ACLU: Incarceration Should Not be a Death Sentence for Individuals Who Use Opioids

Incarceration Should Not be a Death Sentence for Individuals Who Use Opioids

The opioid epidemic has gripped communities for more than 20 years. From 1999 to 2022, nearly 722,000 people died from an overdose involving prescription and illicit opioids. Litigation has dramatically changed the substance-use disorder policy landscape and, today, more than $50 billion in opioid settlements from pharmaceutical companies, distributors, pharmacies, consultants, and others are hitting state and local coffers. This creates an unprecedented opportunity to invest in substance-use disorder care that saves lives.

Importantly, a separate wave of litigation is reshaping the way jails and prisons care for incarcerated people with opioid-use disorder. These lawsuits seek to require jails and prisons to provide medications for opioid-use disorder (MOUD) to all people for whom it is medically appropriate.

The data is clear: MOUD saves lives. Treatment of opioid-use disorder with methadone and buprenorphine — two of the three FDA-approved MOUDs — is associated with a 50 percent decrease in mortality.

How MOUD Increases Positive Health Outcomes in Jails and Prisons

People in jails and prisons experience opioid-use disorder at far higher rates than the general population, making MOUD during and immediately after incarceration essential. The time period immediately after being released from incarceration is an extremely dangerous time for those addicted to substances, especially for those who have been denied MOUD during incarceration. Recently incarcerated people who did not have access to MOUD in jail or prison are dozens of times more likely than the general population to die of an overdose in the weeks following release. For those recently released from jail or prison, access to MOUD was associated with a 75 percent decrease in mortality and an 85 percent decrease in overdose deaths in the month following release.

How Lawsuits Help to Increase Access to MOUDs

Denial of MOUD access for incarcerated people is not just wrong—it is also illegal. With court victories in Massachusetts, Maine, New York, and West Virginia, as well as settlements and other positive resolutions in Washington, Kansas, Illinois, and New Mexico, the legal groundwork is shifting toward requiring access to this life-saving care. In 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) released guidance re-affirming that denial of MOUD can amount to a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (AMA), and the DOJ has settled several cases requiring jail and prison facilities to provide access to MOUD.

Many of the legal cases on this topic thus far have sought to change policies and practices to require the jail or prison to provide MOUD; generally these lawsuits do not yet seek monetary damages for failure to provide care. That too is changing. Recent lawsuits in West Virginia, Maine, and New York have brought damages claims against jails and prisons that have failed to provide adequate care. If these cases succeed, jails and prisons that fail to provide MOUD risk not only a time-consuming and expensive lawsuit, but also the possibility of owing large amounts for the pain, suffering, and even the wrongful death of people in their custody who were denied adequate medical care.

Policy Must Make MOUD a Requirement in Prison and Jail

A strong policy push at the federal, state, and local levels to expand access to MOUD for incarcerated people has made a big difference. The Joe Biden administration launched the Medicaid Reentry Section 1115 Demonstration Opportunity, allowing states to apply to receive federal Medicaid matching funds for certain pre-release services—including MOUD—in the last 90 days of incarceration. The Bureau of Justice Assistance has funded expansion of MOUD services in jails and the federal Bureau of Prisons is in the process of launching MOUD programs in all of its facilities. Sixteen states now require access to MOUD in jails, prisons, or both.

Today, 22.1 percent of jails provide buprenorphine maintenance care to people who were already on buprenorphine in the community, and 16 percent of jails provide methadone maintenance to people already on methadone. While these numbers represent real progress from the handful of jails providing MOUD just a few years ago, there is so much more work to be done. Many people in jail or prison have an opioid-use disorder but were not able to access MOUD in their communities. Jails and prisons must provide those people, too, with clinically-appropriate MOUD care.

Investment in MOUD After Incarceration is Vital

While litigation has been an important tool to make policy change and expand MOUD access in jails and prisons, litigating in each and every jurisdiction in the country would take many years. Opioid settlement dollars can expedite this process and help to enact policy change and provide MOUD in jails and prisons now. With more than $50 billion of settlement dollars starting to go to states and other local jurisdictions over the next two decades, localities should use some of their settlement dollars to establish MOUD programs in their state prisons and local jails to save countless lives.

Investment in this critical care is a vital step toward not only improving the lives of the incarcerated, but also to providing medically-necessary support for people with opioid use disorder long after prison. Studies show that MOUD not only saves lives, but also reduces recidivism. To continue this positive trend, recently incarcerated people with opioid-use disorder need places in the community to go to receive treatment. They need probation and parole departments, and housing providers, that don’t illegally discriminate against them for their use of MOUD.

"Investment in this critical care is a vital step toward not only improving the lives of the incarcerated, but also to providing medically-necessary support for people with opioid use disorder long after prison."

Importantly, people who aren’t ready for treatment still need, and deserve, life-saving harm reduction services. Communities must think expansively and comprehensively about investing the $50 billion in opioid settlement money across the continuum of care and services—including in harm reduction, workforce development, community treatment, and MOUD in jails and prisons—to establish sustainable, widespread, and meaningful access to lifesaving care and treatment.

Published November 25, 2024 at 06:30PM
via ACLU https://ift.tt/ILKs3Dr

ACLU: Incarceration Should Not be a Death Sentence for Individuals Who Use Opioids

Incarceration Should Not be a Death Sentence for Individuals Who Use Opioids

The opioid epidemic has gripped communities for more than 20 years. From 1999 to 2022, nearly 722,000 people died from an overdose involving prescription and illicit opioids. Litigation has dramatically changed the substance-use disorder policy landscape and, today, more than $50 billion in opioid settlements from pharmaceutical companies, distributors, pharmacies, consultants, and others are hitting state and local coffers. This creates an unprecedented opportunity to invest in substance-use disorder care that saves lives.

Importantly, a separate wave of litigation is reshaping the way jails and prisons care for incarcerated people with opioid-use disorder. These lawsuits seek to require jails and prisons to provide medications for opioid-use disorder (MOUD) to all people for whom it is medically appropriate.

The data is clear: MOUD saves lives. Treatment of opioid-use disorder with methadone and buprenorphine — two of the three FDA-approved MOUDs — is associated with a 50 percent decrease in mortality.

How MOUD Increases Positive Health Outcomes in Jails and Prisons

People in jails and prisons experience opioid-use disorder at far higher rates than the general population, making MOUD during and immediately after incarceration essential. The time period immediately after being released from incarceration is an extremely dangerous time for those addicted to substances, especially for those who have been denied MOUD during incarceration. Recently incarcerated people who did not have access to MOUD in jail or prison are dozens of times more likely than the general population to die of an overdose in the weeks following release. For those recently released from jail or prison, access to MOUD was associated with a 75 percent decrease in mortality and an 85 percent decrease in overdose deaths in the month following release.

How Lawsuits Help to Increase Access to MOUDs

Denial of MOUD access for incarcerated people is not just wrong—it is also illegal. With court victories in Massachusetts, Maine, New York, and West Virginia, as well as settlements and other positive resolutions in Washington, Kansas, Illinois, and New Mexico, the legal groundwork is shifting toward requiring access to this life-saving care. In 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) released guidance re-affirming that denial of MOUD can amount to a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (AMA), and the DOJ has settled several cases requiring jail and prison facilities to provide access to MOUD.

