News & Commentary

On the afternoon of February 18th, the House of Representatives hit a new low by passing the Pence Amendment. This extreme legislation would eliminate federal funding for all Planned Parenthood services, penalizing the organization for using its own, non-federal funds to provide abortions. If passed by the Senate, this measure would immediately jeopardize the health of millions of women, men and teens who rely on Planned Parenthood to provide basic healthcare services. In Michigan, Planned Parenthood’s health centers serve nearly 90,000 women and men across the state each year, providing access to safe and affordable family planning and preventative health care. These services include life-saving breast and cervical cancer screenings, sexually transmitted infections testing and treatment, pregnancy testing, HIV testing and counseling, and medical referrals. In many areas, they are the only provider serving low-income women. Federal funds enable Planned Parenthood to continue their mission of helping families in Michigan meet important health care needs and preventing unintended pregnancies. Not a penny of federal money goes towards abortion services, which make up a scant 3% of Planned Parenthood’s extensive services. We can't allow Planned Parenthood to be defunded, putting the health of millions at risk and challenging a woman’s right to make informed moral decisions.

In this week's Rights Review, local and national civil liberties news overlap in a big way — from politicians playing politics with women's health, testing the very limits of free speech and the troubling tale of brainwashing Carl Levin.Next Friday, be sure to check out the fascinating documentary After Stonewall at the Kalamazoo Civil Liberties Film Fest. Only two chances remain to indulge in dinner and a movie with our Southwestern branch, so purchase your tickets today.

Most people shudder when they hear about the Westboro Baptist Church’s protests at funerals, particularly the funerals of soldiers who died in active service in Iraq and Afghanistan. The protests are disrespectful and painful to the soldiers’ families, and, as political rhetoric goes, they are far from sophisticated. But can we use the law to silence those protests? This is a fundamentally American question.Our First Amendment guarantees a robust marketplace of ideas—even ideas that we despise.  In a resounding 8-1 decision yesterday, the Supreme Court reaffirmed that we must allow even hurtful speech to ensure that freedom is guaranteed for all. There is no “funeral exception” to the First Amendment.

Each week, we run down the most recent civil liberties stories in your Weekly Rights Review.In the news this week: Oak is our King, basketball players play for equality and cities take positive action on LGBT issues.

Each week, we run down the hot civil liberties stories in your Weekly Rights Review.This week we cover counseling for LGBT high school students, the difference between a jail cell and a motel room, and the eternal question: who polices the police?

Each week, we run down the hot civil liberties stories in Your Weekly Rights Review. This week we cover zero-tolerance in schools, the trespass policy that keeps 2,000 people away from the University of Michigan, and the politics of spamming your professors.

Driving through a snowstorm toward Detroit, I wondered every time I lost control of my car "What have I gotten myself into now?" I've volunteered and served on the ACLU of Michigan Lawyers Committee for almost a decade. Even with all this experience, starting work as staff attorney for the newly-opened West Michigan Regional Office has been a revelation. For weeks, I'd worked alone at the new ACLU of Michigan office in Grand Rapids and I was looking forward to spending a day in the Detroit office for orientation. I arrived in Detroit after the snowy drive, relieved just to have survived. With barely a moment to catch my breath, I walked right into a press conference about our lawsuit on behalf of a woman whose city has banned the medical marijuana she uses to treat her multiple sclerosis. As the reporters and cameras left, our communications director had to rush off: the Michigan Supreme Court had decide to allow a case to proceed regarding the right of poor defendants to a competent lawyer and she had to prepare a response. She shot me a welcoming smile and promised to have a proper introduction over coffee. Our Legal Director Mike Steinberg told me that the Supreme Court had also just accepted another ACLU case defending a disabled woman who had been unable to pay child support for an amount double her monthly income. That day we also met with a man who has lived in the U.S. since he was a child, yet is at risk for deportation to a country whose language he can’t even read. While awaiting his fate in jail, he suffered horrendous treatment that just shouldn’t exist in a free society. These stories reminded me how essential the ACLU of Michigan's work is to protecting the rights of all our citizens. By lunch, my brain was whirling with dozens of cases, ideas and faces. Kary Moss, our executive director, later told me that this was a pretty typical day at the ACLU of Michigan. But for me, it was an amazing introduction to the breadth of work in which I’ll be engaged. Although I’m still not completely sure what I’ve gotten myself into, I know it is going to be quite a journey through the Bill of Rights. With the support of our members and my amazing colleagues, I know that I’ll be able to meet any civil liberties challenges that arise. That's more than I can say about another trip across the state in winter weather.