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San Bernardino County Agrees To Allow Religious Head Scarves In County Jails (11/03/2008)
ORANGE, CA -- San Bernardino County agreed today to institute policies that accommodate the First Amendment right to wear religious head scarves in jail.

ACLU Calls Again for Withdrawal of Regulations Jeopardizing Women’s Health (09/26/2008)
WASHINGTON - The American Civil Liberties Union and all its state affiliates, including Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico, submitted comments to the Department of Health and Human Services asking the administration to rescind regulations that could seriously undermine access to reproductive health services, including birth control and abortion.

ACLU Hails Senate Markup of Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (07/31/2008)
Washington, DC – The American Civil Liberties Union hailed today’s Senate Judiciary Committee markup of the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (TVPRA) as an important step in ending the persistent exploitation and enslavement of domestic workers by foreign diplomats. The provisions in the TVPRA will help put in place important mechanisms that can prevent exploitation by providing domestic workers with critical information, creating a monitoring system, training consular officers who issue visas and requiring an employment contract between the worker and employer.

ACLU Seeks Sanctions Against New Jersey DOC For Witness Tampering And Retaliation (03/26/2008)
TRENTON – The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of New Jersey filed court papers today requesting that the New Jersey Superior Court impose sanctions against the New Jersey Department of Corrections (DOC) for witness tampering, official misconduct and violations of court rules. The ACLU’s motion for sanctions charges that the DOC obtained false and misleading statements from women prisoners about conditions in the prison in an attempt to defend the prison against claims of inhumane treatment. A female prisoner who exposed the DOC’s misconduct reports being beaten as a result.

Court Rules Connecticut Social Club Can’t Ban Women (02/27/2008)
MYSTIC, CT – In a victory for gender equality, a Connecticut Superior Court ruled that a local social club can no longer ban women from membership. The ruling comes in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Connecticut on behalf of Sam Corcoran, who was denied membership in the German Social Society Frohsinn, Inc. because she is a woman. The court upheld an appellate court’s ruling that the social club was a public accommodation - not a private club - and subject to Connecticut’s civil rights laws banning discrimination.

Women's Rights Project: 2007 Project Report (02/01/2008)

Timeline of Major Supreme Court Decisions on Women's Rights (10/25/2007)
The ACLU Women's Rights Project has compiled a timeline of major Supreme Court decisions on women's rights.

Women's Rights Project: 2006 Project Report (02/21/2007)
In 2006, the ACLU Women's Rights Project advanced our core areas of focus and continued to play a unique role in the women's movement by bringing together four often-unrelated sectors of social justice advocacy -- employment, violence against women, criminal justice and education.

Tribute: The Legacy of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and WRP Staff (03/07/2006)
Learn about the women who put gender equality on the ACLU agenda.

Tribute: The Legacy Of Ruth Bader Ginsburg (03/02/2006)
Ruth Bader Ginsburg founded the ACLU Women’s Rights Project in 1972 and led its efforts until she was appointed to the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in 1980. During the 1970s, Ginsburg and her staff achieved momentous legal victories in the area of women’s rights and helped lay the groundwork for future women’s rights advocacy.

Medina v. County of San Bernardino - Settlement (10/30/2008)

Medina v. County of San Bernardino - Order Denying Motion to Dismiss (02/25/2008)

Medina v. County of San Bernardino - Opposition to Motion to Dismiss (02/11/2008)

ACLU Complaint in Jones v. Hayman (12/12/2007)

ACLU Complaint in Medina v. County of San Bernardino (12/06/2007)

ACLU Comments Submitted to Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Leavitt (05/19/2008)
The American Civil Liberties Union (“ACLU”) submits these comments1 on the proposed rule published at 73 Fed. Reg. 20900 (April 17, 2008) to implement the “pledge requirement” of the United States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act of 2003, set forth at 22 U.S.C. § 7631(f) (Leadership Act). As applied to U.S. individuals and entities, the requirement that non-governmental organizations receiving federal funds must have a “policy explicitly opposing prostitution and sex trafficking” is a fundamental restriction on speech that cannot withstand First Amendment scrutiny. The proposed regulation regarding the “organizational integrity” of entities engaged in HIV/AIDS programs and activities” fails to cure the constitutional defect; if anything, the proposed rule only exacerbates the constitutional infirmities.

ACLU Letter to the Senate Urging A Yes Vote on H.R. 2831, The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2007 (04/21/2008)

ACLU Letter to Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Leadership Urging Implementation of the 2005 Violence Against Women Act (03/11/2008)
On March 12, 2008, the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs will hold an oversight hearing for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). On behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and its more than half a million members and activists and 53 affiliates nationwide, we ask the Committee to examine HUD’s implementation, or lack thereof, of the 2005 Violence Against Women Act (“VAWA”) housing provisions as part of its mandate.

