The ACLU of Michigan and Promote the Vote (PTV), filed a complaint in U.S. District Court asking that the PTV ballot initiative, a measure to expand voting rights in Michigan, be placed on the November 6^th ballot. This follows the State Board of Canvassers and Bureau of Elections failure to properly validate the petition signatures PTV was required to gather to place the initiative on the ballot. By failing to certify these signatures, the state has violated the voting rights of Michigan citizens who support the PTV initiative.

Today the ACLU of Michigan sent a letter to Utica Academy for International Studies urging school officials to rescind a rule barring students from holding “political” signs during demonstrations against gun violence. The letter also encourages the principal to apologize to students who were suspended after displaying gun reform signs at the March 14 protest, and to honor students’ free speech rights during future protests.

The ACLU of Michigan disagrees with the U.S. Court of Appeals decision yesterday dismissing our challenge to the FBI’s designation of Juggalos as a gang. Nonetheless, we are proud of what the case accomplished and we were honored to represent the Juggalo family.

In 2006 and 2011, the state legislature expanded the Sex Offender Registration Act (SORA), originally passed in 1994, creating harsher measures for registrants. The amendments retroactively made most registrants register for life and imposed geographic exclusion zones barring them from living, working, or spending time with their children in large areas of every city and town.

In 2006 and 2011, the Michigan state legislature expanded the Sex Offender Registry Act (SORA) originally passed in 1994, creating harsher measures that imposed geographic exclusion zones barring registrants from living, working or spending time with their children in much of the state; imposing extensive reporting requirements; and automatically extending registration to life without due process and without a mechanism for review or appeal for the vast majority of registrants.

ACLU of Michigan 2017 Board Election
Nominee Biographies

By Kelly Ehrenreich

Sixty ACLU members, volunteers and staff represented the ACLU of Michigan in the Ann Arbor Independence Day parade earlier this week. Marching through streets lined with rows of people of assorted ages, races and political stripes, we chanted over and over, "This is what democracy looks like.”

And as I joined that walk through Ann Arbor, I realized just how true that chant rang.

In an effort to remind the public about its First Amendment rights and to reassure immigrants that constitutional protections extend to them as well, the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan on Monday launched a public-education campaign that features the First Amendment printed in Arabic, Spanish and English.

The “We the People” campaign rolled out with the unveiling of an electronic billboard featuring the First Amendment in all three languages posted on Cobo Center in downtown Detroit. The ad will appear on the billboard throughout June.

The state Supreme Court yesterday decided to put on hold the trial of Nheru Littleton, a Detroit man who was arrested last year and charged with making "terroristic threats" after posting an angry comment about police on his Facebook page.

Dan Korobkin, Deputy Legal Director for the ACLU of Michigan, issued the following statement about the court's decision: