SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
U.S.
ACLU Cheers House Judiciary Committee for Supporting Bills Expanding Protections for Journalists and Reining in Warrantless Government Surveillance
Jul 19, 2023
The House Judiciary Committee voted unanimously to advance the Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act, which would ban the government from purchasing Americans’ data from data brokers instead of obtaining the required warrant. The committee also voted to advance the PRESS Act, a bill that would provide strong protections to journalists and their sources. The American Civil Liberties Union has been an ardent supporter of both bills for many years.
On the PRESS Act, Jenna Leventoff, senior policy counsel at ACLU, issued the following statement:
“The PRESS Act creates critical protections for the fearless journalists who act as government watchdogs and keep all of us informed. While the majority of states already have shield laws in place that protect journalists from compelled disclosure of their sources, the PRESS Act provides uniform protections to journalists all across the country. We thank the House Judiciary Committee for protecting our constitutional right to a free press and urge the full House to swiftly pass this bipartisan legislation.”
On the Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act, Kia Hamadanchy, senior federal policy counsel at ACLU, issued the following statement:
“Both Democrats and Republicans recognize that government agencies should not be allowed to circumvent core constitutional protections by purchasing access to data that they would otherwise need a warrant to obtain. The full House should now vote on this legislation, and it should be included in any reform effort involving reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.”
Keep ReadingShow Less
Voting Rights Groups File Emergency Motion to Lift Georgia’s Line Relief Ban in 2024 Elections
Groups Challenge Portion of Anti-Voter Law that Blocks Georgians from Providing Food and Water to Voters Waiting in Long Lines at Polls
Apr 24, 2023
ATLANTA—Voting rights organizations filed an emergency preliminary injunction motion today to lift part of the restriction in Georgia’s anti-voter law, S.B. 202, that blocks Georgians from providing food and water to voters waiting in long lines at the polls.
The motion was filed as part of ongoing litigation in AME Church v. Kemp, which challenges S.B. 202 for unconstitutionally creating barriers to voting that diminish the voices of communities of color, women, and people with disabilities. If granted, the preliminary injunction would allow volunteers to provide food and water to voters in lines that extend beyond 150 feet from the polling place.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), ACLU of Georgia, Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), Legal Defense Fund (LDF), and the law firms WilmerHale and Davis Wright Tremaine LLP (DWT) filed the motion on behalf of the plaintiffs.
Plaintiffs are the Sixth District of the American Methodist Episcopal Church, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Georgia ADAPT, and the Georgia Advocacy Office, represented by the ACLU of Georgia, ACLU, LDF, and Wilmer Hale, as well as the Georgia Muslim Voter Project, Women Watch Afrika, Latino Community Fund of Georgia, and the Arc of the United States, represented by SPLC and DWT.
“Our clients used to be able to offer a bottle of water or a snack to voters waiting in long lines at the polls,” said Rahul Garabadu, senior voting rights staff attorney at the ACLU of Georgia. “S.B. 202 largely banned these activities, adding to the burdens that many voters, including voters of color and voters with disabilities, face when casting a ballot. Last year, the court found that there were serious constitutional concerns with portions of the ban on line relief. We’re now asking the court to strike down the unlawful provisions of the ban so that our clients can provide crucial support to voters across our state.”
“This restriction on providing food and water to voters waiting in long lines is a brazen attempt to make voting more difficult in Georgia. It stifles our clients’ First Amendment right to express, through action, the important message that voting is vital, and that Georgians, particularly Black Georgians and Georgians of color, should persist through obstacles laid in their path as they have throughout the state’s history,” said Davin Rosborough, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project.
“The cruel barriers to voting enacted by S.B. 202 target both the basic needs and basic rights of Georgians. There can be no reason for denying food or water to people waiting in long polling lines, other than trying to prevent them from exercising their freedom to vote,” said Poy Winichakul, SPLC’s senior staff attorney for voting rights. “These barriers to voting must be removed so all Georgians can have a voice to advocate for their communities in the crucial 2024 elections.”