ACLU Letter to House Financial Services Committee Leadership Urging Implementation of the 2005 Violence Against Women Act (PDF) (03/11/2008)
On March 11, 2008, the House Finance Committee will hold an oversight hearing for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). On behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and its more than half a million members and activists and 53 affiliates nationwide, we ask the Committee to examine HUD’s implementation, or lack thereof, of the 2005 Violence Against Women Act (“VAWA”) housing provisions as part of its mandate.

ACLU Letter to Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Leadership in Support of Fair Pay Restoration Act (01/22/2008)
On behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and its hundreds of thousands of members, activists, and fifty-three affiliates nationwide, we thank the Committee for holding a hearing on S. 1843, the “Fair Pay Restoration Act.” S. 1843, whose companion measure, H.R. 2831, passed the House of Representatives July 31, 2007, is necessary to ensure that victims of workplace discrimination receive effective remedies. We urge the Committee to support S. 1843 in order to fix a recent Supreme Court decision that undermines protections against discrimination in compensation that have been bedrock principles of civil rights laws for decades.

Profile of Jameelah Medina (05/15/2008)

Q & A: The Practice of Hijab (04/16/2008)
In an interview with Selene Kaye, of the ACLU Women's Rights Project, Ms. Medina talks about the practice of wearing hijab and her experience in jail.

Facts about the Over-Incarceration of Women in the United States (12/12/2007)

Plaintiff Profiles in Jones v. Hayman (12/12/2007)

FAQs: The ACLU Women's Rights Project and Women's History Month (02/26/2007)
Frequently asked questions about the ACLU's Women's Rights Project and Women's History Month

Discrimination Against Muslim Women Fact Sheet (05/29/2008)

Five Notable Women of the ACLU (03/03/2005)

WRP Briefing Paper (03/02/2005)

Town of Castle Rock v. Gonzales (02/15/2005)
Reviewing whether a woman whose three children were killed after being abducted by her estranged husband can raise a procedural due process claim based on the Town of Castle Rock’s failure to enforce a protective order despite Colorado's mandatory arrest law. DECIDED

Jackson v. City of Birmingham (09/08/2004)
Reviewing whether whistleblowers are protected against retaliation under Title IX, which generally prohibits sex discrimination in schools. DECIDED

San Bernardino County Agrees To Allow Religious Head Scarves In County Jails (11/03/2008)
ORANGE, CA -- San Bernardino County agreed today to institute policies that accommodate the First Amendment right to wear religious head scarves in jail.

ACLU Calls Again for Withdrawal of Regulations Jeopardizing Women’s Health (09/26/2008)
WASHINGTON - The American Civil Liberties Union and all its state affiliates, including Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico, submitted comments to the Department of Health and Human Services asking the administration to rescind regulations that could seriously undermine access to reproductive health services, including birth control and abortion.

ACLU Hails Senate Markup of Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (07/31/2008)
Washington, DC – The American Civil Liberties Union hailed today’s Senate Judiciary Committee markup of the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (TVPRA) as an important step in ending the persistent exploitation and enslavement of domestic workers by foreign diplomats. The provisions in the TVPRA will help put in place important mechanisms that can prevent exploitation by providing domestic workers with critical information, creating a monitoring system, training consular officers who issue visas and requiring an employment contract between the worker and employer.

ACLU Seeks Sanctions Against New Jersey DOC For Witness Tampering And Retaliation (03/26/2008)
TRENTON – The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of New Jersey filed court papers today requesting that the New Jersey Superior Court impose sanctions against the New Jersey Department of Corrections (DOC) for witness tampering, official misconduct and violations of court rules. The ACLU’s motion for sanctions charges that the DOC obtained false and misleading statements from women prisoners about conditions in the prison in an attempt to defend the prison against claims of inhumane treatment. A female prisoner who exposed the DOC’s misconduct reports being beaten as a result.

Court Rules Connecticut Social Club Can’t Ban Women (02/27/2008)
MYSTIC, CT – In a victory for gender equality, a Connecticut Superior Court ruled that a local social club can no longer ban women from membership. The ruling comes in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Connecticut on behalf of Sam Corcoran, who was denied membership in the German Social Society Frohsinn, Inc. because she is a woman. The court upheld an appellate court’s ruling that the social club was a public accommodation - not a private club - and subject to Connecticut’s civil rights laws banning discrimination.