Lori Chaiten, director of the reproductive rights project for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois answered frequently asked questions regarding parental notification laws in Illinois Feb. 5 on The Huffington Post.

Please note that by playing this clip You Tube and Google will place a long-term cookie on your computer. Please see You Tube's privacy statement on their website and Google's privacy statement on theirs to learn more. To view the ACLU of Illinois' privacy statement, click here.

Sally Burgess, director of the Hope Clinic in Belleville, Ill. included a blog post about why it is imperative to put an end to the threat of parental notification laws in Illinois:

I have seen first hand the harms that forced parental involvement impose on young women. My first clinic position in this field was as a counselor in Colorado before the state adopted parental notification. Every weekend I would counsel young women from the neighboring state of Utah, who had lied to their parents, borrowed money and often unreliable transportation, and driven long hours on strange highways and interstates to get to our clinic. It was not unusual to arrive at the clinic and find the young woman and the person who had traveled with her sleeping in a car.

They certainly didn't have money for lodging and scarcely enough for food. However, they so feared for their safety and their future that they were willing to go to extreme measures to avoid being forced to involve their parents in their unintended pregnancy. These young women feared being beaten or thrown out of their homes if their parents learned they were pregnant.

Granted, there are young women who voluntarily tell their parents; in fact, many young women come to our clinic with their mothers. Unfortunately, however, not all teens live in this reality. For those who would not otherwise tell a parent, these laws can impose irreversible physical and psychological harms. The health and well being of these young women depends of putting an end to these dangerous laws.

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Posted by Ellyn Fortino on February 8, 2010 10:08 AM | Categories:

The updated legal docket for the legal department is up.

Find it under the "Legal" tab, or click here: http://www.aclu-il.org/legal/docket.shtml

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Posted by Ellyn Fortino on February 3, 2010 10:26 AM | Categories:

Today is National Freedom Day, which commemorates when Abraham Lincoln signed the 13th Amendment outlawing slavery.

National Freedom Day follows a month-long campaign to increase awareness about present-day slavery and human trafficking, according to an ACLU National Blog of Rights post.

In January, President Barack Obama issued a proclamation declaring January 2010 as National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month.

The purpose of this proclamation is to recommit the U.S. to ending human trafficking and to educate ourselves about all forms of present-day slavery and the signs and consequences of human trafficking. Human trafficking occurs around the world, including right here in the U.S. Indeed, every year more than 14,000 individuals, predominantly women, are brought into the U.S. annually and exploited for their labor, including in the commercial sex industry.

However, the ACLU said the president's proclamation may not be enough. Read the argument here.

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Posted by Ellyn Fortino on February 1, 2010 10:39 AM | Categories:

Adam Schwartz, an attorney for the ACLU of Illinois, spoke to CBS 2 about Chris Drew, the local street artist featured in the ACLU Insider's last post. Drew faces eavesdropping charges after tape recording his own arrest on Dec. 2 for selling art without a peddler's license in a prohibited selling area. The CBS 2 article said:

Illinois law requires consent of both parties to record a conversation. It's intended to protect privacy.

But ACLU attorney Adam Schwartz argues, the law wasn't meant to protect cops working in public.

"If you and I are standing on a corner, talking to each other, we can't expect that this is a private conversation. Anybody walking by can hear," said Schwartz. "So it makes no sense to prosecute a person in that circumstance for eavesdropping because we didn't expect that conversation to be private."

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Posted by Ellyn Fortino on February 1, 2010 10:03 AM | Categories:

On Dec. 2, Chris Drew, a local street artist, was arrested for selling art without a peddler's license at State and Washington, a prohibited art selling area, which are both misdemeanor offenses, according to an article from Community Media Workshop.

After being held overnight, Drew was also charged with violating Illinois' eavesdropping law from recording his own arrest. According to the Community Media Workshop article, Adam Schwartz, an attorney for the ACLU of Illinois said, "The right to collect information on government activities is covered by the First Amendment right to petition for the redress of grievances."

The Columbia Chronicle also featured a great interview with Schwartz weighing in on a civilian's ability to "check" police by the use of audio tape:

Adam Schwartz, an attorney for the ACLU agrees that the right to observe police officers is incredibly important to the citizens of Illinois.

"Most police officers are doing a hard job in a professional and ethical manner, but some police officers break the law and some communities have responded by recording police actions," Schwartz said. "The First Amendment includes the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances, that includes the right to observe and document how the government is acting toward its citizens."

