News Releases

A Thurston County Superior Court judge today approved ballot title language for Referendum 74, a measure that asks voters to approve or reject the law permitting civil marriage for same-sex couples passed by the 2012 Legislature.

Text messaging, chats, Facebook, blogs, YouTube, and a host of other new avenues raise both new and old questions about legal rights. Now the ACLU-WA has published the first-ever guidebook laying out the rights of Washington public school students in using electronic communications devices.

The U.S. District Court in Seattle has rejected a motion to dismiss a lawsuit against the cities of Mt. Vernon and Burlington over their failure to provide legal representation to poor people accused of misdemeanors. The court also granted the case class-action status.

A lawsuit pending in U.S. District court is challenging the shockingly deficient public defense system in the cities of Mount Vernon and Burlington. The suit says that the cities fail to impose reasonable caseload limits on attorneys, fail to monitor the public defense system, and fail to provide adequate resources to the system.

Valentine’s Day comes a day early! Gov. Gregoire has signed the bill making civil marriage available to all loving, committed couples in Washington state. Supporters of equality celebrated: The relationships of same-sex couples now have the full respect of state law.

It’s an early Valentine’s Day! With a 55-43 vote, the Washington House has joined the Senate in approving the bill making civil marriage available to all loving, committed couples. The Governor is signing the bill today at 11:30.

A former student who endured severe and persistent harassment throughout junior high and high school has gained a major settlement from the Aberdeen School District. The ACLU has represented Russell Dickerson III in a lawsuit saying that school district officials were aware of the harassment but failed to take steps reasonably calculated to end it.

The in-depth report by the Department of Justice confirms what many people of color and others have experienced – that the Seattle Police Department has engaged in a pattern and practice of excessive use of force. The report documents in detail the concerns that led the ACLU and 34 other community organizations in December 2010 to request that the DOJ conduct this investigation.

The ACLU-WA presented its annual Bill of Rights awards to Seattle social justice attorney Peter Greenfield, Yakima Valley community advocates Paula Zambrano and Patricia Flores, and youth activist Gaby Rodriguez of Toppenish. Awardees accepted the honors at the Bill of Rights Celebration Dinner.

The ACLU-WA is appealing to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in its lawsuit for the Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign challenging King County’s cancellation of the group’s paid bus ad. The suit reminds us that it is when we are faced with controversial speech, speech that is upsetting to some people, that support of the First Amendment is most important.