Many of the legal cases on this topic thus far have sought to change policies and practices to require the jail or prison to provide MOUD; generally these lawsuits do not yet seek monetary damages for failure to provide care. That too is changing. Recent lawsuits in West Virginia, Maine, and New York have brought damages claims against jails and prisons that have failed to provide adequate care. If these cases succeed, jails and prisons that fail to provide MOUD risk not only a time-consuming and expensive lawsuit, but also the possibility of owing large amounts for the pain, suffering, and even the wrongful death of people in their custody who were denied adequate medical care.

Policy Must Make MOUD a Requirement in Prison and Jail

A strong policy push at the federal, state, and local levels to expand access to MOUD for incarcerated people has made a big difference. The Joe Biden administration launched the Medicaid Reentry Section 1115 Demonstration Opportunity, allowing states to apply to receive federal Medicaid matching funds for certain pre-release services—including MOUD—in the last 90 days of incarceration. The Bureau of Justice Assistance has funded expansion of MOUD services in jails and the federal Bureau of Prisons is in the process of launching MOUD programs in all of its facilities. Sixteen states now require access to MOUD in jails, prisons, or both.

Today, 22.1 percent of jails provide buprenorphine maintenance care to people who were already on buprenorphine in the community, and 16 percent of jails provide methadone maintenance to people already on methadone. While these numbers represent real progress from the handful of jails providing MOUD just a few years ago, there is so much more work to be done. Many people in jail or prison have an opioid-use disorder but were not able to access MOUD in their communities. Jails and prisons must provide those people, too, with clinically-appropriate MOUD care.

Investment in MOUD After Incarceration is Vital

While litigation has been an important tool to make policy change and expand MOUD access in jails and prisons, litigating in each and every jurisdiction in the country would take many years. Opioid settlement dollars can expedite this process and help to enact policy change and provide MOUD in jails and prisons now. With more than $50 billion of settlement dollars starting to go to states and other local jurisdictions over the next two decades, localities should use some of their settlement dollars to establish MOUD programs in their state prisons and local jails to save countless lives.

Investment in this critical care is a vital step toward not only improving the lives of the incarcerated, but also to providing medically-necessary support for people with opioid use disorder long after prison. Studies show that MOUD not only saves lives, but also reduces recidivism. To continue this positive trend, recently incarcerated people with opioid-use disorder need places in the community to go to receive treatment. They need probation and parole departments, and housing providers, that don’t illegally discriminate against them for their use of MOUD.

"Investment in this critical care is a vital step toward not only improving the lives of the incarcerated, but also to providing medically-necessary support for people with opioid use disorder long after prison."

Importantly, people who aren’t ready for treatment still need, and deserve, life-saving harm reduction services. Communities must think expansively and comprehensively about investing the $50 billion in opioid settlement money across the continuum of care and services—including in harm reduction, workforce development, community treatment, and MOUD in jails and prisons—to establish sustainable, widespread, and meaningful access to lifesaving care and treatment.

Published November 25, 2024 at 01:00PM
via ACLU https://ift.tt/0rjY4D5

ACLU: How Biden Can Act Now to Limit Trump’s Mass Deportation Agenda

How Biden Can Act Now to Limit Trump’s Mass Deportation Agenda

President-elect Donald Trump has made mass detention of immigrant communities a central part of his political platform. Trump’s cabinet nominees are reportedly laying the groundwork to expand detention capacity in cities around the country. The Trump administration's proposed plans include making detention mandatory, which would trap immigrants in abusive, inhumane conditions for years as they fight deportation.

Immigration detention, or civil detention for those awaiting a determination of their immigration status or deportation, must be limited. Right now President Joe Biden can act to limit mass detention of immigrants by closing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facilities with egregious records of human rights violations and abuses and halt further detention expansion.

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The Facts

During the last Trump presidency, ICE opened more than 40 new detention facilities, with the vast majority owned or operated by private prison corporations, whose business model depends on locking up more people and are ultimately accountable to their bottom line.

Earlier this summer, President Biden directed ICE to issue Requests for Information (RFIs) and contract solicitations to identify new detention facilities to allow for a possible expansion of immigration detention across the country. These RFIs and contract solicitation indicated that ICE is considering expanding detention in at least 17 states.

Right now ICE detains approximately 37,000 people each day. These numbers exceed its annual budget and congressionally-approved detention levels. Efforts to expand the mass detention machine would lay the groundwork for future administrations to continue to abuse its detention powers, especially with the support of the next Trump administration.

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Why It Matters

Immigration detention has become another system of mass incarceration for Black and Brown people in the United States. It is also often inhumane. Congress, government oversight agencies, the media, and advocacy groups have documented widespread abuse in immigration detention centers, including use of force, sexual assault, and solitary confinement. In the past four years alone, at least 43 people have died in ICE custody. A recent ACLU study showed that 95 percent of deaths in ICE custody were likely preventable had ICE provided adequate medical and mental health care.

These abusive conditions come at an immense cost to taxpayers, while lining the pockets of private prison corporations. Nearly 90 percent of people in ICE detention are held in facilities owned or operated by private prison companies. In 2022, the GEO Group made $1.05 billion in revenue from ICE contracts alone. President Trump intends to continue funneling money to these private corporations. His proposed immigration policies are by far crueler, more extreme, and more fundamentally damaging to core rights and freedoms than any in living memory, including his own 2017-21 policies. Mass raids and deportations, detention camps, and other extreme measures create terror in our communities and do nothing to make our immigration system function more effectively.

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Our Roadmap

The ACLU is calling on President Biden to close detention facilities and halt ICE’s current detention expansion plans. These steps are vital to protect communities from the planned enforcement agenda of the incoming administration. They are also vital to saving lives and preventing abuses against people in ICE custody, often committed by for-profit prison companies. ICE should also immediately rescind all outstanding requests for information or proposals for detention expansion.

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What Our Experts Say

“Immigration detention is cruel, unnecessary, and risky. President Biden must act now to do all that he can now to prevent full-scale attacks against vulnerable immigrant communities.” -- Eunice Cho, senior staff attorney, ACLU National Prison Project

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What You Can Do Today

President Biden can stop the expansion of immigration detention facilities and close abusive detention facilities once and for all. Urge him to do so today.

Published November 21, 2024 at 02:00AM
via ACLU https://ift.tt/Ma7RQgc

ACLU: How Biden Can Act Now to Limit Trump’s Mass Deportation Agenda

How Biden Can Act Now to Limit Trump’s Mass Deportation Agenda

President-elect Donald Trump has made mass detention of immigrant communities a central part of his political platform. Trump’s cabinet nominees are reportedly laying the groundwork to expand detention capacity in cities around the country. The Trump administration's proposed plans include making detention mandatory, which would trap immigrants in abusive, inhumane conditions for years as they fight deportation.

Immigration detention, or civil detention for those awaiting a determination of their immigration status or deportation, must be limited. Right now President Joe Biden can act to limit mass detention of immigrants by closing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facilities with egregious records of human rights violations and abuses and halt further detention expansion.

---

The Facts

During the last Trump presidency, ICE opened more than 40 new detention facilities, with the vast majority owned or operated by private prison corporations, whose business model depends on locking up more people and are ultimately accountable to their bottom line.

Earlier this summer, President Biden directed ICE to issue Requests for Information (RFIs) and contract solicitations to identify new detention facilities to allow for a possible expansion of immigration detention across the country. These RFIs and contract solicitation indicated that ICE is considering expanding detention in at least 17 states.

Right now ICE detains approximately 37,000 people each day. These numbers exceed its annual budget and congressionally-approved detention levels. Efforts to expand the mass detention machine would lay the groundwork for future administrations to continue to abuse its detention powers, especially with the support of the next Trump administration.

