American Civil Liberties Union

ACLU Looking Into "Militarization" of Arizona Police Agencies, Including Drone Usage

The ACLU is trying to find out the extent of "militarization" of police forces across the country, including 10 law enforcement agencies in Arizona.Arizona's ACLU, as well as those in 22 other states, are filing public records requests "to determine the extent to which local police departments are u ... More >>

Jan Brewer Still Undecided on Her Order Denying Driver's Licenses for DREAMers

One week after the ACLU declared that federal officials had essentially contradicted Governor Jan Brewer's executive order preventing deferred action beneficiaries from getting driver's licenses, the governor hasn't decided how to respond.Brewer's August order says that participants in the Deferred ... More >>

Jan Brewer's Order Denying Driver's Licenses for DREAMers Challenged by Bill

While the ACLU is still suing over Governor Jan Brewer's order to deny driver's licenses to participants in the Obama Administration's deferred-action program, a bill has been submitted that would change the current policy.Democratic state Representative Catherine Miranda submitted House Bill 2032, ... More >>

ACLU: Feds Clarify Deferred Action Recipients Should Be Able to Get Driver's Licenses

The American Civil Liberties Union says the federal government has confirmed what ACLU officials have been saying all along -- participants in the Obama Administration's deferred-action program should be allowed to apply for driver's licenses.That's not exactly what U.S. Citizenship and Immigration ... More >>

Paul Penzone (Video), Rich Carmona Still in Play, and the Problem with Provisionals

Dennis Gilman and I talk to Penzone following his concession Above is a video from election night of Democrat Paul Penzone, shortly after he conceded in the sheriff's race to Joe Arpaio. Needless to say, Penzone looks like he's been through the proverbial ringer. I know there are those who disagre ... More >>

Did Scottsdale Cop James Peters Really Need to Record His Sixth Kill on the Job?

American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona representatives announced yesterday that the organization filed a lawsuit against the City of Scottsdale and the Scottsdale Police Department, related to Officer James Peters' sixth kill on the job.The officer-misconduct lawsuit will be based on the fatal sh ... More >>

Scottsdale Police Department Has Quite a Shooting Problem, ACLU Alleges

Scottsdale police officers have had quite a few shootings in recent history that have been determined by the department to be justified.That -- along with Officer James Peters' involvement in a sixth fatal shooting -- is why representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona announced ... More >>

SB 1070's "Papers Please" Section Can Go Into Effect, Judge Rules

See also: The Supreme Court's 1070 Ruling Is No Win for Teabaggers See also: SB 1070 Slugfest: Will Judge Susan Bolton Block 1070's "Papers Please" Section? See also: SB 1070 Oral Arguments on "Papers Please" Section Scheduled for August 21 See also: ACLU Seeks New Injunction on "Papers Please" Port ... More >>

Appeals Court Delays 20-Week Abortion Ban at Least Two More Months

See also: ACLU Trying to Stop 20-Week Abortion Ban; Says "No Court Has Ever Upheld" Such a Law See also: Federal Judge Upholds 20-Week Abortion Ban; Actually Cites Suspect Fetal-Pain Evidence The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals delayed the implementation of Arizona's law banning abortions after ... More >>

Federal Judge Upholds 20-Week Abortion Ban; Actually Cites Suspect Fetal-Pain Evidence

See also: ACLU Trying to Stop 20-Week Abortion Ban; Says "No Court Has Ever Upheld" Such a Law A federal judge ruled that the Arizona law banning abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy will be allowed to go into effect as scheduled on Thursday. The ACLU of Arizona and the Center for Reproductive Ri ... More >>

Russell Pearce's Racism "Discovered" by Arizona's Media

See also: ACLU Seeks New Injunction on "Papers Please" Portion of SB 1070 See also: Russell Pearce Scores Another Win Against Hispanics See also: Russell Pearce's Falsehoods, Inaccuracies and Inventions on Channel 12's Sunday Square-Off See also: Russell Pearce Preaches Hate on Ban Amnesty Now Radio ... More >>

Joe Arpaio on Trial: The Background File

Today is opening day of the class-action racial profiling lawsuit against Sheriff Joe Arpaio -- Melendres v. Arpaio.The lawsuit, supported by the American Civil Liberties Union, is four years old, so we'll provide some of the background before the coverage comes in.The Feathered Bastard posted a re ... More >>

ACLU Trying to Stop 20-Week Abortion Ban; Says "No Court Has Ever Upheld" Such a Law

The American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights filed a complaint in Arizona Federal District Court Thursday to knock down the Arizona law that will make it illegal for women to receive an abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy. The threshold was set as the point at which fe ... More >>

