News & Commentary

DETROIT – Residents of Flint, together with the ACLU of Michigan and the Natural Resources Defense Council, today announced their intention to sue state and city officials for ongoing violations of the federal Safe Drinking Water Act amid the city’s widespread lead-contamination crisis. A lawsuit would force officials to address repeated, systemic failures to follow federal rules designed to protect the public health from dangerous levels of lead exposure.

ACLU at the Michigan Capitol – November 16, 2015

"Islands of excellence in a sea of despair," that’s how former superintendent of Michigan Public Instruction, Thomas D. Watkins Jr., described special education in Michigan during a recent listening session.  

A community activist in Flint reached out to me with alarming news about a 7-year-old boy who was handcuffed by a police officer following a minor dustup during an afterschool program at Brownell Elementary. The second grader is about 55 lbs. and has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It didn’t sound good—and when I saw the video it looked worse.

The ongoing Flint water crisis generated headlines last week when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a report warning that road work or hydrant flushing could shake loose toxic lead particles from rusted pipes and that residents needed to be notified about such work in order to protect themselves.

As I sat in Judge Edmund’s courtroom Wednesday afternoon, listening to arguments in our case of Love v. Johnson, I felt this strong surge of emotion inside of me. 

DETROIT—Lawyers from the ACLU and the ACLU of Michigan argued Wednesday against a Michigan Secretary of State policy that prevents many transgender men and women from correcting the gender on their driver’s licenses and other forms of identification.

Today at 2 p.m., this Wednesday Nov. 4, 2015, I'll be sitting in federal Judge Nancy Edmond's court—room 858, located at 231 W. Lafayette Blvd. in downtown Detroit—watching the ACLU of Michigan, in partnership with the ACLU National, argue one of Michigan's most important LGBT cases in history—Love v. Johnson. 

ACLU at the Michigan Capitol – November 2, 2015