The lawsuit highlights egregious violations of Ms. Ratchford and Ms. Smith’s constitutional rights after they were arrested for silently holding letter-size pieces of paper at a school board meeting in November 2023.

The Alabama Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, the ACLU of Alabama, and the First Amendment Clinic at Duke University School of Law filed suit Monday evening against the City of Florence and its Chief of Police.

Alabama’s panhandling laws violate the First Amendment’s protection of free speech, a federal judge ruled Wednesday in a lawsuit brought against the state by the Southern Poverty Law Center, ACLU of Alabama and the National Homelessness Law Center.

On June 2, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin announced an amended order to the city's curfew that will ban "any demonstration, parade, march, or vigil on any of the public ways or upon any public property, including the public parks of this city." The full order can be found below. 

Alabama’s panhandling laws violate the First Amendment’s protection of freedom of speech, according to a lawsuit filed today seeking to immediately stop the city of Montgomery and Alabama from enforcing two state statutes prohibiting panhandling. 

Ray was scheduled to be put to death today, but the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued the stay, as it evaluates his claim that the state treats Muslims differently than Christians on death row. Ray, who is a Muslim, has requested that his imam be present at his execution.

Alabama voters passed Amendment 1, allowing for the Ten Commandments on public property including schools, and passed Amendment 2, paving the way to criminalize abortion with no exceptions.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama filed a lawsuit today on behalf of three Alabama citizens challenging Secretary of State John Merrill for blocking them on Twitter, claiming that as an elected government official, Merrill’s actions violate the First Amendment.