News & Commentary

When Shoshana Hebshi boarded Frontier Flight 623 on September 11, 2011, she was heading home to Detroit Metro Airport from a visit to her sister in San Francisco. She couldn't have foreseen that being seated next to two other brown-skinned people would end up with her handcuffed, detained, and strip-searched by law enforcement.Shoshana, born in the United States, is half Saudi Arabian, and the two men who were seated in her row were South Asian. None of them knew each other before they boarded the plane. Still, the airline and the government lumped them all together as suspicious after the two men used the lavatory one after another, for what some passengers believed was an unusually long time.The airport's police officers have argued that they acted reasonably in detaining Shoshana and that they were justified in strip-searching her, despite the fact that no one ever suggested that she had done anything suspicious at all.This is just one example of how we, as a nation, seem to have lost track of a fundamental truth in the last decade: the Constitution protects all people from discrimination and from unreasonable searches and seizures.And that's true even for brown people, on airplanes, on the 10th anniversary of 9/11.But today, a federal trial court decision in Shoshana's case reminds us of that truth.Judge Berg wrote, "The fact that the events occurred on the tenth anniversary of September 11th, on a flight bound for a city previously targeted for a terrorist attack, does not absolve the WCAA Defendants, or any law enforcement officers, of their responsibility to conduct their police work in compliance with the United States Constitution."He further wrote that the court would not "sacrifice these principles of liberty to the cause of hyper-vigilance."Despite this court decision and others like it, "flying while brown" has all too often been viewed as inherently suspicious in recent years.Remember the Iraqi-born peace activist Raed Jarrar, who was prevented from boarding his flight while wearing a T-shirt with Arabic script on it?Or the group of nine Muslim Americans removed from their flight because they discussed safety on the plane, of all things?Or all those innocent folks prevented from flying, without any meaningful after-the-fact opportunity to clear their names, because of their presence on the government's secretive No Fly List?Too many law enforcement officers and airline employees seem to think that discriminating against Muslims, South Asians, and Arabs on planes is not quite as bad as other forms of racial profiling.The Department of Justice (DOJ) opened the door to this bias-based thinking when it issued a 2003 policy guidance on racial profiling that prohibits the use of race "to any degree" in law enforcement investigation, except during national security and border integrity investigations.While DOJ is in the process of revising that guidance, the proposed revisions would leave untouched those gaping exceptions to the racial profiling bar and would not prohibit profiling based on religion or national origin. Those are loopholes that law enforcement can drive a truck through.And just ask Shoshana – that kind of government profiling is no less traumatic and hurtful than any other form of discrimination.Let's be clear: What happened to Shoshana Hebshi was illegal and unconstitutional, not to mention shameful. Today's court decision reminds us that none of us – brown, black, or white – should have to fear being arrested and strip-searched based on bias and stereotypes.Key News & DocumentsRead more about this case, including a copy of the legal complaintBy Rachel Goodman, Staff Attorney, ACLU Racial Justice Program

Today in “Companies Are Just Like Us” news, the Supreme Court has decided that Hobby Lobby, a for-profit chain of crafts stores that wants to discriminate on the basis of religion and not provide female employees access to contraceptives, is indeed exempt from following federal law!

Today, the Supreme Court on Wednesday unanimously ruled that the police need warrants to search the cellphones of people they arrest.

This afternoon, we're in court where a federal judge will hear arguments in our lawsuit with the Insane Clown Posse. The lawsuit challenges the FBI’s erroneous and arbitrary designation of all fans of ICP, known as Juggalos, as a “hybrid” criminal gang.

Today, Sterling Heights will vote on an ordinance that would protect its citizens from discrimination, banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity in employment, public accommodations, and housing.

Coming home to Detroit after my first year in college at Tufts University near Boston has been made all the more insightful and interesting by having the opportunity to work at the ACLU of Michigan. In my first week here as a Communications Intern, I have been overwhelmed in the best possible way by all of the amazing work being done that remains critical in the fight to protect civil liberties and preserve democracy for all of us. I’d be remiss to pretend as though I was at all aware of the legal battles being fought across the state or what their significance is to the lives of every Michigander… and even at the end of stint here come mid-August, I doubt I will have done much more than scratched the surface of a truly inimitable organization. That said, I hope to document my journey here taking into account not only my unique perspective but more so the common perception of what it is the ACLU actually does, and perhaps more critically: why? I’ll be sharing blogs, photos, legislative snapshots and updates on important work being done by incredible people here at the ACLU of Michigan, all flavored with who I am and what I hope to gain (and give) during my time here. To start this endeavor off, I thought I’d share a few things about myself and what has brought me here to the ACLU, as well as what I’ve managed to digest thus far!

Fans of free speech can breathe a sigh of relief, as the State of Michigan has backed off of an unconstitutional policy preventing sitting U.S. Representative John Conyers from being on the August ballot. This comes as a victory for many who felt that the removal of Rep. Conyers from the ballot was unfair and a hindrance to the right of everyone to participate in the political process. This entire debacle stems from a heated situation in which hundreds of signatures that petitioners collected for Conyers’ re-election campaign were invalidated on the grounds that several of the petition circulators were not registered voters required by a Michigan statute. There is no practical need to restrict petition circulators to registered voters and doing so only serves to curb our free speech. The foundation of our political system is rooted in the need for open political processes and communication. An essential part of our political process is that everyone has the ability to be heard. Thankfully, however, Federal Judge Leitman ruled in favor of allowing John Conyers onto the August Primary ballot.  Happily, the state announced that “...based on the facts of the judge's order, the state has decided not to appeal in the Conyers case.” Here at the ACLU of Michigan, we're dedicated to the idea that everyone should have a fair and equal say in government. Hooray for another victory for open communication in politics! James Hendrikson, ACLU of Michigan Intern

When the rights of one group are threatened by government intrusion, all our rights are in peril.

The Oakland County Sheriff’s Office recently became the first in Michigan to purchase a Hailstorm device, an incredibly powerful surveillance tool typically used by the NSA and CIA which allows police to routinely spy on thousands of people without them ever knowing.