WASHINGTON - February 27 - Multiple news reports today indicate that the Senate Intelligence Committee will launch an investigation into the Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) detention and interrogation programs. The investigation will seek to uncover how the agency was given the authority to establish black site prisons abroad to indefinitely detain individuals, as well as to interrogate them using torture and abuse. The American Civil Liberties Union welcomes the committee's investigation, and calls for the proceedings and findings to be open to the public.

WASHINGTON - February 24 - Common Cause applauds the U.S. Senate for its historic vote in support of the DC House Voting Rights Act and urges the Senate to act quickly to pass this bill to ensure that the citizens of the District of Columbia have voting representation in Congress.

"The Senate has passed a critical test of its commitment to the democratic rights of all Americans," said Bob Edgar, president of Common Cause, "Now Senators must vote against potential efforts to undermine this important voting rights legislation and proceed quickly to final passage of the bill."

WASHINGTON - February 24 - Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano is scheduled to testify tomorrow before the House Homeland Security Committee as part of the hearing titled, "DHS: The Path Forward." The American Civil Liberties Union calls on the committee to inquire into the secretary's views on key DHS policies, where the balance between security and civil liberties was often skewed under the Bush administration. Employment verification (E-Verify) and Real ID are both areas that need thorough revamping in order to respect the constitutional rights of all Americans.

JACKSON, Miss. - February 24 - Alternative schools in Mississippi are not adequately helping struggling students to succeed academically, leaving too many of the state's children to drift toward dropout and failure, according to a new American Civil Liberties Union report released today.

WASHINGTON - February 23 - The Supreme Court today agreed to hear a challenge to a congressional law allowing an eight-foot-tall Latin cross to remain in the Mojave National Preserve by transferring ownership of an acre of land within the preserve to the local chapter of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, which is now defunct. The U.S.

COLUMBIA, S.C. - February 20 - A federal judge ruled late Thursday that the method of electing members to a South Carolina county school board resulted in unlawful racial discrimination in violation of the Voting Rights Act. The decision comes in a long-running American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit challenging Lexington County School District Three elections that dilute the minority vote. In her ruling, Judge Margaret B. Seymour of the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina ordered new proposals to change the election method within 60 days.

WASHINGTON - February 11 - With today's introduction of legislation to rein in the overbroad use of the state secrets privilege, the executive branch may soon have one less tool in its chest to stymie legitimate cases against government misconduct. A bill introduced in the House will aim to narrow the scope of the privilege and could open the courthouse doors to people who have suffered real and legitimate harm by the government.