---

Why It Matters

Immigration detention has become another system of mass incarceration for Black and Brown people in the United States. It is also often inhumane. Congress, government oversight agencies, the media, and advocacy groups have documented widespread abuse in immigration detention centers, including use of force, sexual assault, and solitary confinement. In the past four years alone, at least 43 people have died in ICE custody. A recent ACLU study showed that 95 percent of deaths in ICE custody were likely preventable had ICE provided adequate medical and mental health care.

These abusive conditions come at an immense cost to taxpayers, while lining the pockets of private prison corporations. Nearly 90 percent of people in ICE detention are held in facilities owned or operated by private prison companies. In 2022, the GEO Group made $1.05 billion in revenue from ICE contracts alone. President Trump intends to continue funneling money to these private corporations. His proposed immigration policies are by far crueler, more extreme, and more fundamentally damaging to core rights and freedoms than any in living memory, including his own 2017-21 policies. Mass raids and deportations, detention camps, and other extreme measures create terror in our communities and do nothing to make our immigration system function more effectively.

---

Our Roadmap

The ACLU is calling on President Biden to close detention facilities and halt ICE’s current detention expansion plans. These steps are vital to protect communities from the planned enforcement agenda of the incoming administration. They are also vital to saving lives and preventing abuses against people in ICE custody, often committed by for-profit prison companies. ICE should also immediately rescind all outstanding requests for information or proposals for detention expansion.

---

What Our Experts Say

“Immigration detention is cruel, unnecessary, and risky. President Biden must act now to do all that he can now to prevent full-scale attacks against vulnerable immigrant communities.” -- Eunice Cho, senior staff attorney, ACLU National Prison Project

---

What You Can Do Today

President Biden can stop the expansion of immigration detention facilities and close abusive detention facilities once and for all. Urge him to do so today.

Published November 20, 2024 at 08:30PM
via ACLU https://ift.tt/MOom739

ACLU: On Trans Day of Remembrance, My Grief is My Power

On Trans Day of Remembrance, My Grief is My Power

Twenty minutes from where I grew up, in Owasso, Oklahoma, Nex Benedict was relentlessly bullied for being trans. This bigoted aggression continued for more than a year and, last March, Nex died after being physically beaten in a school bathroom.

Nex is far from alone. According to a recent study by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention one in four transgender youth missed school because they knew they were unsafe. A Department of Education (ED) investigation found that Nex’s experience was part of a routine negligence to prevent sex-based harassment in their school district.

Trans Day of Remembrance is an annual ceremony of mourning for the trans and gender non-conforming people whose lives were lost to anti-trans violence this year. In 2024, four of those lost were teenagers, like Nex. The youngest, Pauly Likens, was murdered at just 14. Memorializing our trans kindred we lost in the previous year started with the 1998 death of Rita Hester and, for 26 years, this day has served as a reminder of how vitally important it is that we remember those we’ve lost, and that we continue to fight for justice.

I started my advocacy doing reproductive justice organizing in Oklahoma, not far from where Nex grew up. At the core of reproductive justice is the fundamental belief that everyone has the right to decide if, when, and how they have children and the right to raise those children in a safe and healthy environment. In that work, I saw anti-abortion legislators in Oklahoma pursue countless policies that allowed the state to police our bodies, from abortion access to gender identity. It was that fundamental belief in autonomy — that my body is mine, and mine alone — helped me understand my own transness.

Trans individuals are policed because we bend expectations of gender when we inhabit public spaces like bathrooms, when we seek housing, relationships, and education. Social, political, and legal institutions continue to attempt to control our bodies and our lives. But it is this refusal of expectations, this insistence on the freedom to be ourselves, that makes us who we are. Right now, extremist politicians across the country are putting our lives at risk when they restrict access to abortion and gender-affirming care. Josseli Barnica died waiting for emergency abortion care. Trans youth and their parents have reported devastating interruptions in medically-necessary health care when politicians attempt to ban gender-affirming care. In one study, 70 percent of gender-affirming care providers reported receiving threats to their personal safety or their practice.

On this Trans Day of Remembrance, I can’t stop thinking about the important precedent the Supreme Court is about to set. On December 4, the Supreme Court will take up U.S. v Skrmetti, a case that would decide whether or not trans youth are protected by the Constitution. This case asks the court to decide whether Tennessee’s law banning gender-affirming hormone therapies for transgender minors violates the Equal Protection Clause. The ACLU is prepared to tell the court what we know is true: Trans people are protected by the Constitution, just like everyone else, and that includes our access to gender-affirming care.

My colleagues and I are working tirelessly for the right to live our lives with dignity and the right to choose what is best for our own bodies. But today, I am also grieving. In our grief, justice can feel like an abstract concept, but in our pain and anger is an understanding that, even when justice feels bloodless, injustice must still be stopped. The relentless political attacks on the LGBTQ community that seek to dehumanize us must be stopped. The lack of adequate medical care, shelter and mental health resources must be stopped.

Mariame Kaba reminds us that we should let our grief radicalize us rather than lead us to despair. It is not radical to want safety and justice for myself and my community — it is a fundamental right. Trans people deserve the freedom to be who we are.

Today, we mourn and honor those who we have lost. Tomorrow, we celebrate, support, and fight like hell for the trans and non-binary people who are still living.

Published November 20, 2024 at 06:59PM
via ACLU https://ift.tt/bQVjFmh

ACLU: On Trans Day of Remembrance, My Grief is My Power

On Trans Day of Remembrance, My Grief is My Power

Twenty minutes from where I grew up, in Owasso, Oklahoma, Nex Benedict was relentlessly bullied for being trans. This bigoted aggression continued for more than a year and, last March, Nex died after being physically beaten in a school bathroom.

Nex is far from alone. According to a recent study by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention one in four transgender youth missed school because they knew they were unsafe. A Department of Education (ED) investigation found that Nex’s experience was part of a routine negligence to prevent sex-based harassment in their school district.

Trans Day of Remembrance is an annual ceremony of mourning for the trans and gender non-conforming people whose lives were lost to anti-trans violence this year. In 2024, four of those lost were teenagers, like Nex. The youngest, Pauly Likens, was murdered at just 14. Memorializing our trans kindred we lost in the previous year started with the 1998 death of Rita Hester and, for 26 years, this day has served as a reminder of how vitally important it is that we remember those we’ve lost, and that we continue to fight for justice.

I started my advocacy doing reproductive justice organizing in Oklahoma, not far from where Nex grew up. At the core of reproductive justice is the fundamental belief that everyone has the right to decide if, when, and how they have children and the right to raise those children in a safe and healthy environment. In that work, I saw anti-abortion legislators in Oklahoma pursue countless policies that allowed the state to police our bodies, from abortion access to gender identity. It was that fundamental belief in autonomy — that my body is mine, and mine alone — helped me understand my own transness.

Trans individuals are policed because we bend expectations of gender when we inhabit public spaces like bathrooms, when we seek housing, relationships, and education. Social, political, and legal institutions continue to attempt to control our bodies and our lives. But it is this refusal of expectations, this insistence on the freedom to be ourselves, that makes us who we are. Right now, extremist politicians across the country are putting our lives at risk when they restrict access to abortion and gender-affirming care. Josseli Barnica died waiting for emergency abortion care. Trans youth and their parents have reported devastating interruptions in medically-necessary health care when politicians attempt to ban gender-affirming care. In one study, 70 percent of gender-affirming care providers reported receiving threats to their personal safety or their practice.