According to Schwartz, the Illinois law is rare in the United States because of its breadth. The criminal code of 1961, under Article 14 Eavesdropping, makes the audio recording of any conversation illegal and it goes on: "the term conversation means any oral communication between two or more persons regardless of whether one or more of the parties intended their communication to be of a private nature under circumstances justifying that expectation."

It is that broad definition of conversation that makes the Illinois law unconstitutional according to Schwartz.

"When a police officer is in a public place having a conversation with a person, especially if that person is being detained or has been arrested, there is no privacy interest in that case," Schwartz said. "There is no public benefit to stopping civilians from audio taping police civilian interaction."

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Posted by Ellyn Fortino on January 29, 2010 11:44 AM | Categories:

Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union, commented Thursday about President Barack Obama's statement during his first State of the Union address where he said he would work with Congress and the military to end the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.

"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" prohibits gay and lesbian individuals to serve openly in the military.

"In a historic first, the nation finally has a commander in chief who is calling for all men and women serving our country in uniform to be treated fairly and with dignity," Romero said. "It is gratifying to hear President Obama call for the repeal of the un-American and discriminatory 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy. For the better part of two decades, lesbian and gay Americans have been denied the right to live their lives openly as they serve in their country's military. This policy is unacceptable in a country where we value the equal treatment of all Americans. A soldier's sexual orientation should never outweigh his or her record and performance. Congress must now act swiftly to repeal this shameful policy."

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Posted by Ellyn Fortino on January 29, 2010 9:39 AM | Categories:

Do you believe everyone should be allowed to make their own decisions about their reproductive health, and everyone should be guaranteed the ability to use or refuse contraception? If so, the ACLU of Illinois could use your support! Join us and our coalition partners in our commitment to protect reproductive health and access in Illinois.

Right now we are working to pass the Reproductive Health and Access Act (RHAA), which would include:

• Responsible sex education health

• Access to quality birth control

• The ability to access prenatal care

• The right to choose an abortion

What the RHAA will NOT do:

Myth- This bill mandates that comprehensive sex education be taught for every student in public schools, even kindergarteners.

Fact- Currently, Illinois schools are not required to teach comprehensive sexual health education. This bill protects young women and men and helps them make responsible decisions by requiring that public schools offer age appropriate, medically accurate, comprehensive sexual health education classes. In today's world that just makes sense.

Parents will, however, retain the right to remove their children from sexual health education classes if they do not want them to participate.

Myth: The Reproductive Health & Access Act will allow unrestricted access to abortion and will not allow any regulation of abortion, including late term abortions.

Fact: Current regulations of abortion later in pregnancy will still apply, and all abortions will continue to be regulated like any other medical procedure.

Show your commitment of the rights of women and all Illinoisans at the Reproductive Health and Access Lobby Day on Wednesday, February 10 in Springfield, Ill.

Learn more about Reproductive Health and Access Lobby Day, and register to attend here!

Can't make it? Commit to call your legislator on Thursday, February 11.

Spread the news on Facebook!

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Posted by Ellyn Fortino on January 27, 2010 10:45 AM | Categories:

January 22 marked the anniversary of Obama's executive order to close Guantanamo prison. In response, ACLU national launched an updated indefinite detention web feature. This site is great! It includes:

• Additional videos of the former Guantanamo detainees featured in "Justice Denied"

• A map illustrating the numerous places detainees have been picked up

• The winning entry in the ACLU poster contest

• A Close Gitmo action

You can check it out at www.aclu.org/indefinitedetention.

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Posted by Ellyn Fortino on January 25, 2010 11:06 AM | Categories:

Ben Wolf, assistant legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, spoke to the Chicago Tribune in an article Sunday about the difficulty for troubled youths to return to school after they have been incarcerated:

In some cases, officials refuse to re-admit students for fear they will disrupt classes or be violent but do not move to formally transfer or expel students as school rules and the law requires. In other cases, parents cannot navigate the school district's bureaucracy to re-enroll their children after they have been in custody or suspended.

While these troubled students are away from school, they lose more ground in an education system that already has proved difficult for them. Without an education, they are more likely to break the law, with increasingly serious ramifications, or become victims of violence.

....Critics, though, fear that schools, in refusing to readmit some students, are shirking their legal obligation to provide an education.

