News & Commentary

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

A federal court today ruled that nearly 300 Iraqi nationals who have been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will have an opportunity to be released. U.S. District Court Judge Mark Goldsmith ruled that when Iraqis in the case have been detained for more than six months—as already nearly all of them have—they are entitled to go before an immigration judge and present evidence showing they should be released from detention. In June, Judge Goldsmith halted their deportations because of the danger they could face in Iraq, but almost all have languished in detention since then. Today’s ruling requires release of nearly all the detainees by February 2 unless an immigration judge finds clear and convincing evidence that a particular individual is either a flight risk or a public safety risk.