On this Trans Day of Remembrance, I can’t stop thinking about the important precedent the Supreme Court is about to set. On December 4, the Supreme Court will take up U.S. v Skrmetti, a case that would decide whether or not trans youth are protected by the Constitution. This case asks the court to decide whether Tennessee’s law banning gender-affirming hormone therapies for transgender minors violates the Equal Protection Clause. The ACLU is prepared to tell the court what we know is true: Trans people are protected by the Constitution, just like everyone else, and that includes our access to gender-affirming care.

My colleagues and I are working tirelessly for the right to live our lives with dignity and the right to choose what is best for our own bodies. But today, I am also grieving. In our grief, justice can feel like an abstract concept, but in our pain and anger is an understanding that, even when justice feels bloodless, injustice must still be stopped. The relentless political attacks on the LGBTQ community that seek to dehumanize us must be stopped. The lack of adequate medical care, shelter and mental health resources must be stopped.

Mariame Kaba reminds us that we should let our grief radicalize us rather than lead us to despair. It is not radical to want safety and justice for myself and my community — it is a fundamental right. Trans people deserve the freedom to be who we are.

Today, we mourn and honor those who we have lost. Tomorrow, we celebrate, support, and fight like hell for the trans and non-binary people who are still living.

Published November 21, 2024 at 12:29AM
via ACLU https://ift.tt/9lb1kWx

ACLU: Biden Must Use Final Months in Office to Commute Federal Death Sentences

Biden Must Use Final Months in Office to Commute Federal Death Sentences

President-elect Donald Trump has chilling plans to use his second term to expand the federal death penalty. This expansion continues the killing spree he initiated in the final six months of his first presidency when Trump oversaw more executions than any president in the past 120 years. His plans for a second term include sentencing more people to die, expanding the category of crimes punishable by death, and killing all 40 people currently on federal death row.

President Joe Biden can — and must — act now to finish the death penalty reform work his administration began in 2020. He must commute the sentences of all people on federal death row to stymie Trump’s plans and to redress the racial injustice inherent to capital punishment.

Tell President Biden to Commute the Row

The federal death penalty is plagued with systemic flaws at the expense of human life. Donald Trump has promised to expand it. We must act now....

Source: American Civil Liberties Union

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The Facts

The ACLU has long fought for an end to the death penalty. We know that its cruel practices are out of step with the fundamental values of our democratic system. Trump’s return to the White House, and his unprecedented, extreme, and inhumane stance on capital punishment, only threaten to make an already cruel system more dangerous.

Already, Trump has called to unconstitutionally expand the death penalty to include non-homicide crimes, such as drug-related offenses. He has also reportedly called for the death penalty as punishment for those who leak information against him in the press or undermine him politically. He has suggested bringing back firing squads, the guillotine, and hangings by noose – a symbol and tool of our country’s sordid legacy of lynching and racial terror.

Trump’s promise to expand the death penalty magnifies the systemic inequities that already plague our capital punishment system. The federal death penalty, like state capital punishment systems, is error prone, racially-biased, and a drain on public resources. More than half of those under federal death sentence in 2024 are people of color, some of whom were convicted by all-white juries. People with serious mental illnesses, intellectual disabilities, brain damage, and histories of trauma are also overrepresented on death rows across the country, including the federal row. Additionally, as long as the death penalty exists, we risk executing innocent people, as evidenced by the 200 people who have been sentenced to death and exonerated since 1973.

In 2020, Biden made history as the first president to openly oppose the death penalty. Under his leadership, the Department of Justice (DOJ) acknowledged the death penalty’s disparate impact on people of color as well as the staggering number of people who have been sentenced to death and, subsequently, exonerated over the past five decades. Though Biden stopped short of acting on his promise to secure an end to capital punishment, he can still save lives and help build a legacy rooted in racial justice by commuting all federal death sentences to life in prison.

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Why It Matters

Studies show that the death penalty does not keep our communities safer. In fact, research has consistently shown that the death penalty does not deter homicides and that in states that homicides are lower in states that do not have the death penalty.

Trump has consistently ignored these facts. Instead, during his last term, he went on a killing spree and rapidly executed 13 men in quick succession without regard for serious miscarriages of justice. Of the 13 people Trump executed in his last term, two were Black men sentenced as teenagers, one was a woman with mental illness who had survived a lifetime of horrific sexual abuse and torture, another was a man with intellectual disabilities, and there was also a 67-year-old man whose Alzheimer’s disease left him unaware of the reason he was sentenced to die. A majority of the 13 executed were people of color, including seven Black men and one Native American man.

These executions, particularly of people with mental illness and intellectual disability, demonstrate that no amount of procedure eliminates the fundamental flaws of the death penalty.

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Our Roadmap

The ACLU is calling on President Biden to commute the sentences of all people on federal death row before he leaves office. Commuting federal death sentences will redress the legacy of racial bias inherent to capital punishment and make Trump’s brutal plans for another killing spree impossible. If Biden does this he’ll not only take away Trump’s power to oversee another execution, but he’ll also help set the U.S. on a different course. By setting an example of empathy and a willingness to root out injustice, he can pave the way for future administrations to build on his legacy and finally end capital punishment.

Our work is not confined to federal commutation efforts. The Eighth Amendment forbids cruel and usual punishment, including Trump’s proposals to expand the application of the death penalty to non-homicide crimes like drug trafficking and to use methods like hanging or the guillotine. The ACLUis ready on day one to challenge inhumane death penalty expansion efforts and any attempts to return to regressive killing methods.

At the state-level, the ACLU will build on our ongoing work against the death penalty. We’ll continue our litigation in states like Kansas and North Carolina under laws that are more protective than the U.S. Constitution — like state racial justice acts and constitutions — to invalidate the death penalty based on its racist administration, including in the selection of jury members.

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What Our Experts Say

“The death penalty is a morally-bankrupt and inescapably racist institution. President Biden came into office committing to abolishing the federal death penalty because of its fundamental flaws. Commuting the federal row is the way he can honor that commitment, and prevent irreversible miscarriages of justice.” — Yasmin Cader, ACLU deputy legal director and the director of the Trone Center for Justice and Equality.”

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What You Can Do Today

President Biden can commute all federal death sentences before his time as president ends, saving lives, preventing an irreversible miscarriage of justice, and building a legacy rooted in racial justice and compassion. Urge him to do so today.

Published November 14, 2024 at 10:51PM
via ACLU https://ift.tt/6GrPOcE

ACLU: Biden Must Use Final Months in Office to Commute Federal Death Sentences

Biden Must Use Final Months in Office to Commute Federal Death Sentences

President-elect Donald Trump has chilling plans to use his second term to expand the federal death penalty. This expansion continues the killing spree he initiated in the final six months of his first presidency when Trump oversaw more executions than any president in the past 120 years. His plans for a second term include sentencing more people to die, expanding the category of crimes punishable by death, and killing all 40 people currently on federal death row.

President Joe Biden can — and must — act now to finish the death penalty reform work his administration began in 2020. He must commute the sentences of all people on federal death row to stymie Trump’s plans and to redress the racial injustice inherent to capital punishment.

Tell President Biden to Commute the Row

The federal death penalty is plagued with systemic flaws at the expense of human life. Donald Trump has promised to expand it. We must act now....

Source: American Civil Liberties Union

---

The Facts

The ACLU has long fought for an end to the death penalty. We know that its cruel practices are out of step with the fundamental values of our democratic system. Trump’s return to the White House, and his unprecedented, extreme, and inhumane stance on capital punishment, only threaten to make an already cruel system more dangerous.