"The assumption ought to be that a kid is going back to a regular school," said Benjamin Wolf, assistant legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois. "We think it's almost always illegal to refuse to take a child."

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Posted by Ellyn Fortino on January 25, 2010 10:48 AM | Categories:

Adam Schwartz, senior staff counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, spoke Wednesday on Vocalo about what to do when stopped by police while still asserting your rights.

Listen to the snippet

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Posted by Ellyn Fortino on January 22, 2010 10:53 AM | Categories:

A new report released Tuesday by the American Civil Liberties Union analyzing the Obama administration's first year in office showed a mixed record of its restoration of civil liberties.

According to the report, "Of a set of 145 detailed recommendations the ACLU made to the new president upon his election, the administration has acted on just over one-third of them."

Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the ACLU said although the administration has made progress, it has fallen short in other areas.

"Starting with bold executive orders to end torture and close the prison at Guantanamo, and continuing with positive actions in areas like open government and civil rights, the Obama administration has made some significant strides toward restoring civil liberties and the rule of law," said Romero. "But in other areas, the administration has fallen short by allowing some of the Bush administration's most troublesome practices to continue and by failing to take steps that would restore some very fundamental rights and values to American life."

One of the high priority issues the Obama administration has specifically not followed through with is the closing of the notorious prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The prison remains open, and detainees remain there without charge or trial and the flawed military commission system is still being used.

The report also said, "On issues like spying on Americans, monitoring of activists, terrorism watchlists, the Real ID Act and DNA databases, the administration has carried out none of the ACLU's recommendations."

Read the full report

A copy of the ACLU's analysis of the Obama administration's record on restoring civil liberties, including a chart showing which of the ACLU's recommendations the administration acted upon, is available online at: www.aclu.org/america-unrestored

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Posted by Ellyn Fortino on January 20, 2010 9:57 AM | Categories:

The Washington Post today reported that from 2002 to 2006 the FBI illegally collected more than 2,000 telephone records by "invoking terrorism emergencies that did not exist or simply persuading phone companies to provide records." According to the story:

"E-mails obtained by The Washington Post detail how counterterrorism officials inside FBI headquarters did not follow their own procedures that were put in place to protect civil liberties. The stream of urgent requests for phone records also overwhelmed the FBI communications analysis unit with work that ultimately was not connected to imminent threats."

"FBI officials told The Post that their own review has found that about half of the 4,400 toll records collected in emergency situations or with after-the-fact approvals were done in technical violation of the law."

These are precisely the type of complaints that the ACLU has raised since the adoption of the USA PATRIOT Act in October 2001. Michael Macleod-Ball, Acting Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office today noted that the FBI's internal oversight controls clearly failed.

"The FBI was given broad authority to issue NSLs in the Patriot Act and to flout even the minor privacy protections within that statute shows a blatant disregard for civil liberties of Americans," Macleod-Ball said. "The FBI has a notorious reputation for not being able to police itself and, in this instance, its internal oversight controls clearly failed. Even after being warned by their own lawyers, FBI supervisors continued sending exigent letters even though no emergency existed and they had no statutory authority for such letters."

Melissa Goodman, staff attorney with the ACLU National Security Project added the FBI showed flagrant duplicity in obtaining thousands of phone records over several years without any legal basis or justification for doing so.

"The FBI must be forthcoming and release information about its use of exigent letters and NSLs in order to hold accountable those who contributed to what clearly amounts to a systemic abuse of power," Goodman said. "The FBI should also lift unnecessary and unjustified gag orders that continue to silence thousands of NSL recipients from speaking out about the FBI's misuse of this intrusive record demand power, including our John Doe client who has now been gagged for nearly six years."

To learn more about the Patriot Act and the ACLU's work to reform it, go to: www.reformthepatriotact.org read more and leave a comment »

Posted by Ellyn Fortino on January 19, 2010 10:37 AM | Categories:

Gov. Pat Quinn's Nursing Home Safety Task Force proposed reforms Thursday to address problems in treatment at Illinois nursing homes. These reforms come after the Chicago Tribune's series of reports exposing the overuse of nursing homes used to house the mentally ill. One important aspect of the proposed reforms is to "expand housing and treatment options and divert mentally ill people from nursing homes into more appropriate treatment settings in their communities."

ACLU of Illinois staff attorney Lori Turner said overall the ACLU of Illinois is satisfied with the proposed reforms from Quinn's Nursing Home Safety Task Force.

