the petition was built as a public out-cry against the growing evidence of unfettered, and unregulated, government-agency spying on everyday internet use by Americans. The petition calls for updating the Electronic Communication Privacy Act (ECPA).

Think Progress reports the release of yet another study exposing the government’s negligently supervised immigrant detention program. “Migrant Mistreatment While in U.S. Custody” a joint investigative study by Immigration Policy Center, the University of Arizona, and George Washington University, determined that unsupervised border patrol agents consistently mistreated and even abused immigrants at detention centers. For years the ACLU has advocated that the immigrant lock-up system was not only a waste of tax payers’ money but fostered inhumane treatment of inmates;  that pressure, as the article notes, has led to some minor improvements:

As we near the end of 2013, we have much to celebrate – incredible progress in fights to protect civil liberties in Illinois this year. Just this year, the ACLU of Illinois:

The Washington Post reports that what you read and the internet news sites that attract your attention create a bounty of profile material ripe for spying abuse which could be easily thwarted. ACLU principal technologist and a senior policy analyst Christopher Soghoian maintains that media outlets could protect their readers’ privacy by simply activating SSL encryption.