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For Immediate Release
January, 03 2012, 11:25am EDT
Contact:
Robyn Shepherd, ACLU national, (212) 519-7829 or 549-2666; media@aclu.org
Anthony Rothert, ACLU of Eastern Missouri, (314) 652-3114; tony@aclu-em.org
ACLU Asks Court to Stop Missouri Library From Illegally Censoring Websites
Salem Library Ignored Requests to Remove Web Filter to Avoid Liability for Unconstitutional Viewpoint-Based Censorship
ST. LOUIS
The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Eastern Missouri today filed a lawsuit charging the Salem Public Library and its board of trustees with unconstitutionally blocking access to websites discussing minority religions by improperly classifying them as "occult" or "criminal."
Salem resident Anaka Hunter contacted the ACLU after she was unable to access websites pertaining to Native American religions or the Wiccan faith for her own research. After protesting to the library director, Glenda Wofford, portions of the sites were unblocked, but much remained censored. Wofford said she would only allow access to blocked sites if she felt patrons had a legitimate reason to view the content and further said that she had an obligation to report people who wanted to view these sites to the authorities.
"It's unbelievable that I should have to justify why I want to access completely harmless websites on the Internet simply because they discuss a minority viewpoint," Hunter said. "It's wrong and demeaning to deny access to this kind of information."
Hunter's attempts to complain about the policy to the library board of trustees were brushed off.
Other sites blocked by the library's Netsweeper software include the official webpage of the Wiccan church, the Wikipedia entry pertaining to Wicca, Astrology.com and The Encyclopedia on Death and Dying, which contains viewpoint-neutral discussions of various cultures' and religions' ideas of death and death rituals.
"Rather than dismissing the concerns of its patrons, the library should make every effort to ensure that its filtering software doesn't illegally deny access to educational resources on discriminatory grounds," said Anthony Rothert, legal director of the ACLU of Eastern Missouri. "The library is the last place that should be censoring information about different cultures."
Libraries are required by federal law to install filtering software that blocks access to explicit, pornographic and adult content. But the library's software went further and blocked any site marked as "occult," and classified sites related to Native American culture and Wiccan faith in the blocked category "criminal skills." None of these sites could be construed as having the kind of offensive content prohibited by law.
"The library has no business blocking these websites as 'occult' or 'criminal' in the first place and certainly shouldn't be making arbitrary follow-up decisions based on the personal predilections of library staff," said Daniel Mach, director of the ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief. "Public libraries should be facilitating access to educational information, not blocking it."
More information on this case can be found at: www.aclu.org/religion-belief/hunter-v-salem-public-library-board-trustees
The American Civil Liberties Union was founded in 1920 and is our nation's guardian of liberty. The ACLU works in the courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to all people in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.
(212) 549-2666LATEST NEWS
‘Go Get Your Own Oil’: Trump Lashes Out at Europe for Not Backing Unprovoked War on Iran
"NATO is a defensive alliance," said one UK military analyst as the president demanded help in his unprovoked war on Iran. "It's not been clear what the legal justification for the war is."
Mar 31, 2026
President Donald Trump on Tuesday lashed out at European countries over the message leaders have been clear about since the US joined Israel in waging an unprovoked war against Iran—an assault that swiftly led Iran to retaliate by closing the Strait of Hormuz, sending global oil prices skyrocketing.
The war, Europe has said, is not one the United States' longtime allies have started or that they'll be "dragged into," and the worldwide economic consequences are the responsibility of the countries that chose to attack Iran.
Reports that France over the weekend barred US military planes headed for Israel from flying over its territory appeared to particularly send Trump into a rage, prompting him to call the French government "VERY UNHELPFUL" on his social media platform, Truth Social.
"The U.S.A. will REMEMBER!!" said the president Tuesday morning.
He then took aim at countries across Europe, writing, "Go get your own oil!" in a separate missive.
Trump repeated previous suggestions that US allies are "cowards" for not offering their assistance in the unprovoked war, demanding that they "build up some delayed courage, go to the Strait, and just TAKE" the oil by force.
