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ACLU Statement On DOJ Decision To Shift Federal Government's Role In State Marijuana Laws
The Department of Justice is expected to reverse an Obama-era policy today that discouraged federal prosecutors from bringing charges against marijuana users in states where marijuana is legal. This decision would directly impact residents of the six states and the District of Columbia who have already legalized marijuana use, and should the change also affect medical marijuana regulations, could impact other states. It also represents a reversal on the administration's past viewpoint that marijuana legalization was an issue best left to the states.
WASHINGTON
The Department of Justice is expected to reverse an Obama-era policy today that discouraged federal prosecutors from bringing charges against marijuana users in states where marijuana is legal. This decision would directly impact residents of the six states and the District of Columbia who have already legalized marijuana use, and should the change also affect medical marijuana regulations, could impact other states. It also represents a reversal on the administration's past viewpoint that marijuana legalization was an issue best left to the states.
Jesselyn McCurdy, deputy director at the American Civil Liberties Union, had this reaction:
"Criminalizing marijuana may be a priority for Attorney General Sessions--who has spent decades using bad science to push his own regressive agenda--but it is not a priority for the American people, 52 percent of whom support legalization. Rescinding this guidance is yet another example of how this administration's 'law and order' philosophy is deeply out of touch with most Americans. With today's decision, the Department of Justice is essentially telling at least six states and the District of Columbia that they are not entitled to govern as they see fit when it comes to drug policy. For politicians who purport to believe in 'small government' and states' rights, this is a wildly incongruous move.
"It also cannot go unnoted that this policy will have a disproportionate and disastrous impact on people of color. Black people and white people use marijuana at similar rates, but as the ACLU reported in 2013, Black people are almost 4 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession. The War on Marijuana, like the War on Drugs, has failed by almost every measure--with the exception of successfully destroying communities of color. Marijuana criminalization negatively impacts public housing and student financial aid eligibility, employment opportunities, child custody decisions, and immigration status. Today's decision furthers entrenches the country in racially biased, fiscally irresponsible, and morally wrong drug policy--and the ACLU will continue to fight it."
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.
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Risk of 'Significant and Severe' Food Crisis If Strait of Hormuz Remains Shut, Says Top UN Official
Trump's Iran War has caused "a massive disruption in the supply chain of fertilizers," and "clearly we are seeing a crisis emerging" in the agricultural industry, said one UN expert.
Apr 22, 2026
A top United Nations official on Tuesday warned that there is a real risk of a global food crisis if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed to shipments of fertilizer.
Jorge Moreira da Silva, executive director of the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS), said in an interview with UN News that roughly one-third of global fertilizer shipments flow through the Strait of Hormuz, and its closure has caused "a massive disruption in the supply chain of fertilizers," and "clearly we are seeing a crisis emerging" in the agricultural industry.
The UN official also emphasized the need for a fast resolution to the crisis to prevent catastrophic food shortages as tensions continued to escalate in the strait in recent days, with both the US and Iran seizing vessels in the area.
"We can’t wait until everything is fixed to at least get something fixed in time for the planting season," he emphasized. "The planting season has already started, and in most countries in Africa it will end in May. So, if we don’t get some solution immediately, the crisis will be very significant and severe, particularly for the poorest countries and for the poorest citizens."
While poorer nations are most vulnerable to fertilizer supply shocks, wealthy nations like the US are taking a hit as well.
A survey released last week by the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) found that 70% of US farmers say the price of fertilizer has grown so high that they will not be able to afford all they need for the 2026 planting season.
Analysis conducted by AFBF found that, since President Donald Trump illegally launched his war with Iran in late February without any congressional approval, "nitrogen fertilizer prices have risen more than 30%, while combined fuel and fertilizer costs have increased roughly 20% to 40%."
AFBF also found that the cost of widely used urea fertilizers "have increased by 47% since the end of February, marking the largest month-to-month percentage increase" ever.
Zippy Duvall, president of AFBF, warned that "without the necessary fertilizers, we’ll face lower yields and some farmers will reduce acres altogether, which will impact food and feed supplies."
An analysis published by Bloomberg's Tracy Alloway on Wednesday found that "all the signs are already pointing to higher prices" for food in the coming weeks thanks to Trump's Iran War.
"Bank of America’s Commodity Inflation Trendspotter for food and beverage companies shows March input costs up a whopping 373 basis points to 7.9% year-on-year," explained Alloway. "That jump was driven mostly by diesel and heating oil, meaning we haven’t even seen much impact from things like higher plastics prices or fertilizer just yet."
Alloway pointed to the skyrocketing price of urea as particularly worrisome for food prices, as once Midwestern farmers start paying more for the fertilizer, "you start seeing higher prices for everything from actual grains to beef, chicken, eggs, ethanol," and more.
The bottom line, Alloway wrote, is "rising fertilizer prices are now hitting farmers, and eventually those will translate into higher wholesale food prices which will (assuming higher costs are passed onto consumers) eventually land at grocery stores too."
"The inflationary impulse doesn’t arrive all at once," she added, "it builds."
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‘Craven Attempt to Silence Dissent’: Trump DOJ Slammed for Indictment of Anti-Hate Group
"Another example of the dangerous, overreaching abuse of executive power so endemic in this authoritarian administration."
Apr 22, 2026
The civil rights and progressive advocacy community is rallying to the defense of the Southern Poverty Law Center after President Donald Trump's Justice Department indicted the organization on Tuesday on multiple counts of wire fraud and other charges, which the group has condemned as false and politically motivated.
