Latest From ACLU of Washington

The latest content and updates from the ACLU of Washington website.

Thank you for supporting Curt and Robert

Published: 
Thursday, July 5, 2012
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Thank you for supporting Edie!

Published: 
Thursday, July 5, 2012
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Las organizaciones comunitarias de Washington rechazan la ley de discriminación en base a raza de Arizona, SB 1070

Published: 
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
La SB 1070 va en contra de los queridos valores de Washington que nadie debe sufrir intrusiones injustificadas por parte de la policía y que todos debemos tener derecho a debido proceso, justicia, e igualdad. Los líderes comunitarios en Washington siempre se han mantenido alertos para asegurar que leyes como la SB 1070 nunca se pasen aquí. De hecho, tales medidas nunca han ganado terreno en nuestro estado, ni en la legislatura ni por iniciativa – ninguna de las leyes o proposiciones en el estado de Washington ha ganado apoyo importante, y donde las agencias de aduana y control fronterizo y las autoridades competentes han discriminado en base a la raza o la etnia, muchos de nuestros líderes comunitarios han respondido con fuerza, rechazando tales medidas.
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Washington’s Community Organizations Reject Arizona’s Racial Profiling Law

Published: 
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Arizona’s SB 1070 is contrary to Washington’s cherished values that everyone should be free from unwarranted intrusions by police and that everyone should have due process, fairness, and equality.  Community leaders in Washington have always been vigilant to ensure that laws like SB 1070 never pass here.  Indeed, such measures have never gotten traction in our state, whether through the legislature or via initiative—every single anti-immigrant law or ballot measure that has been proposed in Washington has failed to gain any significant support.  And where the Customs and Border Protection agency or local law enforcement agencies have engaged in racial profiling to the detriment of public safety, many of our community leaders have responded strongly in rejecting such measures.
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To confront torture, America must first apologize for its own mistakes

Published: 
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Martin Niemoller’s well-known insight (“first they came for the Socialists, I was not one… when they came for me, there was no one left to speak up”) affirms the urgency of speaking out against torture and seeking remedy for torture victims and survivors around the world. To speak out against organized harm requires courageous naming, as observed by writer and rights advocate Marge Piercy, who wrote that “we must name the giant in whose belly we are chained.”  
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Template

Published: 
Monday, June 25, 2012
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Reject Arizona’s Racial Profiling Law and What It Stands For

Published: 
Monday, June 25, 2012
The ACLU-WA’s Shankar Narayan joined immigrant rights allies and elected officials in speaking out against Arizona’s racial profiling law, SB 1070, a press conference on the steps of the federal courthouse in Seattle. He pointed that such laws fly in the face of our fundamental values.
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We're Ready to Defend Washington's Marriage Law at the Ballot Box

Published: 
Monday, June 18, 2012
Last February, we cheered and cried with our friends and allies when Washington State Governor Chris Gregoire signed a bill that grants civil marriage to all loving, committed same-sex couples. But even as we celebrated, we knew that the opponents of marriage equality would continue to fight. Washington law allows the opponents of a piece of legislation to take their case to the voters by gathering enough signatures to place a referendum on the ballot. A “yes” vote on the referendum is a vote to protect the freedom to marry for same-sex couples.  A “no” vote on the referendum is a vote to exclude same-sex couples from marriage."
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Administration to Stop Deporting “Dreamers”: A Step Toward Upholding Constitutional Ideals

Published: 
Friday, June 15, 2012
The due process and equal protection clauses embodied in our Constitution and Bill of Rights apply to every "person," and are not limited to U.S. citizens. But for the youth who are impacted by today’s announcement, their immigration status means that those basic principles of due process and equal protection are increasingly in jeopardy as applied to them.
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ACLU Urges Seattle City Council to Act on Biased Policing

Document, Published: 
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
The ACLU-WA is urging the Seattle City Council to take concrete actions to curb racially insensitive policing. The action came as the City is defending a Seattle police officer’s use of racially insulting language as an acceptable “control tactic.”
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ACLU-WA Will Continue to Be Vigilant for Internet Censorship in Libraries

News Release, Published: 
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
The ACLU of Washington has decided not to appeal the April 10, 2012 ruling by the U.S. District Court in Spokane against library patrons’ challenge of the Internet filtering policy of a regional library system. While the ACLU supports the American Library Association’s position that public libraries should not filter Internet content for patrons, the current facts in the case do not support an effective appeal.
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The Pledge of Allegiance in Washington Public Schools

Document, Published: 
Friday, June 1, 2012
Many public schools in the United States ask students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Some students object to the practice for reasons of conscience. Both the Washington Legislature and the courts have developed a common-sense solution to the conflict: a school may lead students in reciting the Pledge, but it must also respect the wishes of students who choose not to join.
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The Pledge of Allegiance in Washington Public Schools (PDF)

Document, Published: 
Friday, June 1, 2012
Many public schools in the United States ask students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Some students object to the practice for reasons of conscience. Both the Washington Legislature and the courts have developed a common-sense solution to the conflict.
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“It Brought the Good Person Out in Me”: Powwows in Prison

Published: 
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
A great story in the Seattle Times details the successful efforts of Seattle attorney Gabe Galanda to persuade Washington Department of Corrections (DOC) administrators to accommodate the religious rights of Native American inmates at DOC facilities around the state.
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