Already, Trump has called to unconstitutionally expand the death penalty to include non-homicide crimes, such as drug-related offenses. He has also reportedly called for the death penalty as punishment for those who leak information against him in the press or undermine him politically. He has suggested bringing back firing squads, the guillotine, and hangings by noose – a symbol and tool of our country’s sordid legacy of lynching and racial terror.

Trump’s promise to expand the death penalty magnifies the systemic inequities that already plague our capital punishment system. The federal death penalty, like state capital punishment systems, is error prone, racially-biased, and a drain on public resources. More than half of those under federal death sentence in 2024 are people of color, some of whom were convicted by all-white juries. People with serious mental illnesses, intellectual disabilities, brain damage, and histories of trauma are also overrepresented on death rows across the country, including the federal row. Additionally, as long as the death penalty exists, we risk executing innocent people, as evidenced by the 200 people who have been sentenced to death and exonerated since 1973.

In 2020, Biden made history as the first president to openly oppose the death penalty. Under his leadership, the Department of Justice (DOJ) acknowledged the death penalty’s disparate impact on people of color as well as the staggering number of people who have been sentenced to death and, subsequently, exonerated over the past five decades. Though Biden stopped short of acting on his promise to secure an end to capital punishment, he can still save lives and help build a legacy rooted in racial justice by commuting all federal death sentences to life in prison.

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Why It Matters

Studies show that the death penalty does not keep our communities safer. In fact, research has consistently shown that the death penalty does not deter homicides and that in states that homicides are lower in states that do not have the death penalty.

Trump has consistently ignored these facts. Instead, during his last term, he went on a killing spree and rapidly executed 13 men in quick succession without regard for serious miscarriages of justice. Of the 13 people Trump executed in his last term, two were Black men sentenced as teenagers, one was a woman with mental illness who had survived a lifetime of horrific sexual abuse and torture, another was a man with intellectual disabilities, and there was also a 67-year-old man whose Alzheimer’s disease left him unaware of the reason he was sentenced to die. A majority of the 13 executed were people of color, including seven Black men and one Native American man.

These executions, particularly of people with mental illness and intellectual disability, demonstrate that no amount of procedure eliminates the fundamental flaws of the death penalty.

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Our Roadmap

The ACLU is calling on President Biden to commute the sentences of all people on federal death row before he leaves office. Commuting federal death sentences will redress the legacy of racial bias inherent to capital punishment and make Trump’s brutal plans for another killing spree impossible. If Biden does this he’ll not only take away Trump’s power to oversee another execution, but he’ll also help set the U.S. on a different course. By setting an example of empathy and a willingness to root out injustice, he can pave the way for future administrations to build on his legacy and finally end capital punishment.

Our work is not confined to federal commutation efforts. The Eighth Amendment forbids cruel and usual punishment, including Trump’s proposals to expand the application of the death penalty to non-homicide crimes like drug trafficking and to use methods like hanging or the guillotine. The ACLUis ready on day one to challenge inhumane death penalty expansion efforts and any attempts to return to regressive killing methods.

At the state-level, the ACLU will build on our ongoing work against the death penalty. We’ll continue our litigation in states like Kansas and North Carolina under laws that are more protective than the U.S. Constitution — like state racial justice acts and constitutions — to invalidate the death penalty based on its racist administration, including in the selection of jury members.

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What Our Experts Say

“The death penalty is a morally-bankrupt and inescapably racist institution. President Biden came into office committing to abolishing the federal death penalty because of its fundamental flaws. Commuting the federal row is the way he can honor that commitment, and prevent irreversible miscarriages of justice.” — Yasmin Cader, ACLU deputy legal director and the director of the Trone Center for Justice and Equality.”

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What You Can Do Today

President Biden can commute all federal death sentences before his time as president ends, saving lives, preventing an irreversible miscarriage of justice, and building a legacy rooted in racial justice and compassion. Urge him to do so today.

Published November 14, 2024 at 05:21PM
via ACLU https://ift.tt/sWxMmOd

ACLU: In Trump Country, Ballot Measures Safeguard Abortion Rights

In Trump Country, Ballot Measures Safeguard Abortion Rights

In the final weeks of the election, Vice President Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party focused their campaign efforts on abortion rights, particularly in key swing states. While those efforts did not secure Harris a win, in the 10 states where abortion rights were on the ballot, seven voted to safeguard abortion rights in their state constitutions.

Among those seven states, in Arizona, Missouri, Nevada and Montana — where President-elect Donald Trump won — abortion ballot measures definitively passed. In many cases, the ballot measures were more popular than Trump. While these red state wins indicate just how popular abortion rights are among even conservative-leaning voters, wins in blue and purple states, including Maryland, Colorado and New York, show that reproductive freedom continues to be an issue that defies party lines.

Abortion Rights Win in Trump Country

Kohar/ACLU

Thirteen states currently have total abortion bans in effect, but Missouri was the first state to enforce its ban, taking action mere minutes after the fall of Roe v. Wade. Missourians, who voted for Trump in 2016, 2020 and in 2024, this year passed Amendment 3 to end the state's total abortion ban, which was one of the strictest in the country. Amendment 3 ensures that decisions about Missourians’ reproductive health care — including abortion, birth control, and miscarriage care — can be made by patients with their health care providers, not politicians.

The ACLU, ACLU of Missouri and its partners led this ballot measure and, the day after it passed, we again joined with partners to file a lawsuit on behalf of Planned Parenthood to implement the amendment and urgently restore access to care in the state. Krysten Vaughn, the community engagement associate at the ACLU of Missouri, saw firsthand just how popular abortion rights are in her red state. While canvassing for Amendment 3, she spoke to a mother who was thrilled that she and her husband could vote for Amendment 3 to protect their family.

She also knocked on the door of an elderly man who said his wife had waited an hour in line to vote yes on the amendment. “He was very enthusiastic and even said ‘bless you all for the work you’ve been doing,’” Vaughn said.

Like Missouri, Montana voters have supported Trump in the past three elections. Montana’s Supreme Court, however, has a strong precedent protecting abortion rights. As we saw with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Roe, court opinions can change if the court’s makeup changes. That’s why, this election cycle, voters chose to safeguard an explicit right to abortion in their constitution and passed Constitutional Initiative 128 by more than 15 points. This initiative permanently secures the right to make and carry out decisions about pregnancy and abortion in the state constitution. The ACLU of Montana was a driving force behind the ballot measure, uplifting the overwhelming support for abortion rights in deep Trump country.

Khadija Davis, a political strategist with the ACLU of Montana, spoke to Montanans about why this ballot measure was personal. Davis saw people drive hundreds of miles, endure tough weather, spend long hours volunteering, and make phone calls to mobilize their communities to vote for their reproductive rights. While phone banking, Davis met women who shared their experiences from decades ago, before Roe, who said they refused to go back – they were voting for a better future for their children.

“You could feel the passion and compassion people had for one another, and this campaign,” Davis said. “When I was at the rally in Helena, people were crying, hugging, and sharing joy. They made signs, dressed in matching shirts, and came out to build community around hope.

The ACLU and the ACLU of Montana not only supported the ballot measure, we also invested in Montana’s Supreme Court race to educate voters on candidate positions on civil liberties and rights. As a result, the pro-civil liberty majority was preserved on the state Supreme Court. The state Supreme Court will now determine how the ballot measure is implemented and the ACLU will work to hold it accountable for enforcing this vital protection.

