Tag Archives: ACLU

Amazon Facial Software Flags Never-Arrested Politicians

Courthouse News reports: When the American Civil Liberties Union used facial recognition software to cross-check 120 California legislators against a database of 25,000 publicly available mug shots, the algorithm falsely identified 26 of the lawmakers as someone who’s been arrested. One such lawmaker was Assemblyman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, was matched with a mug shot by Amazon’s facial recognition software …

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Trans Teen Wins Years-Long “Bathroom” Court Battle

Just in from the ACLU: The U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Virginia has ruled in favor of ACLU client Gavin Grimm, in his request for summary judgement in a sex discrimination lawsuit against the Gloucester County School Board. Statement from Gavin Grimm: “It is such a relief to achieve this closure and vindication from the court after …

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ACLU Seeks Sanctions For Lies About Census Question

Talking Points Memo reports: The ACLU has won its legal war with the Trump administration over a census citizenship question, but it’s not backing down from its demand that certain administration officials be sanctioned for allegedly false testimony in the case. In a court filing Tuesday evening, the ACLU alleged that top Trump administration officials in the Justice Department and …

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New York And ACLU Sue To Stop Census Question

The New York Daily News reports: New York Attorney General Letitia James joined with the ACLU on Friday night in filing a motion in the Southern District of New York to block the Trump administration from delaying the printing of the 2020 census questionnaire or changing it to include a citizenship question. In its motion, James and the civil liberties …

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ACLU Sues Trump Administration Over HHS Rule That Allows Health Care Providers To Refuse LGBT Patients

Via press release from the ACLU: The National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association (NFPRHA), Public Health Solutions (PHS), The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) filed a lawsuit today challenging the Trump administration’s rule that allows health care personnel to deny patients information and treatment based on personal religious or moral beliefs. …

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ACLU Demands Probe After Armed Extremist Militia “Arrests” Migrants In Coordination With Border Patrol

The Guardian reports: Armed right wing militia members detained a large group of migrants at the US-Mexico border and coordinated with US border patrol agents to have them arrested, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, in a series of actions the civil liberties organization called a “kidnapping” and a flagrant violation of the law. Several videos taken at the …

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ACLU Reaches Landmark Settlement Over Facebook’s Practice Of Allowing Advertisers To Exclude Minorities

Via press release: The ACLU, along with our client Communications Workers of America, and other civil rights groups, announced a historic settlement agreement with Facebook that will result in major changes to Facebook’s advertising platform. Advertisers will no longer be able to exclude users from learning about opportunities for housing, employment, or credit based on gender, age, or other protected …

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UNITED NATIONS: Human Rights Groups Say Trump Administration Threatens Officials, Ignores Complaints

The Guardian reports: Protests have poured in from organisations objecting to the Trump administration’s virtual boycott of established systems designed to protect human rights, after the US withdrew from the United Nations human rights council last year. Washington is accused of rebuffing official complaints from monitors, undermining human rights bodies and threatening officials with prosecution should they set foot on …

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ACLU To Sue Trump Over Fake “Emergency” Declaration

The Associated Press reports: The American Civil Liberties Union says it will file a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump’s emergency declaration to fund a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border. The Friday announcement came hours after Trump signed the declaration and said he expected legal challenges. The civil rights group will argue that Trump’s use of emergency powers is unprecedented and …

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Civil Rights Groups Sue Trump Over Asylum Restrictions

Bloomberg reports: The American Civil Liberties Union is challenging the Trump Administration’s latest attempt to seal the U.S. southern border by stopping undocumented migrants from seeking asylum after they’ve already entered the country. The advocacy group is seeking a court order temporarily preventing the government from restricting asylum applications to those made at official ports of entry. The restrictions will …

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ACLU Sues Kansas County For Voter Suppression After Elections Official Moves Polling Place With “LOL” Email

Courthouse News reports: The American Civil Liberties Union sued a Kansas county election official in federal court Friday, alleging that her moving of Dodge City’s only polling location to a site half a mile outside of the city’s southern border creates a burden on the city’s majority Hispanic population. Dodge City, located in southwest Kansas about 160 miles west of …

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ACLU Vows To Sue Over Trump’s Anti-Transgender Plan

Via press release: The Trump administration is reportedly working to dramatically roll-back protections for transgender students and narrow the definitions of sex and gender that courts have increasingly used to provide protections for LGBTQ people. This is an attack on the very lives and existence of transgender people. It is painful, it is hateful, and it will not go unchallenged. …

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Trump Seeks To Restrict Protests Near White House

Posted last night to the ACLU’s blog: President Trump has a record of attacking the rights of protesters, from suggesting that protest be illegal to praising dictators who crush any kind of dissent. Now, the Trump administration proposes to dramatically limit the right to demonstrate near the White House and on the National Mall, including in ways that would violate …

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DOJ Filing: Have The ACLU Reunite Those Families

The New York Daily News reports: The Trump administration is arguing in court that the American Civil Liberties Union is in a better position to locate deported parents forcibly separated from their children at the southern border after entering the U.S. The Department of Justice claimed in a court filing Thursday that the ACLU, which filed a class-action lawsuit against …

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ACLU Sues Trump And ICE Over Migrant Conditions

The Hill reports: The American Civil Liberties Union and two other groups are alleging in a lawsuit that illegal immigrants being held in a California federal prison are being denied their constitutional rights. The ACLU filed the lawsuit against the Trump administration alongside civil rights groups the Prison Law Office and Civil Rights Education and Enforcement Center, arguing that the …

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DOJ Loses Bid To Extend Reunification Deadline, Must Give List Of 101 Migrant Children To ACLU By Today

The Associated Press reports: A judge on late Friday refused to grant the Trump administration a blanket extension of the deadline to reunite children separated from their parents at the border, instead acknowledging that more time may be justified only in specific cases. The administration said it needed more time to reunite 101 children under 5 years old to ensure …

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ACLU Sues Over 2020 Census Citizenship Question

The Associated Press reports: Civil rights lawyers sued the U.S. Commerce Department on Wednesday to try to stop plans to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. The Manhattan federal court lawsuit on behalf of immigrants’ rights groups says racial animus was behind a recent announcement that the census will include a citizenship question for the first time since …

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ACLU: SCOTUS Ruling Leaves LGBT Protections Intact

Via press release from the ACLU: The Supreme Court today reaffirmed the core principle that businesses open to the public must be open to all in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. The court did not accept arguments that would have turned back the clock on equality by making our basic civil rights protections unenforceable, but reversed this case …

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Federal Court Affirms Rights Of Transgender Students

Via press release from the ACLU: A federal court today denied the Gloucester County School Board’s motion to dismiss a case brought by former student Gavin Grimm, holding that Title IX and the Constitution protect transgender students from being excluded from the common restrooms that align with their gender identity. The court directed the parties to schedule a settlement conference …

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MARYLAND: GOP Gov Settles Lawsuit With ACLU, Must Stop Deleting/Blocking His Critics On Social Media

Ars Technica reports: Maryland Governor Larry Hogan allegedly had a habit of blocking Facebook users and deleting comments when people criticized him, but a lawsuit has forced him to adopt a more open social media policy. Four Maryland residents sued the Republican governor in a US District Court in August 2017, with help from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) …

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