"You’ll have to start learning how to fight for yourself, the U.S.A. won’t be there to help you anymore, just like you weren’t there for us," he added.
France denied the reports that it had prevented US planes from flying over its airspace, but it is one of a number of longtime US allies that have reportedly taken action to avoid complicity in the US-Israeli war, which experts say is a clear violation of international law, including the United Nations Charter, and which has killed nearly 2,000 Iranians and over 1,000 people across the Middle East as the conflict has widened.
Italian officials have denied the US military the use of an airbase in Sicily, saying the Trump administration had not gone through the required authorization procedure. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has been most vocal about refusing to help the US war effort, saying Trump had embarked on an "illegal war" as his administration announced the US military would be barred from Spanish airspace after an earlier statement that the US could not use Spain's military bases for operations involving the Iran war.
One senior European government official told Politico last week that Trump's demands for help have been “absurdly incoherent to put it mildly," considering the White House has also demanded that countries in Europe step up their efforts to defend Ukraine without relying on the US.
“The big picture is: The US has asked us to take care of and defend our own countries, take care of supporting Ukraine... and now [the] Middle East and global supply chains,” the official said.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday reiterated Trump's message, saying that "there are countries around the world who ought to be prepared to step up on this critical waterway as well."
"It's not just the United States Navy," said Hegseth, who has attempted to rebrand the Department of Defense as the Department of War. "Last time I checked, there was supposed to be a big, bad Royal Navy that could be prepared to do things like that as well."
Hegseth: "The president was clear this morning in his Truth that there are countries around the world who ought to be prepared to step up on this critical waterway as well. Last time I checked there was supposed to be a big bad Royal Navy that could be prepared to do things like… pic.twitter.com/WTVurKV2jQ
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 31, 2026
On Sky News in the UK on Tuesday, military analyst Sean Bell issued a reminder after Hegseth's and Trump's comments that "it's not a [North Atlantic Treaty Organization] war."
"NATO is a defensive alliance," said Bell. "It's not been clear what the legal justification for the war is."
Iran's closing of the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20% of the worldwide oil supply flows, has sent oil prices soaring in the US and around the world. In the US, gas prices hit an average of $4 per gallon on Tuesday, and Europe has seen prices go up by about 70% since the war began.
European leaders on Tuesday were meeting to discuss the growing energy crisis, with the European Commission urging governments to consider a public call for people to reduce their use of energy, particularly in the transport sector.
As the global community faces the economic consequences of the war, Trump's comments on Tuesday bolstered the previous day's reporting by The Wall Street Journal that the president is "willing to end the US military campaign against Iran even if the Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed, administration officials said, likely extending Tehran’s firm grip on the waterway and leaving a complex operation to reopen it for a later date."
At Drop Site News, journalist Murtaza Hussain joined co-founder Ryan Grim for a discussion on Tuesday about Trump's latest comments.
While noting that Trump has "engaged in deception" and could actually "be gearing up to launch some operation intended to open the strait" by force, Hussain said that the suggestion that the US will no longer ensure global shipping routes are flowing could be a a "fall of the Berlin Wall moment."
"The entire basis of the American empire is that it's a maritime empire," said Hussain. "So if now, very perfunctorily, the US is saying, 'We're not going to defend one of the most important shipping lanes on the entire planet,' where 20% of the world's energy comes out of... It's kind of like the Suez crisis, which put the nail in the coffin of the British empire."
Drop Site is live this morning here https://t.co/AIp76rl3yR
— Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) March 31, 2026
Grim added that despite Hegseth's claim that the US has "set the conditions for success" in the Strait of Hormuz, the Trump administration actually "took an open strait, made it closed, and are now going to walk away."
The end result of the US and Israel's decision to attack Iran could be the further isolation of the two countries, said Grim.
"If the US decides it doesn't have the military capacity or willingness to open the strait violently, the idea that France is going to do it is preposterous," he said. "What France would more likely do is call up Iran and say, 'What's the price?'... If you're Israel and you're calling Iran, you're probably not going to get the same deal... You would imagine Iran would say, 'Here's what it costs, and it gets a little cheaper if you cut ties with Israel...' All of a sudden, they're a global player now, because they have this leverage."