"We are pleased with the task force's emphasis on expanding home and community based housing options for people with mental illness, recognizing that nursing homes are not the most appropriate, integrated setting for people with mental illness, and we are hopeful that these recommendations will lead to long overdue meaningful reform and a systemic overhaul," Turner said. "We agree that some of the tough questions have been left unresolved, but continue to advocate that the solution to these problems is not the creation of more institutions in Illinois."

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Posted by Ellyn Fortino on January 15, 2010 11:52 AM | Categories:

An unprecedented civil trial targeting the constitutionality of Proposition 8 began Monday in California and is said to continue over the next several weeks. Mercury News said:

Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker heard opening statements from both sides in the closely watched, historic legal showdown over Proposition 8, the voter-approved 2008 law restoring California's ban on same-sex marriage. And he then listened intently as two California gay couples recounted their stories, which they hope will serve as the emotional underpinnings of the federal constitutional challenge to Prop. 8. The trial that is expected to stretch for several weeks unfolded through the day in a high-stakes atmosphere. The lawyers on both sides, famous nationally, sparred with the judge and fielded his pointed questions. The courtroom was packed with lawyers, media members and others. Outside the courthouse, hundreds of demonstrators gathered in the morning fog, rallying for and against same-sex marriage.

Please note that by playing this clip You Tube and Google will place a long-term cookie on your computer. Please see You Tube's privacy statement on their website and Google's privacy statement on theirs to learn more. To view the ACLU of Illinois' privacy statement, click here.

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Posted by Ellyn Fortino on January 12, 2010 10:19 AM | Categories:

A federal investigation, prompted by reports from the Chicago Tribune and complaints from a Chicago alderman, is underway at the North Side nursing home, Somerset Place.

Federal officials declined to comment on the probe or what specifically investigators are targeting at the facility. But state Department of Public Health spokeswoman Melaney Arnold said federal authorities asked state officials to postpone their own enforcement actions against Somerset until the federal probe is complete. "The facility has been a concern to the state and the feds," Arnold said. From April 2008 to July 2009, records show, Chicago police investigated 15 alleged assaults or batteries inside Somerset, as well as five reported cases of criminal sexual assault and another five reports of narcotics possession. State public health authorities last year cited the home for failing to monitor and treat mentally ill patients, and state and federal agencies have levied more than $80,000 in fines for alleged safety infractions, Arnold has said.

The ACLU of Illinois continues to work extensively to protect the rights of patients at Somerset Place.

"Somerset, with about 400 beds, is one of the largest of the institutions housing our clients in the Williams case," said ACLU of Illinois Assistant Legal Director and Director of the Institutionalized Persons and Children Project, Ben Wolf. "We're trying in that litigation to give them the opportunity to live in smaller community settings and move out of large nursing homes like Somerset that often provide inadequate care and services."

Williams v. Quinn, et al: The ACLU of Illinois filed suit on behalf of the mentally ill Illinois residents who are currently living in large-scale institutional housing in conditions that range from cold and institutional to filthy and dangerous. Our suit argues that these residents could be better served for the same or less expense in small, community-based settings. read more and leave a comment »

Posted by Ellyn Fortino on January 11, 2010 12:15 PM | Categories:

A distressing government study from the Justice Department released on Jan. 7 reported one out of every three youths at 13 juvenile detention facilities have reported some type of sexual victimization. The AP said:

Nationwide about 12 percent of youths held in state-run, privately run, or local facilities reported some type of sexual victimization, the Justice Department found in the first report of its kind. The rates varied widely between facilities. Victimization included forced sexual activity with another youth and all sexual activity with staff.

Most shocking, however, was the report's high level of sexual abuse perpetrated by staff members.

About 10 percent of youths surveyed reported abuse involving facility staff people, and nearly all of those complaints were against female staffers, who made up less than half of the workers. About 2 percent of the reported abuse involving other young inmates.

Although the reliability of the data is still uncertain, the ACLU of Illinois Assistant Legal Director and Director of the Institutionalized Persons and Children Project, Ben Wolf, said physical and sexual abuse in juvenile detention centers is an enormous problem.

"We've been working hard to reduce the level of violence and abuse at the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center in our ongoing litigation on behalf of the youths at that facility," Wolf said.

