Tag Archives: ACLU

ACLU: Record 84 Anti-LGBTQ Bills Became Law In 2023

ABC News reports: This year, state legislators introduced and passed a record-breaking number of legislative efforts targeting LGBTQ healthcare, access to public accommodations, inclusion in education, and more in the U.S. The American Civil Liberties Union said it recorded at least 508 bills impacting the community in 2023, adding 84 of these bills were passed into law. The rise in …

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Judge: ACLU Can’t Argue Against Trump’s Gag Order

The Messenger reports: The federal judge overseeing the election-subversion case against Donald Trump on Tuesday declined to allow the American Civil Liberties Union to enter a legal brief in the proceedings. The ACLU on Oct. 25 submitted a motion seeking the court’s permission to enter an amicus brief in the case in which it argued that a partial gag order …

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TN City Sued Over Ordinance Blocking Pride Festival

Nashville’s NBC affiliate reports: The American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee (ACLU), among others, is suing the City of Murfreesboro over a new anti-drag ordinance and local policy that’s preventing BoroPride. The ACLU said they’re filing this suit on behalf of the Tennessee Equality Project (TEP), founder and host of the annual BoroPride Festival. The suit alleges that the city …

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LGBTQ Group Banned From Iowa Labor Day Parade

The Associated Press reports: A local LGBTQ pride group was excluded from a southwest Iowa town’s Labor Day parade, apparently by the city’s mayor, who cited safety concerns. Shenandoah Pride planned to have a small group walking with a banner and a drag performer riding in a convertible, with candy, popsicles and stickers to hand out in the parade in …

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AZ Coalition To Push For Abortion Rights Amendment

NBC News reports: A coalition of reproductive and civil rights groups launched an effort Tuesday to advance an amendment that would enshrine abortion rights in the Arizona Constitution, making the swing state the latest battleground in the post-Roe era. The coalition — led by the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona, NARAL Arizona and several …

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ACLU Sues To Block Texas Law Against Drag Shows

The Texas Tribune reports: LGBTQ+ Texans and advocates filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday to block a new state law that criminalizes some drag shows — and other performances — if they occur in front of children. The plaintiffs, represented by the ACLU of Texas, argue that SB 12 violates the First and 14th Amendments because the law “discriminates against the …

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Alabama Sued Over Out-Of-State Abortion Advice Ban

The Birmingham News reports: Two clinic owners in Alabama and the ACLU filed a lawsuit Monday seeking to prevent prosecutions of people who provide information or assistance to women who want to travel out of state to get abortions. Alabama law prohibits doctors and others from performing abortions. The two plaintiffs in the lawsuit, Dr. Yashica Robinson and Robin Marty, …

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ACLU Sues To Block Indiana’s “Don’t Say Gay” Law

NPR reports: The ACLU of Indiana has filed a lawsuit to halt Indiana’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law. Court documents said the act’s lack of definitions about “human sexuality” and “instruction” mean teachers don’t know what they can and can’t teach. If found in violation of HEA 1608, teachers could have their licenses suspended or revoked. The lawsuit was filed …

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VIRAL VIDEO: Kevin Bacon Backs “Drag Defense Fund”

The Independent reports: Kevin Bacon has gone viral with a video he made in protest of the drag bans. On Sunday, he posted a video of him and his wife, the actor Kyra Sedgwick, dancing to Taylor Swift’s song “Karma” and wearing t-shirts with the slogan “Drag is an art and drag is a right”. In the caption to the …

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ACLU Seeks To Overturn AR Ban On Boycotting Israel

The Guardian reports: The American Civil Liberties Union has asked the US supreme court to overturn an Arkansas law requiring companies to pledge not to boycott Israel in order to do business with the state. The ACLU is acting on behalf of the Arkansas Times newspaper and its editor, Alan Leveritt, after a federal appeals court upheld a 2017 Arkansas …

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Lawsuit: IN Abortion Ban Violates Religious Freedom

Courthouse News reports: The ACLU of Indiana filed a class action lawsuit Thursday that challenges Indiana’s new abortion law by claiming the restrictions violate religious freedoms. The lawsuit was filed in Marion County and argues that the law known as SEA 1 violates Hoosiers’ rights under the Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act by denying them access to abortions that would …

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ACLU Sues Florida Over Racist “Stop Woke Act”

Law & Crime reports: The ACLU has filed a lawsuit on behalf of “instructors and students at Florida colleges and universities” who say that the “Stop WOKE Act” signed into law in April by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) amounts to unconstitutional “racially motivated censorship.” The Stop Wrongs Against Our Kids and Employees Act, plaintiffs allege, was supported by the Republican-controlled …

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ACLU Sues Georgia Over Racist Redistricting Law

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports: Gov. Brian Kemp signed new Georgia political maps into law Thursday, finalizing Republican efforts to solidify their majorities in a rapidly changing state as opponents immediately filed three court challenges. The federal lawsuits allege that both congressional and state maps are racially discriminatory because they reduce the voting strength of people of color who tend to …

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KS To Pay ACLU $1.9M Over Kobach’s Racist Voter Law

The Kansas Reflector reports: The Kansas Attorney General’s Office has agreed to pay the American Civil Liberties Union and other attorneys $1.9 million in fees and expenses for a five-year legal battle over an unconstitutional restriction on voter registrations. The high-profile lawsuit was filed 2016 in response to former Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s signature law, which required residents to …

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DOJ Joins ACLU Suits Against Anti-Transgender Laws

Law & Crime reports: The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday filed court documents to support two separate lawsuits filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) which argue that recently passed anti-transgender laws in West Virginia and Arkansas violate the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The filing aligned with a memo put out by the DOJ’s Division …

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Native Americans Group Sues MT Over Voting Rights

The New York Times reports: The American Civil Liberties Union and the Native American Rights Fund filed a lawsuit on Monday challenging two new election laws in Montana as unconstitutional infringements on Native Americans’ right to vote. Montana legislators enacted the laws — H.B. 176, which eliminated same-day voter registration, and H.B. 530, which restricted ballot collection — this spring, …

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Civil Rights Groups Sue GA Over Voter Suppression Law

Via press release from the NAACP: Civil rights groups have filed a new federal lawsuit against Georgia’s sweeping law that makes it much harder for all Georgians to vote, particularly voters of color, new citizens, and religious communities. The American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Georgia, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), and …

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Cohen, ACLU Sue Over Re-Jailing: It’s About His Book

Courthouse News reports: Former Trump fixer Michael Cohen, who was recently sent back to prison after being released to home confinement due to Covid-19, claims in a lawsuit filed Monday that he is being punished for writing — and intending to publish — a book critical of the president. While released to home confinement, the president’s former attorney was photographed …

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ACLU Sues Trump Admin Over Lafayette Park Abuses

Buzzfeed News reports: The DC chapter of the Black Lives Matter movement filed a lawsuit on Thursday accusing federal law enforcement officers of violating the constitutional rights of peaceful demonstrators who were forcibly cleared from a park north of the White House so President Donald Trump could walk through for a photo op earlier this week. The lawsuit accused officers …

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ACLU Sues DeVos Over New Sexual Assault Guidelines

Yahoo News reports: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ revised federal guidelines on how sexual assault allegations should be handled on college and K-12 campuses is the target of a federal lawsuit filed Thursday, claiming the changes would “inflict significant harm” on victims and “dramatically undermine” their civil rights. The suit, filed on behalf of four advocacy groups for sexual assault survivors, …

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