Red State Near Misses and Purple State Wins Show Power of Abortion at the Polls

In the Southwest, Arizona has also aggressively restricted abortion access for decades, imposing a 15-week ban on abortion after Roe was overturned and almost reinstating an 1864 total abortion ban. Given the opportunity to change this, a majority of voters — almost 62 percent — voted yes on Proposition 139, which enshrined the right to abortion in the state’s constitution. With more than half the vote, the ballot measure passed with a wider margin than Trump’s win.

Harrison Redmond, a community organizer at the ACLU or Arizona, was proud to have the opportunity to work on this ballot measure so that all Arizonans, including his younger sister, can live in a state that respects their civil rights and liberties. Redmond spoke with countless volunteers and supporters over the last year who wanted the same thing as him: equal rights for the people in their lives who can become pregnant.

“Arizonans made it clear that they don’t want the government interfering with important, personal health care decisions about abortion. Passing Prop. 139 is a huge step that will ensure people in our community get the care they need,” Redmond said.

In the East, while the abortion ballot measure didn’t win in Florida, it came close with 57 percent of voters supporting Amendment 4, which would have prohibited laws restricting abortion before fetal viability or when necessary to protect a pregnant person’s health. Unfortunately, the state’s undemocratic 60 percent threshold for passing a ballot initiative kept this vital right from being restored. That barrier, combined with deceptive tactics from Gov. Ron DeSantis, including a state-run, taxpayer-funded campaign to deceive voters as well as threats to petition signers and TV stations, proved too much to overcome.

Blue States Lead on Securing Abortion Rights in the Absence of Federal Protections

Trump lost some blue states, like Massachusetts, by much smaller margins than he did in 2016 or 2020, indicating a shift in voter preferences in so-called Democratic strongholds. Despite these shifts, two blue states, New York and Maryland, voted to enshrine abortion rights into state law.

In New York, the Equal Rights Amendment, or Prop 1, passed with 62 percent of the vote. The amendment protects against unequal treatment based on ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, and sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy.

In Maryland, 75 percent of voters said yes to Question 1, which confirms an individual’s fundamental right to reproductive freedom. While both Maryland and New York already had abortion rights’ protections in state statute, Prop 1 and Question 1 add another layer of more durable protections.

Across the Country, the Fight Continues

The ACLU is building a firewall for freedom to help state and local governments protect our rights always, especially in the face of federal abuses. Our reproductive freedom firewall work includes continuing to work with local partners on abortion rights ballot measures since the fall of Roe v. Wade. But we know passing these ballot initiatives are just the first step.

In 2022, the ACLU was a driving force behind the successful abortion rights measure in Michigan. As a next step, just as we have in Montana, we wanted to make sure that the will of the people was effectively carried out through judicial interpretation of the measure, which often falls to the highest court in the state. To bolster that abortion rights victory, in 2024, the ACLU Voter Education Fund spent $2 million on voter education around Michigan’s Supreme Court candidates to help educate voters on the role of the court on this issue.

While we are very encouraged by the successes we’ve seen, passing ballot measures to ensure reproductive rights is not a holistic solution. Only half of the states even allow citizen-initiated ballot measures. And, across the country, one in three women of reproductive age currently live in states where abortion is banned. We need a nationwide solution to this public health crisis, including federal-level protections for abortion and reproductive health care.

The voters have spoken loud and clear. Across the country, Americans do not want to see abortion banned. At the ACLU we’re ready to fight to protect the will of the people. Already, we’ve vowed to block any attempts by the upcoming Trump administration to weaponize the Comstock Act to effectively ban abortion nationwide or to take medication abortion off the market. And we won’t stop there. Any attempt to restrict our reproductive freedom will be met with the full force of the ACLU.

Published November 13, 2024 at 03:16AM
via ACLU https://ift.tt/vBUxP46

ACLU: In Trump Country, Ballot Measures Safeguard Abortion Rights

In Trump Country, Ballot Measures Safeguard Abortion Rights

In the final weeks of the election, Vice President Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party focused their campaign efforts on abortion rights, particularly in key swing states. While those efforts did not secure Harris a win, in the 10 states where abortion rights were on the ballot, seven voted to safeguard abortion rights in their state constitutions.

Among those seven states, in Arizona, Missouri, Nevada and Montana — where President-elect Donald Trump won — abortion ballot measures definitively passed. In many cases, the ballot measures were more popular than Trump. While these red state wins indicate just how popular abortion rights are among even conservative-leaning voters, wins in blue and purple states, including Maryland, Colorado and New York, show that reproductive freedom continues to be an issue that defies party lines.

Abortion Rights Win in Trump Country

Kohar/ACLU

Thirteen states currently have total abortion bans in effect, but Missouri was the first state to enforce its ban, taking action mere minutes after the fall of Roe v. Wade. Missourians, who voted for Trump in 2016, 2020 and in 2024, this year passed Amendment 3 to end the state's total abortion ban, which was one of the strictest in the country. Amendment 3 ensures that decisions about Missourians’ reproductive health care — including abortion, birth control, and miscarriage care — can be made by patients with their health care providers, not politicians.

The ACLU, ACLU of Missouri and its partners led this ballot measure and, the day after it passed, we again joined with partners to file a lawsuit on behalf of Planned Parenthood to implement the amendment and urgently restore access to care in the state. Krysten Vaughn, the community engagement associate at the ACLU of Missouri, saw firsthand just how popular abortion rights are in her red state. While canvassing for Amendment 3, she spoke to a mother who was thrilled that she and her husband could vote for Amendment 3 to protect their family.

She also knocked on the door of an elderly man who said his wife had waited an hour in line to vote yes on the amendment. “He was very enthusiastic and even said ‘bless you all for the work you’ve been doing,’” Vaughn said.

Like Missouri, Montana voters have supported Trump in the past three elections. Montana’s Supreme Court, however, has a strong precedent protecting abortion rights. As we saw with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Roe, court opinions can change if the court’s makeup changes. That’s why, this election cycle, voters chose to safeguard an explicit right to abortion in their constitution and passed Constitutional Initiative 128 by more than 15 points. This initiative permanently secures the right to make and carry out decisions about pregnancy and abortion in the state constitution. The ACLU of Montana was a driving force behind the ballot measure, uplifting the overwhelming support for abortion rights in deep Trump country.

Khadija Davis, a political strategist with the ACLU of Montana, spoke to Montanans about why this ballot measure was personal. Davis saw people drive hundreds of miles, endure tough weather, spend long hours volunteering, and make phone calls to mobilize their communities to vote for their reproductive rights. While phone banking, Davis met women who shared their experiences from decades ago, before Roe, who said they refused to go back – they were voting for a better future for their children.

“You could feel the passion and compassion people had for one another, and this campaign,” Davis said. “When I was at the rally in Helena, people were crying, hugging, and sharing joy. They made signs, dressed in matching shirts, and came out to build community around hope.

The ACLU and the ACLU of Montana not only supported the ballot measure, we also invested in Montana’s Supreme Court race to educate voters on candidate positions on civil liberties and rights. As a result, the pro-civil liberty majority was preserved on the state Supreme Court. The state Supreme Court will now determine how the ballot measure is implemented and the ACLU will work to hold it accountable for enforcing this vital protection.

Red State Near Misses and Purple State Wins Show Power of Abortion at the Polls

In the Southwest, Arizona has also aggressively restricted abortion access for decades, imposing a 15-week ban on abortion after Roe was overturned and almost reinstating an 1864 total abortion ban. Given the opportunity to change this, a majority of voters — almost 62 percent — voted yes on Proposition 139, which enshrined the right to abortion in the state’s constitution. With more than half the vote, the ballot measure passed with a wider margin than Trump’s win.

