Home : Newsroom

ACLU in Federal Court Today Arguing for CIA Contempt for Destroying Interrogation Tapes (01/16/2008)
NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union today asked a federal judge to hold the CIA in contempt of court for destroying videotapes depicting the abusive interrogations of two detainees in its custody. The ACLU also argued for the release of other government documents relating to the abuse of prisoners including Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) memos authorizing the CIA and the Defense Department to use harsh interrogation methods, documents relating to the CIA Office of Inspector General investigations into prisoner abuse, and Defense Department videotapes believed to depict "Forced Cell Extraction" teams abusing Guantánamo prisoners.

ACLU Announces “Close Guantánamo” Campaign (01/08/2008)
NEW YORK – To coincide with the six-year anniversary of the arrival of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, the American Civil Liberties Union today announced its Close Guantánamo campaign. The ACLU is hosting more than 20 events across the country this week from Washington, DC to Boise, Idaho. In addition, the ACLU is calling on Americans to wear orange this Friday as an expression of opposition to indefinite detention at the U.S.-run prison and torture. Orange, the color of the jumpsuits worn by the first Gitmo detainees in photographs released by the Department of Defense in 2002, was chosen to represent torture tactics and prisoner abuse.

ACLU Urges Supreme Court to Strike Down Kentucky's Lethal Injection Procedures (01/07/2008)
WASHINGTON – Describing the three-drug cocktail used in most states’ lethal injection executions as unnecessarily cruel, the American Civil Liberties Union urged the U.S. Supreme Court to halt its use in a friend-of-the-court brief filed in Baze v. Rees, which is being argued today. The lethal injection procedures as practiced in Kentucky amount to cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments, the ACLU charged.

Supreme Court Review of Lethal Injection Case Encouraging, Says NYCLU (01/07/2008)
NEW YORK - The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments today in a case challenging the use of lethal injection to execute people. According to the New York Civil Liberties Union, the Court’s decision to take the case is an encouraging development in the campaign to abolish the death penalty in the United States.

ACLU Asks Full Spy Court to Reconsider Refusal to Release Legal Rulings (12/21/2007)
NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union today filed a motion with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) asking the full court to reconsider a recent decision by Judge John D. Bates refusing to disclose orders and legal papers pertaining to the scope of the government's authority to engage in the secret wiretapping of Americans and the court's interpretation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

Federal Judge Wrongly Allows Exclusion of Renowned Muslim Scholar (12/20/2007)
NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union strongly criticized a federal judge’s ruling today that allows the government’s exclusion of renowned Swiss scholar Tariq Ramadan from the U.S. The ACLU continues to believe that Ramadan, a leading European academic whose work addresses Muslim identity and the role of Islam in democratic societies, remains banned due to his political viewpoints.

House Judiciary Committee Discusses Detainee Interrogations (12/20/2007)
Washington, DC – As the House Judiciary Committee holds a hearing today to examine whether federal criminal laws apply to the interrogations of detainees, the American Civil Liberties Union reiterates its call that Attorney General Mukasey appoint an independent prosecutor to investigate and prosecute any violations of federal criminal laws, including possible obstruction of justice, that resulted from these interrogations.

ACLU Demands Records of CIA Tape Destruction From White House, FBI (12/19/2007)
NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union today filed papers asking a federal judge to order the White House, the FBI, and other government agencies to produce all records in their possession relating to the destruction of two videotapes by CIA operatives in 2005 as well as transcripts and summaries of the tapes. The ACLU’s filing comes in the wake of revelations that administration officials took part in discussions with the CIA about whether to destroy the tapes, which show the harsh interrogations of two prisoners in U.S. custody, Abu Zubaida and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri. Today’s filing is an addendum to a motion to hold the CIA in contempt of court filed by the ACLU last week.

ACLU Demands Disclosure of Legal Memos Justifying Illegal Spying (12/18/2007)
WASHINGTON - The American Civil Liberties Union, the National Security Archive and the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) today filed papers urging a federal judge to compel the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to disclose legal and policy memos relating to the National Security Agency’s (NSA) warrantless wiretapping program. Two years after the media’s disclosure that the NSA was secretly intercepting the phone calls and emails of people in the United States without a warrant in direct violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), the government continues to withhold documents that could shed light on its legal justification for the program.

Military Commission Judge Rebuffs Bush Administration and Applies Geneva Conventions to Guantánamo Detainee (12/18/2007)
NEW YORK – In a rebuke to Bush administration policy, a military commission judge found Monday that Guantánamo Bay detainee Salim Ahmed Hamdan is entitled to a determination of whether he is a prisoner of war protected by the Geneva Conventions, which govern the rights and treatment of captives in wartime.