An article from the New York Review of Books commented on the staff abuse and featured some of the traumatic experiences juveniles have faced:

A full 80 percent of the abuse reported in the study was perpetrated not by other inmates but by staff. And shockingly, 95 percent of the youth making such allegations said they were victimized by female staff. 64 percent of them reported at least one incident of sexual contact with staff in which no force or explicit coercion was used; staff caught having sex with inmates often claim it's consensual. But staff have enormous control over inmates' lives. They can give them privileges, such as extra food or clothing or the opportunity to wash, and they can punish them: everything from beatings to solitary confinement to extended sentences. The notion of a truly consensual relationship in such circumstances is grotesque even when the inmate is not a child.

For further information, Jezebel has an article worth checking out. read more and leave a comment »

Posted by Ellyn Fortino on January 11, 2010 11:02 AM | Categories:

Gay couples in New Hampshire celebrated the New Year with "I do's" as the state's legalization of gay marriage law went into effect at midnight on Jan. 1. New Hampshire is now the fifth state to have legalized same-sex marriage.

The law also recognizes out-of-state gay marriages and civil unions, and according to an article from Bay Windows, "Gay couples who previously were united under New Hampshire's civil-union law will see their unions automatically convert into marriages in 2011 unless they take action themselves before then."

Please note that by playing this clip You Tube and Google will place a long-term cookie on your computer. Please see You Tube's privacy statement on their website and Google's privacy statement on theirs to learn more. To view the ACLU of Illinois' privacy statement, click here.

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Posted by Ellyn Fortino on January 6, 2010 10:11 AM | Categories:

Two updates on some important civil liberties issues:

• The American Law Institute, a group which created much of the intellectual framework for the death penalty as used in the United States has abandonded the cause:

  ...the institute voted in October to disavow the structure it had created "in light of the current intractable institutional and structural obstacles to ensuring a minimally adequate system for administering capital punishment."
  
  That last sentence contains some pretty dense lawyer talk, but it can be untangled. What the institute was saying is that the capital justice system in the United States is irretrievably broken.

  Hat tip Feministe


• FWD/Forward provides an important perspective on the international moves towards the use of full-body scanners (aka electronic strip-search) in airports. While the civil liberties concerns for able-bodied individuals are in the media forefront, lauredhel explores the implications for individuals with various disabilities.
  
  Hat Tip Shapely Prose.

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Posted by Allie Carter on January 5, 2010 1:32 PM | Categories:

Happy New Year ACLU Insiders! 2009 is over and that means the infamous "best of the decade" lists. Lately, I have been bombarded with the best music and movies of the decade, but here is a top ten list to be truly proud of: The important civil rights and liberties advances of the decade.

1) January 2000- Illinois Governor George H. Ryan declares moratorium on the death penalty.

2) August 2003- The Illinois Civil Rights Act of 2003 becomes Illinois law. The Illinois Civil Rights Act of 2003 helps to open the courthouse doors to persons, specifically racial and ethnic minorities, in Illinois whose civil rights have been violated.

3) May 2004- The first legal same-sex marriages in the U.S. are performed in Massachusetts.

4) August 2004- The ACLU of Illinois attorneys, on behalf of reproductive health care providers, help challenge and shoot down the "Partial Birth Abortion Act of 2003," a federal abortion ban signed by President George W. Bush.

5) January 2005- Illinois adds discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity to the Human Rights Act, the first protection for LGBT Illinoisans against discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodation, among others.

6) July 2006- Senate reauthorizes the Voting Rights Act, a civil rights law first passed in 1965 to prevent voting discrimination.

7) January 2007- BH v. Samuels: ACLU of Illinois' success of a class action lawsuit that requires the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center to provide safe and clean living conditions for foster kids in their care.

8) November 2008- President-elect Barack Obama promises to close Guantanamo Bay prison.

9) June 2009- Safford v. Redding: Supreme Court rules in ACLU's favor that the strip search of a 13-year-old student was a breech of the student's constitutional rights.

10) December 2009- Funding for abstinence only sex-education programs ends after President Obama signs the FY 2010 Omnibus Appropriations Bill into law. The bill provides $114 million for the first ever teen pregnancy prevention programs.

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Posted by Ellyn Fortino on January 4, 2010 9:14 AM | Categories:

Colleen Connell, Executive Director of the ACLU of Illinois, spoke to channel 5 and 7 news regarding privacy concerns of full body scanners said to arrive at O'Hare the first quarter of next year.

Watch the broadcast that aired on December 30, 2009.

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Posted by Ellyn Fortino on December 31, 2009 8:10 AM | Categories: