Latest From ACLU of Washington

The U.S. Supreme Court heard two cases on Dec. 4 – including one from Seattle – involving desegregation programs in public schools. The American Civil Liberties Union has filed friend-of-the-court briefs in the cases.

The American Civil Liberties Union today is seeking a Temporary Restraining Order against the City of Tacoma to enable a political action group to obtain a permit for a march. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the Tacoma Leonard Peltier Support Group (TLPSG), a group that works to advance the rights of Native Americans.

Jessica Beckett, a senior at North Kitsap High School in Poulsbo, has been selected to receive a Youth Activist Scholarship Award in recognition of her work for civil liberties. The $4,000 college scholarship is one of nine awarded by the American Civil Liberties Union to high school students around the nation.

Noting that freedom of speech is "essential to our democratic ideals," U.S. District Court Judge Robert Lasnik today overturned the ban on candidates mentioning their opponents in the City of Seattle's voter pamphlet. The ruling came in a lawsuit filed by the ACLU challenging the Seattle Ethics and Election Commission's censorship of candidate statements. Agreeing with the ACLU's arguments, Judge Lasnik found that the restriction on candidate statements violates the First Amendment because it bans the expression of certain viewpoints.

Increasingly, corporations and some police officials around the country are seeking to silence their critics by filing actions known as SLAPP suits, or Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation. These suits aim to intimidate citizen activists with limited means by forcing them to spend time and money on baseless legal proceedings.