SB 1070 Ruling: States Do Not Have Carte Blanche in Immigration Sphere

If right-wingers such as Arizona's clueless, incompetent Governor Jan Brewer had actually read today's U.S. Supreme Court's decision on Senate Bill 1070, they would not be so quick to issue press releases spinning the court's 5-3 ruling as a victory for xenophobes, or even for the idea of some sort ... More >>

ACLU Still Waiting for Pinal County Jail to Get It Together on Immigrant Detention

It's been a year since the American Civil Liberties Union demanded immigration officials fix the conditions in which immigrants are detained at the Pinal County Jail, and if you ask the ACLU, it's no better today.The ACLU's now asking that the Department of Homeland Security officials remove the imm ... More >>

"Religious Freedom" From Contraception Bill Changed; ACLU Still Not Remotely Pleased

Amid heavy dissent from the public over Arizona's bill allowing employers to drop coverage for contraception in their health care plans if they have "religious objections," House Bill 2625 was voted down by the Senate late last month.Thanks to those gems of procedure in the Arizona Legislature, Sena ... More >>

SB 1070, SCOTUS, Friendly House, and a Ray of Hope

There's one general conclusion I have after reading and re-reading the transcript of Wednesday's oral argument before the U.S. Supreme Court over Arizona Senate Bill 1070: Latinos and their allies cannot rely on the federal government or the courts for a long term solution to the overt bigotry ... More >>

Five Must-See Shows This Weekend

If there's ever been a weekend you don't have to scramble for musical options, this is it. You've got a quadruple threat: Country Thunder in Florence, McDowell Mountain Music Fest in Phoenix, Way Out West Fest in Tucson, and that big party in Indio called Coachella. But are you not feeling the festi ... More >>

Paul Babeu Touts Gay Rights While LGBT Inmates in His Jail Suffer

ACLU Files Big Class-Action Lawsuit Against State of Arizona Prison System

The American Civil Liberties Union (and other public-service organizations and law firms) filed a monumental class-action lawsuit within the hour on behalf of 14 prisoners against the Arizona Department of Corrections and its current direct, Charles Ryan. ​The 78-page complaint was fi ... More >>

ACLU Asks Federal Judge to Dismiss Governor Brewer's Lawsuit Against Medical Marijuana Act

Governor Jan Brewer​ Governor Jan Brewer is using a supposed threat to state workers as a "pretext" for thwarting the will of voters, says the American Civil Liberties Union in a court action filed today.Lawyers for the ACLU's Arizona chapter and the Valley firm Gammage & Burnham, who repr ... More >>

July 7 In Blogs: Trevor Lutz, Blood Orange, Los Dos Molinos, and the ACLU

​​​In the 24-hour news cycle, it can be difficult to keep up. We have the solution. Check back on Valley Fever every evening for highlights from each of New Times' blogs. Today's entries:

Protest Vigil Scheduled Against Inhumane Immigrant Detention at Pinal County Jail July 7

Vigil for Dignity not Detention.Immigration activists plan to protest the federal government's worst immigrant-detention facility in Arizona.​Immigrant-rights activists are planning to hold a protest vigil at the Pinal County Jail July 7 in hope of pushing the federal government to end its imm ... More >>

Immigrants Who Fight Deportation Are Packed Into Federal Gulags for Months or Years Before Their Cases Are Heard

ACLU Report on Immigrant Detention Released; ICE Responds With Promise to Investigate "Significant Acts of Abuse" Alleged by ACLU

New Times Detention: not much different than incarceration. ​The Arizona ACLU released a report on conditions in Arizona immigrant-detention facilities today alleging serious abuses of detainees in the custody of private prisons and the Pinal County Jail.   It is titled, "In Their Own ... More >>

Westboro Baptist Church Unified Democrats and Republicans Over One Thing: Limiting Freedom of Speech

ACLU, NAACP and Other Groups Seek Federal Injunction to Stop SB 1070

from ACLU.orgThe ACLU started the legal war against SB 1070 in earnest todayAs it had announced it would do last week, the ACLU along with several other groups filed suit in federal court today, seeking to have Arizona's "papers please" legislation enjoined before it's scheduled to take effect by th ... More >>

Sheriff Joe Arpaio's Reign of Terror Becomes State Policy, Thanks to State Senator Russell Pearce and Governor Jan Brewer

An Opportunity to Stand Up

An Opportunity to Stand Up

Sheriff's Office Gets More Time to Sort Through Recovered E-mails in Racial Profiling Case