ACLU Says New Jersey's Historic Rejection of Death Penalty Reflects Shift in Public Opinion (12/17/2007)
NEW YORK – Today Governor Jon Corzine signed into law a bill that ends capital punishment in the state of New Jersey. The measure, which passed the state legislature last week with bipartisan majorities, replaces the death penalty with life imprisonment for the most serious offenders. New Jersey becomes the first state since 1965 to legislatively repeal the death penalty, generating forward momentum in the campaign to end capital punishment nationwide, said the American Civil Liberties Union.

Victory for Civil Liberties (12/17/2007)
Washington, D.C. – In a clear victory for civil libertarians, the debate over domestic spying is delayed until after the holiday recess. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) announced the delay tonight on the floor of the U.S. Senate after Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT) led an effort to keep immunity for telecommunications companies out of Senate legislation.

Bush Administration Rebukes Congress and Courts, Stymieing Investigations of Destroyed CIA Videotapes (12/15/2007)
NEW YORK -- In a stunning rebuke of the constitutional system of checks and balances, the Justice Department — in a single 24-hour period — has warned a federal judge to back-off of his inquiry into the destruction of CIA interrogation tapes, has told Congress to delay its own investigation into the matter, and has refused to cooperate with congressional inquiries into its own role in the elimination of the videotaped evidence.

ACLU Opposes Government’s Attempt to Throw Out Rendition Case Under Guise of "State Secrets" (12/14/2007)
NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union today filed legal papers opposing the CIA’s attempt to throw out a lawsuit against Boeing subsidiary Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc. for its participation in the CIA’s "extraordinary rendition" program. The ACLU charged that the U.S. government is improperly invoking the "state secrets" privilege to avoid judicial scrutiny of this unlawful policy.

Citing Destruction of Torture Tapes, ACLU Asks Court to Hold CIA in Contempt (12/12/2007)
NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union today filed a motion asking a federal judge to hold the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in contempt, charging that the agency flouted a court order when it destroyed at least two videotapes documenting the harsh interrogation of prisoners in its custody. In response to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests filed by the ACLU and other organizations in October 2003 and May 2004, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York ordered the CIA to produce or identify all records pertaining to the treatment of detainees in its custody. Despite the court’s ruling, the CIA never produced the tapes or even acknowledged their existence. Last week, in anticipation of media reports concerning the tapes, CIA Director Michael Hayden publicly acknowledged that the CIA had made the tapes in 2002 but destroyed them in 2005.

FISA Court Denies Public Access to Records Concerning Wiretapping (12/11/2007)
NEW YORK - The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) announced today that it will not make public orders and legal papers pertaining to the scope of the government's authority to engage in the secret wiretapping of Americans.

Settlement Approved in Case Alleging School Discrimination (12/11/2007)
WINNER, SD – A federal judge today entered a consent decree to enforce an agreement between the Winner/Ideal Native American community and the Winner School District that settles a class action lawsuit brought on behalf of Native American students by the American Civil Liberties Union. The case, Antoine et al v. Winner School District, charged that the school district disproportionately targeted Native American students for disciplinary action, maintained an educational environment hostile toward Native American families, and forced students to write out confessions for school misconduct to be used in juvenile and criminal prosecutions. The school district denied the allegations in the complaint.

ACLU Calls for the Restoration of Habeas Corpus and Closure of Guantánamo Bay (12/10/2007)
WASHINGTON -- As the Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security subcommittee held a hearing on the legal rights of the detainees at Guantánamo Bay, the American Civil Liberties Union renewed its call for the immediate restoration of habeas corpus due process rights and the closure of the Guantánamo Bay detention facility. The Military Commissions Act, passed by Congress right before the 2006 elections, eliminated the right to challenge one's detention in court for detainees being held at Guantánamo Bay.

Jury Finds African American Passenger Was Unlawfully Detained at Logan Airport (12/10/2007)
BOSTON - On Friday, a Suffolk Superior Court jury found state police unlawfully detained American Civil Liberties Union attorney King Downing at Logan Airport in October 2003, and Downing agreed to a settlement of his claims against William Thomspon, the state trooper principally responsible for the unlawful detention.

ACLU Cheers House and Senate Intel Bill Conferees for Including Provision Prohibiting Torture and Abuse (12/06/2007)
Washington, DC – The ACLU was encouraged today that House and Senate conferees included a provision to the 2008 intelligence authorization bill (HR 2082) which would apply the Army Field Manual on Intelligence Interrogations government-wide. The provision, added to the conference report by Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), would require all government agencies, including the CIA, to abide by the Army Field Manual – which prohibits torture and abuse tactics against persons held in U.S. custody.