Latest From ACLU of Washington

The latest content and updates from the ACLU of Washington website.

From Fighting for the West Memphis Three to Ending the Death Penalty in Washington

Published: 
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
This article first appeared on the blog of Safe and Just Alternatives, a campaign working to end capital punishment in our state. At the age of 16, my boyfriend Jason Baldwin faced the death penalty for a crime he did not commit.  Twice offered leniency in exchange for testifying against his best friend, Jason – without hesitation – refused both deals.  Had he taken the second deal, he likely would have been released on good behavior within roughly two years.
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Agreement with Justice Dept. Presents Opportunity for Lasting Reform

Published: 
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
The Dept. of Justice and the City of Seattle have agreed on a proposed consent decree with a  court-appointed monitor to improve policing in Seattle. The agreement is an historic opportunity for Seattle to ensure all residents receive equal and fair treatment by its police force.
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Lawsuit to Uphold Free Speech Rights on Sound Transit Trains Moves to Appeals Court

News Release, Published: 
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
The ACLU-WA is appealing its lawsuit seeking to have Sound Transit run a paid ad by Working Washington touting the importance of good jobs at SeaTac. “ When a public agency operates an advertising program open to a wide variety of messages, individual government officials should not be left to decide subjectively what is ‘controversial.’
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King County Steps Up to Save Education for Inmates

Published: 
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Education for inmates can be a vital part of preparing them to re-enter society successfully. Multiple studies demonstrate that individuals who receive educational opportunities while they are incarcerated are far less likely to re-offend when they return to their communities.
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Exploring Teen Dreams Shouldn’t Mean Sacrificing Privacy

Published: 
Friday, July 20, 2012
Teenagers need to be able to explore lots of educational and career possibilities – and to do so without having the military automatically know about their personal explorations.  When you’re in high school (not to mention older), you may not know what you want to be.  Personally, I remember that when I was 16, I dreamt of being a physician.  A fan of Grey’s Anatomy, I thought that a rebellious doctor who happens to find a Prince Charming in an all-white lab coat epitomized the perfect job. 
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Respecting immigrant rights is patriotic

Published: 
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Is respect for immigrants’ rights patriotic?  Yes, indeed, and now this has been recognized by no less an authority than the Washington Supreme Court.  In its recent unanimous ruling in the case In re Discipline of McGrath, the Court included this powerful statement:
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Las organizaciones comunitarias de Washington rechazan la ley de discriminación en base a raza de Arizona, SB 1070

Published: 
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
La SB 1070 va en contra de los queridos valores de Washington que nadie debe sufrir intrusiones injustificadas por parte de la policía y que todos debemos tener derecho a debido proceso, justicia, e igualdad. Los líderes comunitarios en Washington siempre se han mantenido alertos para asegurar que leyes como la SB 1070 nunca se pasen aquí. De hecho, tales medidas nunca han ganado terreno en nuestro estado, ni en la legislatura ni por iniciativa – ninguna de las leyes o proposiciones en el estado de Washington ha ganado apoyo importante, y donde las agencias de aduana y control fronterizo y las autoridades competentes han discriminado en base a la raza o la etnia, muchos de nuestros líderes comunitarios han respondido con fuerza, rechazando tales medidas.
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Washington’s Community Organizations Reject Arizona’s Racial Profiling Law

Published: 
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Arizona’s SB 1070 is contrary to Washington’s cherished values that everyone should be free from unwarranted intrusions by police and that everyone should have due process, fairness, and equality.  Community leaders in Washington have always been vigilant to ensure that laws like SB 1070 never pass here.  Indeed, such measures have never gotten traction in our state, whether through the legislature or via initiative—every single anti-immigrant law or ballot measure that has been proposed in Washington has failed to gain any significant support.  And where the Customs and Border Protection agency or local law enforcement agencies have engaged in racial profiling to the detriment of public safety, many of our community leaders have responded strongly in rejecting such measures.
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To confront torture, America must first apologize for its own mistakes

Published: 
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Martin Niemoller’s well-known insight (“first they came for the Socialists, I was not one… when they came for me, there was no one left to speak up”) affirms the urgency of speaking out against torture and seeking remedy for torture victims and survivors around the world. To speak out against organized harm requires courageous naming, as observed by writer and rights advocate Marge Piercy, who wrote that “we must name the giant in whose belly we are chained.”  
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Reject Arizona’s Racial Profiling Law and What It Stands For

Published: 
Monday, June 25, 2012
The ACLU-WA’s Shankar Narayan joined immigrant rights allies and elected officials in speaking out against Arizona’s racial profiling law, SB 1070, a press conference on the steps of the federal courthouse in Seattle. He pointed that such laws fly in the face of our fundamental values.
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We're Ready to Defend Washington's Marriage Law at the Ballot Box

Published: 
Monday, June 18, 2012
Last February, we cheered and cried with our friends and allies when Washington State Governor Chris Gregoire signed a bill that grants civil marriage to all loving, committed same-sex couples. But even as we celebrated, we knew that the opponents of marriage equality would continue to fight. Washington law allows the opponents of a piece of legislation to take their case to the voters by gathering enough signatures to place a referendum on the ballot. A “yes” vote on the referendum is a vote to protect the freedom to marry for same-sex couples.  A “no” vote on the referendum is a vote to exclude same-sex couples from marriage."
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Administration to Stop Deporting “Dreamers”: A Step Toward Upholding Constitutional Ideals

Published: 
Friday, June 15, 2012
The due process and equal protection clauses embodied in our Constitution and Bill of Rights apply to every "person," and are not limited to U.S. citizens. But for the youth who are impacted by today’s announcement, their immigration status means that those basic principles of due process and equal protection are increasingly in jeopardy as applied to them.
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