Thank you for supporting the ACLU of Alabama. As you know, our team has been working zealously this year in the fight for equality and human rights. This newsletter will be a roundup of ACLU's top news stories. Subscribe to our email updates to get this roundup delivered right to your inbox.
Photo: Public Advocacy Director moderated a panel at the Capri Theatre in Montgomery with representatives from Montgomery Pride and Medical Advocacy & Outreach. Together with Montgomery Pride, we held a screening of To A More Perfect Union: United States v. Windsor to celebrate an important LGBT rights milestone during Montgomery's Pride Week.
ACLU in Alabama
- In preparation for this year's midterm general election, our team has put together a 2018 Voter Guide, explaining who's on the ballot, how to research them, what ballot initiatives Alabamians will be voting on, and more. Learn more so you can be an informed voter on November 6. (via ACLU of Alabama)
- Last week in a federal appeals court, an Alabama state ban on physicians providing dilation and evacuation (a method of abortion) was prevented. The court labeled the proposal as a risk to women's health stating "they can't disregard a woman's health and decision making in favor of their ideological agenda," said Randall Marshall, executive director of ACLU of Alabama. The outcome ensures that doctors can "use their best judgment to provide the right care for their patients." (via AP/ABC News)
- In June, we joined together in solidarity with Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice, Southern Poverty Law Center, and Council on American-Islamic Relations to send a message to Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress that families belong together. In response to their systematic criminalization of immigration and immigrants, the Families Belong Together rally was a nationwide effort to show that people wanted them to end the zero-tolerance policy of criminally prosecuting immigrants. (via Montgomery Advertiser)
- We've also expressed our concerns about rogue smart speakers, surveillance cameras in Decatur, and the Ten Commandments ballot initiative.
ACLU Across the Country
Attorney General Jeff Sessions enacted a new policy which denies asylum protections to immigrants fleeing domestic and gang violence. On August 9, the ACLU and the Trump administration met in court to see if the judge would issue an emergency order to block the deportation of our plaintiffs. We were representing the cases of many women and children fleeing extreme sexual abuse and gang violence. To our dismay, we discovered the administration had hastily deported two ACLU clients -- a mother and her daughter. The US District Judge Emmet Sullivan ordered them to turn the plane around immediately. (via ACLU)
National: Why district attorneys are important and powerful (via Last Week Tonight)
National: Is Facial Recognition Ready For The Real World? (via Science Friday Podcast)
Illinois: Chicago and railroad police use of 'bait truck,' caught on viral video, is criticized by alderman, ACLU (via Chicago Tribune)
Michigan: Why children have the most to lose in the latest battle over LGBT and religious rights (via Deseret News)
South Dakota: Civil Rights Organizations Urge Eighth Circuit to Accept Appeal of Man Who May Have Been Sentenced to Death Because He is Gay (via ACLU of South Dakota)
Tennessee: Memphis Police Spying on Activists Is Worse Than We Thought (via City Lab)