What made police handcuff and assault a young man and his mother, although they'd committed no crime?

Does Wal-Mart think that corporations don't have to follow state law?

What appalling practice did our supporters and a coalition of human and civil rights group bring to an end in Michigan?

Michigan

  • Facing Down Racial Profiling
    The fact that Luis was born in the U.S. and his mother is a legal permanent resident didn't stop ICE agents from illegally arresting and assaulting them. Tiburcio Briceno was detained and handcuffed by a Michigan State Police officer although he was never ticketed, showed his license, and insisted he was a citizen.

    Now they are speaking out against racial profiling in our country, joining community groups, police chiefs, business and faith leaders who reject discriminatory laws and practices and standing up for our right as Americans to live in a free society.

    It's time we end racial profiling, intimidation and illegal detention and hold law enforcement agencies that use these tactics accountable.

    Learn more at the M-Live and Michigan Radio.

  • Fighting for Medical Marijuana Patients Rights
    No employer should be allowed to intrude upon private medical decisions and flout state law — not even corporate giant Wal-Mart.

    Joseph Casias was never intoxicated on the job in his years working at a Battle Creek Wal-Mart. Instead, he used legal, doctor-prescribed medical marijuana to treat the pain and nausea caused by his brain tumor while he was at home. Joseph followed Michigan's medical marijuana law to the tee, but Wal-Mart fired him. 

    No one should have to choose between pain relief and gainful employment. That's why this week we told a federal judge that Wal-Mart should answer for wrongfully firing Joseph, urging him to allow our lawsuit to proceed.

    Learn more via Wood-TV and ACLU.org.

  • Ending Sexually Degrading Searches in Prison
    Last week, along with dozens of human rights, health and religious groups, we sent a letter to the head of the Michigan Department of Corrections to demand a stop to the extraordinarily sexually degrading, invasive strip searches in the Women's Huron Valley Correctional Facility.

    Over 60 women had written to us, describing being forced to remove all of their clothing and use their hands to spread open their vaginas as a prison guard watched. These searches took place after every contact visit the women had,whether they'd seen their lawyer, their priest or their own children. 

    With your help, we confirmed that the Michigan Department of Corrections has abandoned the routine implementation of this degrading body cavity search.

    However, an editorial for the Free Press cautions that "...given the department's history of sexual abuse, Corrections must now take additional measures to ensure the new policy is followed, as well as review its polices on strip searches in general to determine if they are necessary and conducted in the least degrading manner possible."

    Learn more via Mlive.com and the Free Press.

National

  • A Slick Trick on the NDAA and Indefinite Detention; Don't Be Fooled!
    It looks like there is slick little trick brewing in Congress. Supporters of locking people up without charge or trial are getting ready to play yet another trick on the American people.

    Late yesterday, Congressman Scott Rigell and 26 other members of Congress introduced a bill, H.R. 4388, which he is trying to sell to the American people as a "fix" for the National Defense Authorization Act. But in fact, it is a useless bill that might actually end up causing harm.

    That's right. The plan in the House of Representatives seems to be to try to fool Americans into thinking that they are fixing the indefinite detention problems with the NDAA and the Authorization for the Use of Military Force, when in fact, they are doing nothing good. Don't be fooled!

    Read what's really going on at the Blog of Rights.