Image: Arizona Court of AppealsU.S. District Judge G. Murray Snow​ A federal judge today allowed the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office more time to sort through recovered e-mails for confidential info that doesn't pertain to an ongoing racial-profiling lawsuit. The company that saved the recov ... More >>

Most Immigrants Arrested in "Operation Return to Sender" Had No Criminal Record

​When U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement conducted an immigration sweep in northern Arizona in November, 2008, as a part of "Operation Return to Sender," they touted it as a program designed to target and deport dangerous criminals. As it turns out, most of the people arrested didn ... More >>

Terminate All Joe Arpaio's 287(g) Power, Demands ACLU

Do the lefties have Joe on the ropes, or is he playing rope-a-dope? Ramping up the pressure on ICE, the Obama administration and Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the American Civil Liberties Union has just issued a press release demanding that Arpaio be stripped of all of his 287(g) authority, includi ... More >>

Freedom Film Festival: The Least of These

August 19 In Blogs: Joe Arpaio, Daughtry, Sliders, and ASU

​​In the 24-hour news cycle it can be difficult to keep up. We have the solution. Check back on Valley Fever every evening for highlights from each of New Times' blogs. Today's entries: Feathered Bastard: ACLU and Julio and Julian Mora Sue Joe Arpaio, Arpaio Whines on Twitter Up on the Sun: Cr ... More >>

Joe Arpaio vs. ACLU: New Lawsuit Tomorrow Over Worksite Raid

Is the ACLU's new lawsuit on behalf of Avondale resident Julio Mora? We'll find out tomorrow.​ The Arizona ACLU isn't giving out any details, but they've just issued a press advisory that at noon tomorrow they will announce a lawsuit, "on behalf of two Avondale residents who were illegally a ... More >>

ACLU to Host Forum on "Constitution-Free" Zone Near Border That Allows Checkpoints

Border Patrol checkpoints and their impact on civil rights will be discussed at a forum next week in Green Valley hosted by the American Civil Liberties Union. The topic is a hot one in the southern Arizona community, where some residents have fought plans to install a permanent checkpoint on Inte ... More >>

Underwear the Safest Place for Students to Hide Contraband, Says Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas

The U.S. Supreme Court decision to declare a strip-search of an Arizona student unconstitutional also "announces the safest place to secrete contraband at school," says Justice Clarence Thomas. Just stick those drugs in your skivvies. Don't you love when a government official makes things clear f ... More >>

May 21 In Blogs: ACLU, Scramble, Phoenix Coyotes, and More

In the 24-hour news cycle it can be difficult to keep up. We have the solution. Check back on Valley Fever every evening for highlights from each of New Times' blogs. Today's entries: Feathered Bastard:ACLU Slams Joe Arpaio Over Jail Lockdown, and Channel 3's Marissa Wingate Digs Joe's Slop Up ... More >>

ACLU Says School District Agreed to Permit Student to Wear Gay-Pride Accessory; District Says Wristband Ban Never Existed

The Peoria Unified School District has agreed "it will no longer prevent" a 14-year-old student from wearing a gay-pride wristband, the ACLU says today. The district, however, says it never agreed to any such thing -- because the student was never disallowed from wearing the accessory ... More >>

ACLU Demands Peoria School District Allow Kid to Wear "Rainbows are Gay" Wristband

The American Civil Liberties Board of Arizona is threatening action against the Peoria Unified School District after an eighth-grade student was prohibited from wearing a "Rainbows are Gay" wristband. The 14-year-old gay student was told to wear the wristband inside out or quit w ... More >>

ACLU: No Record of Arpaio Saying Physical Appearance is Basis for Police Questioning

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio keeps a filthy, dangerous jail and brags about targeting illegal immigrants.But a statement in a recent federal court ruling that claims Arpaio said publicly that a person's immigration status should be questioned on "physical appearance alone" is apparently not tr ... More >>

Arizona Felons Should Be Able to Vote More, Say ACLU

Okay, it's not the problems of the world are going to get solved if more convicted felons get out and vote. There are other reasons why Arizona should consider changing the way it disenfranchises ex-cons from the electoral process, according to a new report by the American Civil Liberties Union&nbs ... More >>

Federal Judge Rules Against Joe Arpaio in Landmark Class-Action Jail Lawsuit

Arizona ACLU blasts racial profiling in new report "Driving While Black or Brown."

Letters From the Issue of Thursday, November 24, 2005

Gomer, You're Fired!

Our feathered fiend bombs Trump-haters, racist soccer moms, Uncle Joe and the ACLU. Who's gonna be next?

Give Her Liberty

Eleanor Eisenberg dances off into the sunset

Dead Men Talking

The ACLU is fighting a state law that keeps death row inmates off the Web