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Home » ACLU Insider » Archives » March 2008 Archives
March 2008 Archives ACLU Client Diane Schroer featured in Media That Matters March 26, 2008 A video featuring ACLU client Diane Schroer is featured in a film festival: read more » What is a vote worth? March 25, 2008 Woman walks 600 km to vote in historic Bhutan poll: The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan may lay claim to having the world's most enthusiastic voter -- a 65-year-old woman who walked 600 kilometres (380 miles) to cast her ballot. read more » Privacy & Obama's Passport March 21, 2008 Apparently Senator Barack Obama's private passport files were breached on no less that 3 separate occasions by contract workers at the State Department. Glenn Greenwald writes: This disturbing episode provides yet more vivid proof of how dangerous and misguided it is to continue to vest the Federal Government with the power to spy and collect data on the activities of its citizens, and, particularly, to do so without any oversight or real safeguards. Go read the whole thing. read more » Wiretapping Update from ACLU Washington Legislative Office March 19, 2008 You Made It Happen The ACLU Washington Legislative Office Without you, there would be a freedom-stealing, Constitution-defying FISA bill on George W. Bush's desk right now. Why didn't it happen? Because you refused to let it happen. Together, we've been persistent and insistent on a constitutional fix to the FISA bill and it has paid off. read more » Some Telecommunications Companies DID Say No to Illegal Wiretapping March 17, 2008 Too often, the argument is made that telecommunications companies simply "had" to cooperate with the government, that they had no choice but to accede to the Bush Administration's illegal requests for wiretaps. It sounds like an open and shut case - after all, who wants to be in the lonely position of saying no when the government - the government - is asking you to do something? Especially after 9/11, when, as we all know "everything changed". Rather like being between a rock.... and another rock. Except for two small details..... read more » Bringing Fairness to Illinois: the Fight for Civil Unions March 17, 2008  Thanks to all who attended last week's Young Advocates event! It was great to talk with so many of you about the urgent need for action to win civil unions here in Illinois. Click through for video of the event, as well as 3 things you can do to help win civil unions in Illinois read more » Breaking News: Illinois Teens Need Your Help Defending Legal Protections Under Attack March 14, 2008 From ACLU of Illinois Executive Director Colleen Connell: Yesterday, the Attorney General appealed Judge Coar's decision refusing to lift the ACLU's injunction on the Illinois Parental Notice of Abortion Act. For 31 years, the ACLU has successfully prevented enforcement of this parental notice law and its two earlier versions, thus sparing vulnerable young women a hellacious journey through judicial hearings that compromise women's medical privacy, and, in the worst cases of delay, their health. Because of the ACLU's court victories, Illinois is the only state in the Midwest that does not require vulnerable teens to choose between a draconian court proceeding or involving parents who may be abusive or neglectful. The ACLU's talented lawyers -- Reproductive Rights Project Director Lorie Chaiten and Reproductive Rights Staff Counsel Leah Bartelt -- are gearing up to defend their victory protecting Illinois teens before the Court of Appeals. We anticipate at least another year of fighting this horrible law in the courts. You can help this important effort by clicking here to support the ACLU's Reproductive Rights Project. Thanks for your past help; please give as generously as you can. The young women of Illinois deserve our help. read more » Update: House Passes Immunity-Free Wiretap Bill March 14, 2008 On to the Senate!. The vote today, following last night's special closed session, was 213-197. As we discussed yesterday, the bill does not contain amnesty for lawbreaking telecoms - rather it allows them the chance to defend themselves in court. It does unfortunately still contain provisions for basket warrants. It is a much better bill than what the Senate produced - let's see if they take the bait. read more » Do American citizens lose their Constitutional rights when they are seized and detained abroad? March 14, 2008 The Bush Administration thinks so. Two American citizens, accused of crimes in Iraq and held by US forces, are slated to be handed over to Iraqi authorities - where they would face the death penalty. read more » We'll See You There - ACLU of Illinois 2008 Member Conference March 13, 2008 The ACLU of Illinois 2008 Member Conference is April 5th in Peoria. Sign Up, at www.aclu-il.org/conference. read more » New House Wiretapping Bill a Mixed Bag March 13, 2008 NO warrantless wiretapping and NO telecom immunity. The latest House bill on wiretapping shows some marked improvements. As noted yesterday, it does not grant retroactive immunity to lawbreaking telecoms, but rather offers them the opportunity to defend themselves in a court of law. That is an enormously important move - and it should be applauded. However - as noted by the ACLU's Washington legislative office, the bill continues to allow for "basket warrants," overturning the centuries-old legal principle that a warrant requires individualized suspicion. read more » New Developments in the Fight Against Wiretapping March 12, 2008 There are some promising developments in the US House of Representatives. A new draft proposal would, rather than granting immunity to lawbreaking telecoms, allow telecoms to use classified information to defend themselves from lawsuits. read