Harrison Redmond, a community organizer at the ACLU or Arizona, was proud to have the opportunity to work on this ballot measure so that all Arizonans, including his younger sister, can live in a state that respects their civil rights and liberties. Redmond spoke with countless volunteers and supporters over the last year who wanted the same thing as him: equal rights for the people in their lives who can become pregnant.

“Arizonans made it clear that they don’t want the government interfering with important, personal health care decisions about abortion. Passing Prop. 139 is a huge step that will ensure people in our community get the care they need,” Redmond said.

In the East, while the abortion ballot measure didn’t win in Florida, it came close with 57 percent of voters supporting Amendment 4, which would have prohibited laws restricting abortion before fetal viability or when necessary to protect a pregnant person’s health. Unfortunately, the state’s undemocratic 60 percent threshold for passing a ballot initiative kept this vital right from being restored. That barrier, combined with deceptive tactics from Gov. Ron DeSantis, including a state-run, taxpayer-funded campaign to deceive voters as well as threats to petition signers and TV stations, proved too much to overcome.

Blue States Lead on Securing Abortion Rights in the Absence of Federal Protections

Trump lost some blue states, like Massachusetts, by much smaller margins than he did in 2016 or 2020, indicating a shift in voter preferences in so-called Democratic strongholds. Despite these shifts, two blue states, New York and Maryland, voted to enshrine abortion rights into state law.

In New York, the Equal Rights Amendment, or Prop 1, passed with 62 percent of the vote. The amendment protects against unequal treatment based on ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, and sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy.

In Maryland, 75 percent of voters said yes to Question 1, which confirms an individual’s fundamental right to reproductive freedom. While both Maryland and New York already had abortion rights’ protections in state statute, Prop 1 and Question 1 add another layer of more durable protections.

Across the Country, the Fight Continues

The ACLU is building a firewall for freedom to help state and local governments protect our rights always, especially in the face of federal abuses. Our reproductive freedom firewall work includes continuing to work with local partners on abortion rights ballot measures since the fall of Roe v. Wade. But we know passing these ballot initiatives are just the first step.

In 2022, the ACLU was a driving force behind the successful abortion rights measure in Michigan. As a next step, just as we have in Montana, we wanted to make sure that the will of the people was effectively carried out through judicial interpretation of the measure, which often falls to the highest court in the state. To bolster that abortion rights victory, in 2024, the ACLU Voter Education Fund spent $2 million on voter education around Michigan’s Supreme Court candidates to help educate voters on the role of the court on this issue.

While we are very encouraged by the successes we’ve seen, passing ballot measures to ensure reproductive rights is not a holistic solution. Only half of the states even allow citizen-initiated ballot measures. And, across the country, one in three women of reproductive age currently live in states where abortion is banned. We need a nationwide solution to this public health crisis, including federal-level protections for abortion and reproductive health care.

The voters have spoken loud and clear. Across the country, Americans do not want to see abortion banned. At the ACLU we’re ready to fight to protect the will of the people. Already, we’ve vowed to block any attempts by the upcoming Trump administration to weaponize the Comstock Act to effectively ban abortion nationwide or to take medication abortion off the market. And we won’t stop there. Any attempt to restrict our reproductive freedom will be met with the full force of the ACLU.

Published November 12, 2024 at 09:46PM
via ACLU https://ift.tt/cMUZui1

ACLU: Donald Trump will return to the White House in January. The ACLU is ready.

Donald Trump will return to the White House in January. The ACLU is ready.

Today, as the nation prepares for the devastating onslaught of civil liberties abuses identified in our most recent analysis of Donald Trump’s policy proposals and rhetoric, the ACLU, too, is prepared.

Starting on day one, we’re ready to fight for our civil liberties and civil rights in the courts, in Congress, and in our communities. We did it during his first term – filing 434 legal actions against Trump while he was in office – and we’ll do it again.

We’ve done the work and, today, our track record shows that we know how to fight his attempts to restrict our civil liberties and civil rights. Here’s just a few highlights from our 400 plus legal actions to make that point:

Published November 7, 2024 at 06:51PM
via ACLU https://ift.tt/CgJ8BP9

ACLU: Donald Trump will return to the White House in January. The ACLU is ready.

Donald Trump will return to the White House in January. The ACLU is ready.

Today, as the nation prepares for the devastating onslaught of civil liberties abuses identified in our most recent analysis of Donald Trump’s policy proposals and rhetoric, the ACLU, too, is prepared.

Starting on day one, we’re ready to fight for our civil liberties and civil rights in the courts, in Congress, and in our communities. We did it during his first term – filing 434 legal actions against Trump while he was in office – and we’ll do it again.

We’ve done the work and, today, our track record shows that we know how to fight his attempts to restrict our civil liberties and civil rights. Here’s just a few highlights from our 400 plus legal actions to make that point:

Published November 8, 2024 at 12:21AM
via ACLU https://ift.tt/5mBvQac

ACLU: How the ACLU Will Fight Four More Years of Trump

How the ACLU Will Fight Four More Years of Trump

The results of the election are in: Donald Trump will be the 47th president of the United States.

Trump’s win comes after a campaign in which he consistently targeted immigrants, transgender youth, and other vulnerable communities with hateful rhetoric. He also threatened retribution against dissidents and political opponents.

I know that many of us fear what these results mean for our communities, our nation and ourselves. We know that a second Trump administration will be even more aggressive and effective than it was before — because Trump has repeatedly said so.

As outlined in Project 2025, under a second Trump administration, our federal government will deport immigrants in dragnet raids, target his political adversaries, spy on private citizens, promote discrimination against marginalized communities, and control what we can and can’t do with our bodies. This dystopian view of American life threatens our fundamental freedoms. We know from prior experience that our fear is real.

We also know that despair and resignation are not a strategy. At the ACLU, we’re choosing to channel our fear into action. Together, we are powerful enough to change the course of our nation’s history and defend our most fundamental rights and freedoms. That is why the ACLU has a concrete plan to fight back. When President-elect Trump comes for our communities, he’s gotta through all of us.

During Trump’s first term, the ACLU filed 434 legal challenges against his administration, successfully blocking some of Trump’s most egregious policies, like the Muslim ban and separating immigrant families. When Trump once again set his sights on the White House, the ACLU’s legal and advocacy experts drafted a roadmap to combat his administration head-on. On day one, we are prepared to:

• Defend against the Trump administration’s unlawful mass deportation plan through coordinated action at all levels of government. We’ll also work with states and localities to protect residents to the full extent possible and ensure that a Trump administration can’t hijack state resources to carry out its draconian policies.
• Provide legal defense to whistleblowers and critics who dare to stand up to Trump’s policies. We’ll also protect freedom of speech and the right to protest against Trump’s agenda.
• Use the courts to affirm that LGBTQ people are protected from discrimination under federal law. We’ll fight to invalidate Trump administration policies that permit discrimination across the federal government, and to shut down the administration’s efforts to require discrimination at the state and local levels.
• Challenge the Trump administration’s dangerous attacks on reproductive freedom, including any attempts to weaponize the Comstock Act to ban abortion nationwide or to take medication abortion off the shelves. We’ll also protect access to birth control and family planning services.

As soon as the 119th Congress is sworn in, we will urge members to use their constitutional powers to provide oversight, investigate wrongdoing, and reject restrictive executive branch policies. At the state level, we’ll work with lawmakers to build a firewall for freedom and enact laws that protect people from government abuse. In our communities, we’re working to educate people on what is at risk, what happens next, and how we can fight for our freedoms together.