“S.B. 202’s provisions restricting line relief activities are cruel and discriminatory,” said Rhonda Briggins, chair, Strategic Partnerships Taskforce for Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. “These restrictions prevent Deltas from providing necessities like food and water to voters experiencing long lines, which impact significant numbers of Black Georgia voters. We are hopeful the court will block the unlawful restrictions it has already recognized may be unlawful so that we can resume some of our line relief efforts for upcoming elections.”
“Georgia’s cruel line relief ban makes it harder for Black voters to fully participate in elections,” said John Cusick, assistant counsel at LDF. “The court has already found constitutional concerns with certain aspects of the line relief ban. We’re asking the court to block those provisions in upcoming elections so that the organizations we represent and other groups throughout Georgia can resume modest line relief efforts like passing out food and water to Georgia voters who continue to stand in unacceptably long lines.”
“S.B. 202’s line relief ban imposes unjustifiable and unconstitutional burdens on voters at the polls,” said George P. Varghese, a partner at WilmerHale. “We are filing this motion to ensure that our clients’ fundamental right to vote, and their right to support fellow Georgians who vote, are not compromised — including in the upcoming 2024 elections.”
“Instead of making it easier for folks to cast a ballot in sweltering heat or blistering cold, S.B. 202 makes it a crime for a neighbor to offer these voters a bottle of water or warm cup of coffee,” said Adam S. Sieff, counsel at Davis Wright Tremaine. “That’s not only inhumane, it’s also a clear violation of the First Amendment and these citizens’ rights as voters. The court has already found that aspects of S.B. 202’s line relief ban raises serious constitutional problems, and we’re filing this motion to ensure that these fundamental rights are respected in future elections, including in 2024.”
Filing: https://www.aclu.org/documents/ame-church-v-kemp-pi-motion-on-georgia-line-relief-4-24-2023
Case background: https://www.aclu.org/cases/sixth-district-african-methodist-episcopal-church-v-kemp
Keep ReadingShow Less
Relatives Mourn First Christmas Without Slain Palestinian Reporter Shireen Abu Akleh
"Not having her around, especially during Christmas, will be very difficult," said sister Lina Abu Akleh. "There will be an empty seat around the table."
Dec 25, 2022
Relatives of Shireen Abu Akleh, the Palestinian-American Al Jazeera reporter shot dead by Israeli occupation forces in May, marked their first Christmas without their beloved family member Sunday by vowing to "make sure her legacy continues to be remembered."
Lina Abu Akleh, Shireen's sister, told Al Jazeera that December was always a "happy month," a time when the busy journalist usually took a break from work to spend time with family.
"I still feel like I'm in this nightmare. And it's just not ending."
"Not having her around, especially during Christmas, will be very difficult… There will be an empty seat around the table," Shireen's 27-year-old sibling said.
"I still feel like I'm in this nightmare. And it's just not ending," she added. "She was so present in our lives that for us to lose her in this sudden and heinous way makes it so difficult to comprehend."
Abu Akleh's colleagues also lamented their first Christmas without her.
"The joy is missing, but hope in a better tomorrow will never die," tweeted Al Jazeera English producer Rania Zabaneh. "We'll never stop talking about you, demanding #JusticeForShireen, 227 days on and every day."
\u201c\u2018An empty seat at the table\u2019.\n\nChristmas without Shireen Abu Akleh \u27a1\ufe0f https://t.co/Uo4I4JAZlO\u201d— Al Jazeera English (@Al Jazeera English) 1671973243
Abu Akleh—known throughout the Middle East as the "voice of Palestine"—and other journalists were covering a May 11 Israel Defense Forces (IDF) raid on Jenin in the illegally occupied West Bank when she was shot dead by a sniper. Al Jazeera producer Ali Samodi was shot in the back but survived.
After initially trying to deny that its forces killed Abu Akleh, Israel admitted that there was a "high possibility" that the journalist was "accidentally hit" by army fire. Israeli officials declined to launch a criminal investigation of the killing.
An independent probe by London-based Forensic Architecture and the Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq in September revealed evidence that an Israeli sniper repeatedly shot at Abu Akleh—who was wearing a helmet and flak vest clearly identifying her as a journalist—and for two minutes also fired at anyone who tried to come to her aid.