more » Podcast: Insecurity Blanket March 11, 2008 On March 6th, the ACLU Young Advocates attended Remy Bumppo's thinkTank performance, currently featuring plays that address the balance between national security and personal freedom. After the performance, ACLU of Illinois legal director Harvey Grossman spoke and answered questions from the audience. The post-show discussion is available online as a podcast from Remy Bumppo's website: http://remybumppo.org/pages/podcasts/205.php. read more » Hot Off the Presses: New Issue of the ACLU of Illinois Member Newsletter March 11, 2008 The latest issue of the ACLU of Illinois Member Newsletter is in the mail! You can also view the pdf online. Featured in this issue: The ACLU of Illinois Membership Conference. Have you registered? It's Free! read more » Young Advocates Event Tonight - Civil Unions Update March 11, 2008 Don't miss our Young Advocate's Event tonight at the Elephant & Castle. I'll be standing in for Nick Rutan, talking about the current civil union legislation and what you can do to help. Come meet other young civil libertarians and get involved with the ACLU. From 5-8PM at the Elephant & Castle (185 N Wabash). read more » From Chi Town Daily News: Better training, more staff sought for troubled juvenile center March 10, 2008 In the wake of a clash last month at the Cook County Temporary Juvenile Detention Center that injured dozens of children and staffers, authorities want to find out what went wrong. "We are trying to determine the circumstances that caused... read more » "Total Information Awareness" Spying Database Rises From The Dead March 10, 2008 According to the Wall Street Journal, the NSA has been assembling a vast database that sweeps up "transactional" data from American's emails, phone calls and other electronic communications to search for "suspicious" patterns: read more » International Women's Day - Here in Illinois March 10, 2008 In (belated) honor of International Women's Day, here's a few snapshots of progress on the status of women's rights and reproductive freedom here in Illinois: read more » From the Bloomington Pantagraph: Rules vary, but tasers winning over police March 10, 2008 A man in rural Downs asked, "What would you do if I punched you?" and swung his fist at a police officer before he was shocked with a Taser and arrested early last year. A man in Normal was "tased"... read more » Illinois Legislative Report Card on Racial Equity March 10, 2008 The Applied Research Center (ARC), a racial justice public policy institute, released the findings of its second annual Facing Race: Illinois Legislative Report Card on Racial Equity 2007-2008. ARC's latest report card scores 56 bills from 2007 that impacted civil rights, criminal justice, economic justice, educational equality, health equality, and housing and community development. The report card also offers detailed data on the increasingly diverse composition of Illinois. The ACLU of Illinois served on the advisory group to ARC's report card. Download the report: Applied Research Center's 2007-2008 Legislative Report Card on Racial Equity read more » One More Vote Against Telecom Immunity March 09, 2008 Yesterday, Illinois' 14th Congressional District (formerly held by GOP House Speaker Dennis Hastert) elected another anti-telecom immunity, anti-warrantless wiretapping voice to the US House of Representatives. read more » Last Stand Against Telecom Immunity March 07, 2008 Congress is meeting next week to consider legislation which would grant "blanket immunity" to telecoms which illegally spied on their customers at the behest of the Bush White House. Without broad public dissent, Congress will cave-in to the Administration's demands for a get out of jail free card for lawbreaking corporations, and prevent us from ever discovering the nature and breadth of warrantless wiretaps performed on American citizens. You can help to stop warrantless wiretapping and telecom immunity in three easy steps. read more » From the ITT List: Parental Notification (Still) Unconstitutional In Illinois March 06, 2008 Check out the blog from In These Times: Parental Notification (Still) Unconstitutional In Illinois. read more » Celebrate Women's History March 03, 2008 Learn more about the ACLU's work for women's right across the nation: http://www.aclu.org/womensrights/gen/womenshistorymonth2008.html. read more » Chicago Tribune Op-Ed from ACLU Clients: Why we sued the phone company March 03, 2008 By Studs Terkel, Quentin Young, Barbara Flynn Currie and James Montgomery More than six years after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the Bush administration remains committed to using the specter of those attacks (and other possible new attacks)... read more » From the Associated Press: Ill. Abortion Notification Law Blocked March 03, 2008 A state law requiring parental notification before a minor can get an abortion will remain on hold, a federal judge ruled, the latest in decades of complex legal wrangling. Abortion rights groups on Saturday praised the decision, saying it could end chances for the measure to take effect. Proponents of the law said they were disappointed, and the attorney general's spokeswoman said the state would consider an appeal. read more » From CentralIllinoisProud.com and WMBD: Koehler Proposes Civil Union Bill March 03, 2008 State Senator Dave Koehler is proposing a bill that would legalize civil unions in Illinois, including partnerships of the same sex. Whether the bill passes remains to be seen. But one thing's for sure- it has sparked strong feelings from both sides. "It's detrimental to the institution of marriage to support this sort of thing," said Lou Carr, from the Peoria Coalition for Concerned Citizens. read more » |
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