This is my sixth presidential election as executive director at the ACLU and there is not a doubt in my mind that our organization is the best equipped to meet this moment. We have more than a century of experience in combating political repression, we have some of the nation’s best legal and political advocates, we have our nationwide network of ACLU affiliates, and we have all of you.

The Trump administration’s anti-liberty and fundamentally anti-American policies will be met with the full firepower of the ACLU, the might of our allies, and the commitment of the American people. Above all else, that gives me hope. The next four years will be challenging, but we’re ready to put up the fight of the century. You can count on it.

Share Your Story: How Project 2025 Impacts You

Share your story about the impact Project 2025 could have on your life and community.

Source: American Civil Liberties Union

Published November 6, 2024 at 11:31PM
via ACLU https://ift.tt/eXmfol2

ACLU: How the ACLU Will Fight Four More Years of Trump

How the ACLU Will Fight Four More Years of Trump

The results of the election are in: Donald Trump will be the 47th president of the United States.

Trump’s win comes after a campaign in which he consistently targeted immigrants, transgender youth, and other vulnerable communities with hateful rhetoric. He also threatened retribution against dissidents and political opponents.

I know that many of us fear what these results mean for our communities, our nation and ourselves. We know that a second Trump administration will be even more aggressive and effective than it was before — because Trump has repeatedly said so.

As outlined in Project 2025, under a second Trump administration, our federal government will deport immigrants in dragnet raids, target his political adversaries, spy on private citizens, promote discrimination against marginalized communities, and control what we can and can’t do with our bodies. This dystopian view of American life threatens our fundamental freedoms. We know from prior experience that our fear is real.

We also know that despair and resignation are not a strategy. At the ACLU, we’re choosing to channel our fear into action. Together, we are powerful enough to change the course of our nation’s history and defend our most fundamental rights and freedoms. That is why the ACLU has a concrete plan to fight back. When President-elect Trump comes for our communities, he’s gotta through all of us.

During Trump’s first term, the ACLU filed 434 legal challenges against his administration, successfully blocking some of Trump’s most egregious policies, like the Muslim ban and separating immigrant families. When Trump once again set his sights on the White House, the ACLU’s legal and advocacy experts drafted a roadmap to combat his administration head-on. On day one, we are prepared to:

• Defend against the Trump administration’s unlawful mass deportation plan through coordinated action at all levels of government. We’ll also work with states and localities to protect residents to the full extent possible and ensure that a Trump administration can’t hijack state resources to carry out its draconian policies.
• Provide legal defense to whistleblowers and critics who dare to stand up to Trump’s policies. We’ll also protect freedom of speech and the right to protest against Trump’s agenda.
• Use the courts to affirm that LGBTQ people are protected from discrimination under federal law. We’ll fight to invalidate Trump administration policies that permit discrimination across the federal government, and to shut down the administration’s efforts to require discrimination at the state and local levels.
• Challenge the Trump administration’s dangerous attacks on reproductive freedom, including any attempts to weaponize the Comstock Act to ban abortion nationwide or to take medication abortion off the shelves. We’ll also protect access to birth control and family planning services.

As soon as the 119th Congress is sworn in, we will urge members to use their constitutional powers to provide oversight, investigate wrongdoing, and reject restrictive executive branch policies. At the state level, we’ll work with lawmakers to build a firewall for freedom and enact laws that protect people from government abuse. In our communities, we’re working to educate people on what is at risk, what happens next, and how we can fight for our freedoms together.

This is my sixth presidential election as executive director at the ACLU and there is not a doubt in my mind that our organization is the best equipped to meet this moment. We have more than a century of experience in combating political repression, we have some of the nation’s best legal and political advocates, we have our nationwide network of ACLU affiliates, and we have all of you.

The Trump administration’s anti-liberty and fundamentally anti-American policies will be met with the full firepower of the ACLU, the might of our allies, and the commitment of the American people. Above all else, that gives me hope. The next four years will be challenging, but we’re ready to put up the fight of the century. You can count on it.

Share Your Story: How Project 2025 Impacts You

Share your story about the impact Project 2025 could have on your life and community.

Source: American Civil Liberties Union

Published November 6, 2024 at 06:01PM
via ACLU https://ift.tt/JigF92Q

ACLU: Why Counting the Vote Can, and Should, Take Time

Why Counting the Vote Can, and Should, Take Time

Everyone remembers the four days it took to officially call the 2020 presidential race for Joe Biden. While that election seemed to take an inordinate amount of time, it’s normal for it to take several days to process all of the ballots.

Vote counting takes time, especially when the race is as close as the 2024 election appears to be. This year’s election is projected to have fewer mail-in ballots, and thus may take less time to call than the 2020 race, but each state still has its own election administration procedures on how, and when, to process ballots. These are standard processes that, yes, can cause the election results to take more time. They also are part of the system of checks and verifications that keep our elections fair and free.

In every election, teams of people from both parties work together at every step of the voting, counting, and reporting process to ensure that results are verified before they are officially certified. At the ACLU, we’ve kept close watch on this process. Below, we outline three main things that impact when the election is called.

ONE: Mail-In and Absentee Ballots

2020’s infamous four-day wait for the presidential election to be called can, at least partially, be attributed to the large numbers of people who voted by mail during the pandemic. We know that processing mail-in ballots can be time consuming. Currently, some states allow election workers to begin this lengthy process before Election Day, while others still do not. In 2020, the majority of mail-in ballots came from Democratic-leaning voters. If this election follows this pattern, there may be a late-in-the-day surge of votes in certain states.

Some states, such as Nevada and California, allow mail-in ballots that are postmarked by Election Day and arrive a specified number of days after Election Day to still be counted. This means that unofficial election results in some states may come days after Election Day.

TWO: State-Based Procedures and Processing Times

Every state has its own rules and procedures for how to count the vote.

For example, not all states offer early voting, or only offer short periods of early voting, which can possibly lead to long lines and bottlenecks on Election Day that extend the time it takes to gather all the votes. Additionally, many states, such as Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, do not begin processing any ballots – including mail-in or absentee ballots – until Election Day. It is therefore possible, and in some cases likely, that results won’t be projected until after Election Day. In other states, like Georgia and Michigan, pre-processing of mail-in and absentee ballots is allowed before Election Day, so projected election results in those states may come sooner, including on Election Night or the following morning.

THREE: Verifying and Counting the Vote

Canvassing is the process of counting ballots, ensuring all ballots are accounted for, and that only valid ballots are counted.

Importantly, many states also have automatic recount procedures that trigger at certain points, such as if the race is within 0.5 percent, that can also extend the canvassing process. For swing states, like Pennsylvnia, or, more recently, Nevada, the margin of victory for either candidate may be small. In these scenarios, states may recount the vote, or presidential candidates may call for a recount, which means that the states that could determine the outcome of the election may not be called until November 6th or even later.

At the ACLU, we know that these checks and verifications are standard procedure to ensure that every vote is counted. We also know that select nationwide processes can help expand access and improve the right to vote, including same-day and online voter registration across states, required early-voting access in all states for a set period, and no-excuse vote-by-mail to allow voters across the country to request and cast an absentee/mail ballot with no excuse or reason necessary.

This election, we’ll be watching the results roll in and knowing that our work doesn’t stop when the polls close. Ensuring the future of democracy requires us to safeguard our right to vote today. Join us and demand that every vote be counted and every validated result be certified to protect our freedoms.

Published November 5, 2024 at 08:39PM
via ACLU https://ift.tt/MsdnxWy