News & Commentary

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.Read our letter

DETROIT - Attorneys for Flint schoolchildren have reached a historic agreement with the Michigan Department of Education (MDE), Genesee Intermediate School District (GISD) and Flint Community Schools (FCS) to establish an unprecedented program to provide universal screening, and in-depth assessments when necessary, to all Flint children impacted by the Flint water crisis.

DETROIT, Mich. – U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith ruled today that it is unconstitutional to strip children, who had been serving life sentences, of credits for good behavior. State lawmakers had passed legislation that retroactively deprived these children of this sentence reduction program.

By: Mark Fancher, Racial Justice Staff AttorneyAs the world pauses today to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,  it occurs to me that many were not around when

Greyhound buses, once a symbol of travel on America’s vast highways, have become rolling traps where U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents routinely board to unlawfully interrogate, detain and arrest passengers.  

Today the American Civil Liberties Union and ACLU of Michigan filed a motion in federal court asking to intervene in a lawsuit that was filed against Williamston Community Schools for adopting policies that prohibit discrimination against students for their sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. The ACLU is representing Stand with Trans, a statewide organization that supports transgender youth and their families, and Williamston High School’s Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA), a student-run LGBT support group.

DETROIT — Today the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled that R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes unlawfully discriminated against Aimee Stephens when it fired her after she notified her employer that she would begin working openly as female because she is a transgender woman. The ruling affirms that transgender individuals are protected by federal sex discrimination laws, and that religious belief does not give employers the right to discriminate against them. Today’s decision reverses the lower court’s decision, which held that religious belief was sufficient to exempt the employer from anti-discrimination laws.

By Britanny Hamama