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'As Horrific as It Is Illegal': Trump 'God Squad' Blasted for Attack on Endangered Species
"This administration cannot recklessly play God with our shared American heritage at Secretary Hegseth's arbitrary say-so," said one conservationist.
Mar 31, 2026
The Trump administration's so-called "God Squad" swiftly came under fire from conservationists on Tuesday after voting unanimously for an "unprecedented" exemption allowing fossil fuel operations in the Gulf of Mexico to ignore policies intended to protect endangered species.
In the lead-up to the snap meeting, the Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit in a Washington, DC federal court, and the administration confirmed in a filing last week that US Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who chairs the Endangered Species Committee, organized the gathering at Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's request.
The closed-door but livestreamed meeting proceeded as scheduled after a federal judge declined to block it. The New York Times reported Tuesday that as protesters rallied outside the Department of the Interior, Hegseth told the panel inside that "when development in the Gulf is chilled, we are prevented from producing the energy we need as a country."
"Recent hostile action by the Iranian terror regime highlights yet again why robust domestic oil production is a national security imperative," Hegseth claimed, though he emphasized that the administration's position on the matter preceded President Donald Trump's war on Iran, which has caused a surge in gasoline prices.
While a spokesperson for the oil and gas industry's trade group, the American Petroleum Institute, welcomed the vote on regulations for what president calls the Gulf of America, Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity, declared that "this amoral action by Pete Hegseth and Trump's cronies is as horrific as it is illegal, and we'll overturn it in court."
The center plans to update its suit to challenge Hegseth's "unfounded" national security determination and the unlawful exemption granted by the committee on Tuesday.
"Americans overwhelmingly oppose sacrificing endangered whales and other marine life so the fossil fuel industry can get richer," said Hartl. "This has nothing to do with national security and everything to do with Trump and his lackeys kowtowing to Big Oil."
"The fossil fuel industry has certainly gotten its money's worth from supporting Trump's reelection. I'm sure CEOs are gleeful about this vote, hoping to make even more money by sacrificing our country's wildlife and gutting environmental protections," he added. "When we overturn this heartless, cowardly act by Hegseth and the goons on the extinction committee, it's important for people to remember who failed to speak out against their actions."
It’s propaganda to call this group “The God Squad.”God creates life.This is “The Death Panel.”That’s all.
[image or embed]
— Dr. Genevieve Guenther (she/they) (@doctorvive.bsky.social) March 31, 2026 at 11:10 AM
In addition to Burgum, the panel includes the agriculture and Army secretaries; the Environmental Protection Agency and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration administrators; and the chair of the Council of Economic Advisers. Tuesday was only the fourth time the committee has convened since it was created by Congress nearly five decades ago, according to the Times.
"In a farcical piece of political theater consisting of high-level officials reading scripted remarks and engaging in zero deliberation, the Trump administration stripped America's wildlife heritage in the Gulf of Mexico of essential protections. The Endangered Species Act has not slowed an iota of oil from being extracted from the Gulf," Andrew Bowman, president and CEO of Defenders of Wildlife, said in a post-meeting statement. "I cannot stress enough how unprecedented and unlawful this action is."
"Invoking national security cannot justify potentially pushing the Rice's whale—or any of our nation's irreplaceable wildlife species—into the abyss of extinction," he asserted. "If this administration were truly concerned about national security, it would focus on what will protect our quality of life and a secure future for all Americans. That includes healthy lands and waters that support people and the wildlife that we love and rely upon."
Bowman added that "this administration cannot recklessly play God with our shared American heritage at Secretary Hegseth's arbitrary say-so. We will fight this injustice every step of the way."
While Trump and his appointees have worked to serve the fossil fuel industry and roll back Endangered Species Act protections throughout both of his terms, Lisa Gilbert, co-president of Public Citizen, suggested that, despite Hegseth's claims, Tuesday's meeting was tied to the new war in the Middle East and its consequences around the world.
