News Releases

News Release, Published: 
Friday, November 20, 2009
Responding to citizen demands for action to safeguard sensitive personal information, the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington has drafted House and Senate bills to protect the privacy of people’s medical information. The bills would prohibit non-health care providers with legitimate access to medical records from disclosing these medical records to anyone else for further use. The bills would bar insurance companies from marketing medical records to third parties.
News Release, Published: 
Friday, November 20, 2009
Sunnyside High School students and their parents have negotiated an agreement with Sunnyside School District to clear illegally imposed suspensions from the students’ school records. The suspensions were imposed when the students left school last November to protest the passage of Initiative 200, a measure restricting affirmative action programs.
News Release, Published: 
Friday, November 20, 2009
The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington is offering free legal advice to booksellers in the state who receive subpoenas or search warrants seeking disclosure of customer purchase records. The ACLU is making the offer in letters sent to booksellers statewide.
News Release, Published: 
Friday, November 20, 2009
A bill was introduced in the Senate today to bar government forfeiture and sale of a person's property unless the person has been convicted of a crime.
News Release, Published: 
Friday, November 20, 2009
Settling a class-action lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington and Columbia Legal Services, Grant County officials have agreed to overhaul the county’s system for providing legal defense to people charged with felonies who cannot afford an attorney. Under the settlement, the county will reduce excessive caseloads, guarantee that public defense lawyers are qualified to handle serious felony cases, and provide adequate funding for investigators and expert witnesses.
News Release, Published: 
Friday, November 20, 2009
The city of Seattle and the ACLU have reached a partial settlement of a lawsuit over police disruption of a 2003 march by opponents of police brutality.
News Release, Published: 
Friday, November 20, 2009
The Washington Supreme Court has ruled that people do not give up their right to privacy when they check into a hotel. The Court reviewed a case dealing with police sweeps of motel guest registries in Lakewood.
News Release, Published: 
Friday, November 20, 2009
On October 2, 2008, the Department of Health adopted a rule defining a "60-day supply" of medical marijuana. It specifies that a qualifying patient or designated provider "may possess a total of no more than twenty-four ounces of usable marijuana, and no more than fifteen plants." It makes no distinction between mature and immature plants.
News Release, Published: 
Friday, November 20, 2009
In a victory for prisoner rights, a federal appeals court has found that corrections officials cannot prevent inmates from receiving bulk mail sent at nonprofit postal rates.
News Release, Published: 
Friday, November 20, 2009
In the wake of the tragic murder of gay student Matthew Shepard in Wyoming, civil rights advocates in Washington are calling for passage of the Safe Schools Act.

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