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Home » ACLU Insider » Archives » January 2008 Archives
January 2008 Archives From Ars Technica: Telco immunity stalled: Senate blocks key vote January 29, 2008 The increasingly tangled debate over federal surveillance powers reached a new milestone today when a Republican cloture motion failed to pass after receiving only 48 of the required 60 votes. If the cloture motion had passed, it would have blocked all further attempts to remove controversial telecom immunity provisions from a Senate intelligence committee surveillance bill by forcing an immediate vote on the bill itself. As it stands, the issue of retroactive immunity for telecoms who helped the NSA spy on Americans can now come to the floor for a full debate. A second cloture motion - filed by Congressional Democrats in an effort to force immediate vote on a 30 day extension to the Protect America Act - also failed to pass. Read more: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080128-senate-blocks-vote-on-surveillance-bill-that-would-grant-telecom-immunity.html read more » From Creating Community Connections: After 35 Years, Roe v. Wade's at Risk January 25, 2008 The U.S. Supreme Court ruling known as Roe v. Wade, which gave women the privacy and right to decide if they want an abortion, was delivered 35 years ago this week. But the 50 or so reproductive rights advocates who gathered downtown this week were not in the mood to celebrate. Although the Supreme Court has not technically reversed the famous decision that sought to protect the health of the woman, advocates said the court completely changed its priorities and opened the door for anti-choice legislation on the state level in 2007, with Gonzales v. Carhart. "For the first time, women's health was not a priority; there was no health exception," said Lorie Chaiten, attorney and director of the Reproductive Rights Project in Illinois. In Carhart, "the court changes how they look at women." More Online: http://creatingcommunityconnections.org/node/3125 read more » Podcast: Reproductive Rights in Illinois January 24, 2008 If you missed our lunchtime discussion on January 22nd, you can still listen to Reproductive Rights lawyer Lorie Chaiten give an update on the status of reproductive rights in Illinois(50mb, mp3) read more » Know Your Rights January 23, 2008 If government agents question you, it is important to understand your rights. You should be careful about what you say when approached by law enforcement officials. If you give answers, they can be used against you in a criminal, immigration, or civil case. Download the ACLU's Know Your Rights booklet read more » From the Chicago Sun-Times: Roe anniversary is time to refocus on fairness, equality January 23, 2008 As you know, the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade is this week. The ACLU's Reproductive Rights Director, Lorie Chaiten's letter to the editor of the Chicago Sun Times demonstrates yet again why these issues will remain in the forefront for the coming year: Roe vs. Wade turns 35 on Jan. 22. With this anniversary, we mark not only 35 years of reproductive freedom, but also 35 years of impressive gains in the fight for women's equality. read more » From the Chicago Tribune: Abortions at 30-year low January 18, 2008 We wanted to share with you this story from today's Chicago Tribune exploring data being released today by the Guttmacher Institute of New York. The data indicates a significant drop in the number of abortions performed in Illinois last year. ACLU of Illinois Reproductive Rights Project Director Lorie Chaiten is featured in the story, noting that the U.S. rate of unintended pregnancy remains very high and decrying the lack of access to reproductive health care for many women in Illinois. One statistic not cited in the story is that about one-third of women in Illinois live in a county that offers no abortion services, forcing women in those counties to travel long distances to access care and services. Wewould also like to invite you to hear Lorie speak about the state of reproductive choice in Illinois on Tuesday, January 22, 12 noon at the ACLU offices. I hope you will be able to join us. Please rsvp to Jesse Larson by tomorrow, Friday, January 18, jlarson@aclu-il.org if you plan to attend. read more » From the Bloomington Pantagraph: State officials ask for extension on REAL ID program January 14, 2008 Illinois officials plan to ask for an extension to better prepare for a federal program that would standardize driver's licenses nationwide for security purposes. The American Civil Liberties Union has fought the law, citing privacy concerns it says can arise when government agencies share personal information. ACLU of Illinois spokesman Ed Yohnka said he hopes Congress would change or repeal the act before it takes effect. Yohnka argued the federal government's willingness to push compliance back several years means the program must not be very urgent. "I think it's an admission that the process doesn't work," he said. read more » A REAL Debacle January 14, 2008 Last week, the U. S. Department of Homeland Security finally issued regulations governing the implementation of REAL ID. The regulations occur after more than three years and multiple missed deadlines. REAL ID creates a national standard for use by the... read more » From the Chicago Sun-Times: Photo ID laws create unnecessary hurdle for voters January 10, 2008 The Chicago Sun Times printed an editorial speaking out against state laws that require voters to produce a government–issued picture identification card before voting. As you will see, the ACLU of Illinois is quoted. The issue was argued before the U.S. Supreme Court recently in a challenge to an Indiana law that requires voters to show ID's before voting. Also opposing the Indiana law are the NAACP and the American Civil Liberties Union. One study found that anywhere from 6 percent to 10 percent of voting age citizens don't have a valid photo ID, which could amount to millions of voters. That's enough to shift an election. "These are the groups we fought so long and hard for to have the vote," said Ed Yohnka with the ACLU of Illinois. "This is about who has access to the ballot box." read more » From the LA Times: Disquiet over schools' moment of silence January 07, 2008 A family of Illinois atheists is fighting to overturn a law requiring time for students' quiet reflection. The father and daughter say it mandates prayer. When high school freshman Dawn Sherman learned that Illinois had a new law requiring public schools to provide a moment of silence each day for "reflection and student prayer," she was outraged. Not because the law meant lost learning time in her honors math class -- which would be 15 seconds shorter -- but because "it was clear that we're supposed to sit and pray, or sit and watch other people pray," said Dawn, who is an atheist. ... "We heard a steady stream of complaints, from teachers to parents to students, in the days after the law went into effect," said Colleen Connell, executive director of the ACLU of Illinois. "We've heard about a principal telling students to remember veterans in their prayers or private reflections," she said. "We've heard that teachers fold their hands and bow their heads, perhaps inadvertently, but sending a message to the kids that they should be praying." read more » From the AP: Apartment helps man gain upper hand over mental illness January 07, 2008 Sunlight streamed through the windows and the scent of sandalwood incense filled the air the day Aron Washington moved into his apartment Tall and lithe, Washington tried a few yoga poses in the still-empty living room and spoke about his dream of starting a nonprofit corporation that would "bring right brain people and left brain people together over music and dance." Six months ago, Washington, an artist with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, shared a small room with two other men in a noisy, crowded nursing home for the poor, where his days revolved around the institution's schedule of meals and medicines. He got $30 a month in spending money from his disability check. But since June 20, the 31-year-old Chicago man has proved he can live in his own apartment, with help from a small Illinois pilot program called Direct Connect. The program found him an apartment, helped him shop for furniture and got him out of the nursing home where he landed after a stint of homelessness. ... Benjamin Wolf, an attorney with the ACLU of Illinois, who is helping with the lawsuit, said the agency would "like the opportunity for everybody who wants the opportunity to get out of an institution." "Illinois historically has significantly underfunded its human services and spent more proportionally on institutions rather than in the community," he said. The lawsuit cites a 1999 landmark ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that the Americans with Disabilities Act requires community placement of the mentally disabled whenever appropriate. The court said segregating the mentally ill amounted to ``unjustified isolation,'' while recognizing that states need to maintain a range of facilities for people with mental disabilities. read more » |
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