"Trump's attempt to use secret meetings to sidestep the law and end key protections is a dangerous precedent by an unpopular administration that failed to understand the consequences of starting a war in the Middle East," she said. "Using 'national security' as justification to take shortcuts with legal requirements is a dangerous move with far-reaching implications."
"The Endangered Species Act requires that documents and meetings must be open to the public, yet the administration is cloaking this decision in secrecy," she explained. "Fossil fuel companies are not requesting this waiver, nor is any other industry—instead the Trump administration is using its war in Iran to justify a power grab that will do nothing to lower the price of fuel here in the US."
The night before the meeting, Save Our Parks projected messages onto the facade of the Interior Department building: "Doug Burgum's Playing God With America's Public Lands & Wildlife," "Burgum's Censoring Science, History, and the Truth," and "GOD SQUAD ENTER HERE."
Jayson O'Neill, a spokesperson for Save Our Parks, said that "Burgum has a 'god complex' over America’s parks, public lands, and wildlife. Throughout his entire tenure in the DC swamp, Burgum has used the heavy hand of government to muzzle the truth, limit public participation, strip science from decisions, and even whitewash and censor our history."
"Now, Burgum and his so-called 'God Squad' are continuing this failed leadership, ignoring science and public opinion to serve the interests of his buddies in the oil industry," he added. "Burgum's censorship is as unpopular as it is un-American."
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'You Should Be Alarmed,' Says Economist as Trump's Iran War Pushes US Gas Past $4 Per Gallon
"Talk to or read energy experts—people who focus on the physical side of the oil crisis—and their hair is on fire."
Mar 31, 2026
Gas prices in the US have surged to a four-year high, and Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman is warning that the worst is likely yet to come.
Amid a Tuesday projection from AAA that average US gas prices had hit $4 per gallon for the first time since 2022, Krugman published an analysis of the petroleum market in which he projected that the price of oil will go even higher in the coming weeks as the global economy runs into supply shortages caused by President Donald Trump's war against Iran.
Krugman argued that oil price hikes have actually been tame so far because physical supplies have remained steady in recent weeks, as tankers that had already passed through the Strait of Hormuz before the start of the war have continued making scheduled deliveries.
That "grace period," as Krugman described it, is about to end as speculative market prices run into the hard realities of physical shortages.
What this fundamentally means, wrote Krugman, is "you should be alarmed."
"Once the crisis gets physical, there will no longer be room for jawboning the markets," Krugman wrote. "Since the war began there have been several occasions on which Donald Trump has been able to talk prices down by asserting that meaningful negotiations are underway... but that won’t work once the oil runs out. So prices will have to rise."
As for how far prices will go up, Krugman calculated that with only medium disruption to global oil production and medium demand elasticity, the price of oil would rise to $152 per barrel, which would push US gas prices well over $4.50 per gallon.
Making matters worse, Krugman found that it wouldn't take much additional disruption to push the price of oil into worse-case scenarios where it would top $200 per barrel.
"If oil really does go to $200 or more, it’s all too easy to envisage a full-blown global economic crisis, with an inflation surge and quite likely a recession," Krugman commented. "Ever since this war began I’ve noticed a sharp divide in sentiment among experts. Finance and macroeconomics experts have been relatively sanguine about our ability to ride out this storm. But talk to or read energy experts—people who focus on the physical side of the oil crisis—and their hair is on fire."
Petroleum industry analyst Patrick De Haan on Tuesday highlighted the major increases in the price of diesel fuel since the start of the Iran war, which could add even more pain to the US economy in the form of higher shipping costs for goods.
"Can't overstate the impact that's coming down the pipeline to truckers, farmers, logistics, and beyond," De Haan wrote in a social media post. "The US economy runs on diesel with several states setting new all-time highs for diesel, while others are seeing largest monthly increases of all time."
De Haan also posted a chart highlighting the states with the biggest diesel price increases since late February, and it showed swing states Arizona, Nevada, and North Carolina faced the largest surges, with prices up more than 57% in just one month in each state.
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