The Justice Department, led by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche—who previously served as Trump's personal attorney—said Tuesday that a grand jury in Montgomery, Alabama returned an indictment charging SPLC with "11 counts of wire fraud, false statements to a federally insured bank, and conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering." The Justice Department accused SPLC, which specializes in monitoring extremist groups and movements, of "funding" far-right white supremacist organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan by paying people to infiltrate them and gather information.
Bryan Fair, SPLC's interim chief executive, said the Trump DOJ's "false allegations" won't "shake our resolve to fight for justice and ensure the promise of the civil rights movement becomes a reality for all." Fair noted that SPLC no longer works with paid informants but emphasized that they "risked their lives to infiltrate and inform on the activities of our nation’s most radical and violent extremist groups."
Allied civil rights organizations spoke out in defense of the SPLC and warned that the Trump administration's legal assault on the group is part of a broader attack on those who oppose the far-right and work to protect democracy.
“What is happening to civil rights organizations right now is the most coordinated assault on our sector since COINTELPRO," Maya Wiley, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. "We are the people who train poll workers, run food banks, fight discrimination, protect the right to protest, and staff domestic violence hotlines. We are the ones who make sure that everyone can live, love, vote, work, study, travel and simply be themselves, free from discrimination. This administration views that as a threat to its power."
"In order to have absolute power, it must dismantle our rights," Wiley added. "And that’s why they’re coming after us."
"We condemn this appalling move from a captured, weak-willed DOJ that is devoid of integrity and has lost sight of its mission under this administration."
Lisa Gilbert, co-president of the consumer watchdog group Public Citizen, called the SPLC indictment "another example of the dangerous, overreaching abuse of executive power so endemic in this authoritarian administration."
“This is a craven attempt to silence dissent by attacking a core civil rights organization focused on combating violent extremism," said Gilbert. "We condemn this appalling move from a captured, weak-willed DOJ that is devoid of integrity and has lost sight of its mission under this administration. We stand in solidarity with SPLC."
SPLC has repeatedly criticized Trump, members of his two administrations, people in his orbit, and extremist groups—such as the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers—that have supported the president's efforts to subvert American democracy, including with violence on January 6, 2021.
"To be clear: Trump’s FBI is going after the Southern Poverty Law Center because they infiltrated and exposed the same dangerous right-wing extremist groups that many Trump allies are associated with," activist Melanie D'Arrigo said in response to the indictment.
Anthony Romero, executive director of the ACLU, said in a statement that the Trump administration's "continued weaponization of the Justice Department to target organizations speaking out against its agenda is anti-American behavior harkening back to the McCarthy era."
“The Trump administration’s attack against the Southern Poverty Law Center is a direct threat to the values that make America great," said Romero. "In this time of unprecedented peril for our democracy, we urge all Americans of good conscience to join us as we stand in support of the Southern Poverty Law Center."
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Virginia Voters Deal Major Blow to Trump-GOP Ploy to 'Steal the 2026 Midterms'
"Virginia voters have spoken, and tonight they pushed back against a president who claims he is ‘entitled’ to more Republican seats in Congress," said Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger.
Apr 22, 2026
Virginia voters on Tuesday approved a referendum that's likely to give Democrats four additional seats in the US House of Representatives in the upcoming midterm elections, a key victory in a gerrymandering war launched last year by President Donald Trump and the Republican Party.
"Virginia voters have spoken, and tonight they pushed back against a president who claims he is ‘entitled’ to more Republican seats in Congress," Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat, said following Tuesday's vote. "As we watched other states go along with those demands without voter input, Virginians refused to let that stand. We responded the right way: at the ballot box."
The ballot measure, which was approved by a margin of fewer than 100,000 votes, allows the Virginia constitution to be "amended to allow the General Assembly to temporarily adopt new congressional districts to restore fairness in the upcoming elections, while ensuring Virginia's standard redistricting process resumes for all future redistricting after the 2030 census."
The new congressional map that Virginia lawmakers approved earlier this year—prior to putting the ballot question before voters—would aggressively redraw the state's district lines to give Democrats eight safe districts. Two other districts would be competitive but Democratic-leaning, leaving Republicans with just one favorable district. Common Cause Virginia, an advocacy group that does not favor partisan gerrymandering, called the new Virginia maps "a proportionate response" to GOP redistricting in other states, including Texas.
Eric Holder, the former US attorney general and chairman of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, said in response to Tuesday's result that "the mere existence of this special election stands in stark contrast to the gerrymanders forced on constituents in Texas, Missouri, and North Carolina and shows that voters are tired of Republican attempts to silence their power at the voting booth."
“Virginians’ courageous action today will have an impact far beyond the commonwealth. They didn’t just win an election—they have stopped Donald Trump’s attempt to steal the 2026 midterms in its tracks and defended the principle that elections should be fair, competitive, and decided by the people," said Holder. "Let this be a message to MAGA Republicans and the White House: enough is enough."
Democratic congressional leaders also applauded the outcome of the closely watched Virginia referendum. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said in a statement that "Virginians spoke with a crystal-clear voice, voting to stop the MAGA power grab and protect the integrity of free and fair elections."
But Jeffries stressed that "this war is not over," pointing to ongoing Republican efforts to redraw Florida's congressional maps.
“If Florida Republicans proceed with this illegal scheme, they will only create more prime pick-up opportunities for Democrats, just as they did with Trump’s dummymander in Texas," said Jeffries. "We will aggressively target for defeat Mario Díaz-Balart, Maria Elvira Salazar, Carlos Giménez, Kat Cammack, Anna Paulina Luna, Laurel Lee, Cory Mills, and Brian Mast. We are prepared to take them all on, and we are prepared to win."
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) responded enthusiastically to Jeffries' statement.
"Hell yes," she wrote on social media. "This is the energy."
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