Investigations by international media outlets, rights groups, the United Nations Human Rights Office, and others concluded that Abu Akleh was killed by Israeli fire. In the United States, the Biden administration said in July that Abu Akleh was "likely" but unintentionally shot by an Israeli soldier, a move critics condemned as a "whitewash."
Last month, the FBI launched its own probe into Abu Akleh's killing.
Abu Akleh's relatives and Al Jazeera are seeking justice at the International Criminal Court, where the Qatar-based news network earlier this month filed a lawsuit against the Israeli military over the killing.
Lina Abu Akleh told Al Jazeera that knowing Shireen would be fighting for justice if she were still alive is what keeps her going.
"She was optimistic, always, that justice will prevail," she said.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Is Progress Obsolete? The United States Is Now an 'Un-Developing' Country
The rankings include the absence of poverty and hunger, good health and education, gender equality, clean air and water, and reduced inequality.
Sep 17, 2022
The United Nations' latest annual ranking of nations by "sustainable development goals" will come as a shock for many Americans. Not only aren't we "Number One," we're not even close. The top four countries are Scandinavian democracies. The United States ranks forty-first, just below Cuba (that's right, below our Communist neighbor). Countries that outrank us include Estonia, Croatia, the Slovak Republic, Romania, and Serbia.
The goal of the report is to measure countries' progress, or development, toward a civilized and sustainable future.
Every ranking contains some element of subjectivity. But the seventeen "sustainable development goals" (SDGs) developed by economist Jeffrey Sachs and his team are well chosen. They include the absence of poverty and hunger, good health and education, gender equality, clean air and water, and reduced inequality.
The goal of the report is to measure countries' progress, or development, toward a civilized and sustainable future. As historian Kathleen Frydl points out, "Under this methodology ... the U.S. ranks between Cuba and Bulgaria. Both are widely regarded as developing countries." Frydl's essay was widely circulated under the headline, "US is becoming a 'developing country' on global rankings that measure democracy, inequality."
To Frydl's point, the US picture does look like that of a developing country. But how, exactly, does a country that was once "developed" become "developing"? The phrase "developing country" implies that there are countries that have achieved development, and countries that are on their way. It leaves no room for the possibility that a nation, once it developed, can "un-develop" itself. It's like saying that a "growing child" can become "un-grown." And yet, that's exactly what is happening to the United States.
The language of "developed" and "developing" countries carries with it the idea that Western European and North American countries reached an endpoint in the 20th century, one that other nations naturally aspire to and are on the road to achieving. It is the language of post-colonialism (which suggests the United States is now colonizing itself). The words are heavily freighted with assumptions about globalism, capitalism, and liberal democracy. Among them is the idea that these forces bring with them a stability, the kind of benign stasis that Francis Fukuyama once called "the end of history."
Fukuyama has since renounced that idea, and understandably so. The declining status of the United States undermines the historical assumptions about progress that have guided political and financial elites for many decades. Countries like the United States and United Kingdom look less and less like the end-state of history and more and more like declining world powers, like so many that have gone before them.
Perhaps for this reason, the public debate has moved away from the quasi-Utopian ideals of Westernized development and back toward the idea that history is a cyclical process in which empires rise and fall. Anthropologists like Marshall Sahlins and David Graeber find positive qualities in 'primitive' societies. Journalists like Chris Hedges adopt the decline of the American empire as a major theme. In To Govern the Globe, historian Alfred McCoy forecasts the decline of American power and speculates that imperial nation-states may soon cease to exist altogether.
The historian Marc Bloch, quoted in Harvey Kaye's book on the British Marxist historians, sounds prophetic when he writes that history is "the science of eternal change."
Where does that leave the people of the United States? Other measurements and reports may not place the US below Cuba or Serbia, but most major measurements seem to point one way: down. Life expectancy is declining. Economic inequality is rising. Other measurements are flat at best.
Progress isn't like rain. It does not, as the Bible says of rainfall, "fall on the just and unjust alike." Progress, real progress, is made by people working together for the common good. If they don't work together it slows down, or stops, or reverses itself. The language of "development" is obsolete. We need a new language of cooperation, democracy, and justice. And we need it now, before it's too late, before the forces of climate change carry us away on the tides of eternal change.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular