News & Commentary

Barbara Hernandez was only 16 years old when she was tried as an adult and convicted of murder after her abusive boyfriend killed a man.

The ACLU of Michigan is tracking hundreds of legal cases and pieces of legislation that impact your civil liberties at any given moment, covering all concerns from free speech to government abuse. That's why we like to point out a few cases that made the news each week, to keep our members and supporters up to date on threats in your neighborhood.

Fighting Judgment: Being Poor isn't a Crime

Ever wonder who’s behind the work here at the ACLU of Michigan? In our new blog series Five Questions, ACLU of Michigan staff will talk about the incredible day-to-day work defending civil liberties. For the next month, we'll be asking our fellows to speak about their experiences in the office...starting with me! 

Jacques: Michigan Laws Make Criminals of Us All (Detroit News) Because of Michigan's extensive penal code, however, many everyday activities can cross over into the crime category — putting too many innocent individuals at risk of committing a "crime." A report that came out last fall highlighted just how egregious the situation is in Michigan, and showed how this state's criminal code outpaces its Midwest neighbors.

With a history of civil liberties stretching back almost a century, the ACLU has got plenty of amazing cases for #TBT. Every Thursday, we'll be sharing updates on cases pulled from our archives of work in Michigan and beyond.

State Departments Prepare to Extend Benefits to 323 Gay Couples Married in Michigan (Mlive) Jay Kaplan, a staff attorney for the ACLU of Michigan who worked on the marriage recognition case, said it is "hard to enumerate" all of the state benefits that those couples - whose marriages were already recognized by the federal government -- will now be entitled to. A lot of the new benefits are "practical things," said Kaplan, such as the ability to easily change a last name on a driver's license or qualify as a beneficiary on a spouse's state pension. (ALSO: Detroit Free Press, Detroit News)

With a history of civil liberties stretching back almost a century, the ACLU has got plenty of amazing cases for #TBT. Every Thursday, we'll be sharing updates on cases pulled from our archives of work in Michigan and beyond. Just yesterday, Governor Snyder announced $2 million in grants to help Flint improve its water system after months of residents complaining about undrinkable water. We covered this issue on Democracy Watch months ago, and will continue to follow the issue. 

In Michigan, our current approach to school discipline is driving far too many public-school students—especially students of color—out of the classroom. In many cases, these children wind up booted out of state public-school districts altogether. Far too often, they also wind up in handcuffs. And in most cases, the discipline policies do little to actually make schools safer. A new report released today from Michigan State University professor Christopher Dunbar warns that the problems will only worsen—and the flow of children into the school-to-prison pipeline will only increase—unless leaders change their misguided notions about school discipline and overhaul related state laws. In For Naught: How Zero Tolerance Policy and School Police Practices Imperil Our Students’ Future, Dr. Dunbar takes an uncommonly deep dive into public school suspension and arrest data, finding that about 137,000 students were suspended from Michigan schools in one school year. The report also found that black students in the state are more than four times as likely as white students to be suspended from school. Equally as troubling, his research reveals that the disturbing rise in suspension and expulsion rates has far more to do with inappropriately harsh responses to child behavior—such as the enactment of draconian “zero tolerance” laws— than with effective preservation of school safety. As a way of reversing this trend, Dunbar’s report offers some key recommendations for better addressing student misconduct and reducing the number of exclusions and arrests: