Latest From ACLU of Washington

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

Air Force Major Dismissed Under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Looks Ahead to Rejoining the Military

News Release, Published: 
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Maj. Margaret Witt, a decorated flight nurse dismissed under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” spoke about her eagerness to rejoin the U.S. Air Force. When reinstated, she will become the first openly gay person to serve in the military due to a court order under DADT. Major Witt spoke at a press conference at the ACLU-WA, which has represented her in a four-year-long lawsuit seeking her reinstatement.  
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Pierce County Jail: Improvements in Medical Care To End Suit over Inhumane Conditions

News Release, Published: 
Monday, November 29, 2010
After 15 years of court-supervised monitoring, the ACLU-WA and Pierce County have agreed to a final settlement in a lawsuit over inhumane conditions at the county jail. The settlement came after county officials adopted policies that, when fully implemented, will ensure that medical care for inmates meets minimum constitutional standards.
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"Levamicoke": The Latest Collateral Damage in the War on Drugs

Published: 
Monday, November 29, 2010
In a previous post, we mentioned Stranger reporter Brendan Kiley's groundbreaking piece on levamisole, a chemical used to deworm livestock, showing up as a cutting agent in the U.S. cocaine supply. Preliminary results of a testing kit distributed on the streets of Seattle suggest that 85% of the city's cocaine supply is tainted with levamisole.
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Expecting? Expect Denied Insurance Coverage Through 2014

Published: 
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
A recent investigation by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce brought to light several disturbing findings about the inequities expectant parents face in the insurance market. Read more
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Air Force Major Dismissed Under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” to Rejoin the Military

News Release, Published: 
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Major Margaret Witt, a decorated flight nurse who had been dismissed under the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, will be able to resume her service with the U.S. Air Force, the ACLU of Washington announced today.  Major Witt will become the first openly gay person to serve in the military due to a court order under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” The ACLU-WA has represented Major Witt in a four-year-long lawsuit seeking her reinstatement. Pictured: Major Witt (far right) deployed in Oman. 
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Capital Punishment – Tightening the Noose on Washington’s Budget

Published: 
Friday, November 19, 2010
In September Governor Chris Gregoire, warning that Washington’s finances were “bouncing along the bottom,” by executive order decreed 6.3% across-the-board budget cuts for all state agencies. Just days before the Governor’s announcement the state spent almost $98,000 to execute Cal Brown, who had spent 17 years on death row for a crime committed in 1991. That sum was only the tip of the iceberg, however. As a recentreport by the Washington State Bar Association notes, the specter of a death sentence regularly adds a premium of half a million dollars or moreof legal and judicial costs per case.
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ACLU calls for U.S. Justice Department to investigate “pattern and practice” of civil rights violations by Seattle Police

News Release, Published: 
Thursday, November 18, 2010
The recently released footage of an incident during which a Seattle police officer is seen repeatedly kicking an African-American youth is yet another disturbing example in a string of recent incidents in which the Seattle Police Department has engaged in unnecessarily violent confrontations with citizens, all of whom have been people of color.  These repeated incidents over the last 18 months, which have continued unchecked and without forceful intervention by the Seattle Police Department, the mayor, or Seattle’s other elected officials, leads the ACLU to call on the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate whether there is a pattern and practice of civil rights violations by the Seattle Police Department in violation of the constitution and federal law.  The ACLU is preparing a formal request to the Department of Justice for such an investigation, according to Kathleen Taylor, Executive Director.
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Comprehensive Sex Education: Two Local School Districts Revise Their Curricula

Published: 
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
The ACLU-WA applauds the efforts of two eastern Washington school districts that have taken important strides toward implementing comprehensive sex education. We’ve been working together with the Central Valley and Clarkston school districts to align their sex education curricula with the requirements of Washington’s Healthy Youth Act. Both districts have confirmed they are removing from their curricula materials that, among other things, provide medically inaccurate information, promote gender stereotypes, and show a bias against LGBT students. Removing such materials will help ensure that students acquire knowledge needed to protect their health and build healthy relationships. The ACLU-WA urges other school districts to review their curricula to make sure they follow the Healthy Youth Act’s requirements for being medically and scientifically accurate and free of bias.
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Election Results for Marijuana Legalization and Liquor Privatization: The Case for State Control?

Published: 
Monday, November 8, 2010
California’s Proposition 19 - the Regulate, Control, and Tax Cannabis Act – narrowly lost on election day. The final tally, 46.1% voted in favor and 53.9% against (the most successful results ever for a legalization initiative). Washington state’s two liquor privatization initiatives also faltered. Initiative 1100 (largely financed by Costco) lost in a close race, while Initiative 1105 (largely financed by liquor distributors) lost by double digits. Although there is no single answer for why voters didn't pass these measures, one common theme may be that the public wants state-level control when it comes to intoxicating substances. Let’s take a closer look at these races. Read more
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Return to Sender

Published: 
Friday, November 5, 2010
Recently, a troubling trend in correctional facilities around the country has shown up in two Washington State jails.  Inmates, already a population isolated from their respective communities, are now being restricted in their communications with their own friends and families.  Spokane County Jail and Yakima County Jail are only allowing their inmates to send out and to receive postcards.  These policies prohibit inmates from sending or receiving letters, pictures, limiting contact with loved ones if it takes more than a few sentences to express themselves.  The same is true for families writing the inmate, restricting their right to freedom of speech. Read more
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Score! High School Reinstates Predominantly Hispanic Soccer Team

Published: 
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
For some students, playing on a sports team can make the difference between success and failure in school. It can be the one thing that keeps them coming to school each day, motivates them to keep their grades up, or connects them to a caring adult in the building. So, when a school cuts sports opportunities for any of its students, it’s unfortunate. When a school cuts opportunities for students who are already underrepresented in sports and activities, or otherwise disadvantaged, the consequences can be significant and it can raise potential civil rights issues. Read more
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Investigation of Medical Marijuana Patient Conducted with Guns and Battering Ram

Published: 
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Last Monday, just before 9 o'clock at night, a half dozen Seattle police officers in black tactical gear, with guns drawn, broke down the front door of an apartment with a battering ram and put the man they found inside in his bathrobe face down on his kitchen floor at gunpoint. The officers' search revealed two marijuana plants, each roughly 12 inches tall, and a document establishing that the man on the kitchen floor had been authorized by his physician to engage in the medical use of marijuana as provided under Washington state law. Read more
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Voting = Engaged Citizens = Healthy Communities

Published: 
Monday, November 1, 2010
Tomorrow is Election Day. Washington’s Secretary of State predicts a robust 66% voter turnout, the highest for a mid-term election in many years. Thanks to a law passed last year with the support of the ACLU, many of these voters will be re-engaging with their fellow citizens for the first time in years. Meanwhile, the U.S. Congress is considering a law that will extend voting rights to many more citizens nationwide and you have an opportunity to tell them what you think. Read more
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The Next Best Thing to Being an ACLU Staff Attorney

Published: 
Friday, October 29, 2010
What’s the next best thing to being an ACLU staff attorney? Being an ACLU legal fellow. As election season rolls around, the end of my year-long fellowship at the ACLU of Washington does as well. A 2009 graduate of Hastings College of Law in California, I’ve been hired by Perkins Coie but deferred my starting date with the firm. So for the past year, instead of working on commercial litigation, I have had the amazing opportunity to work full-time in the ACLU-WA legal department. I have gotten a taste of advocacy and educational work, creating a toolkit for farmworkers’ rights. I have dipped my feet in legislative and policy work in immigration issues. Most excitingly, I immediately plunged into litigation as a member of the ACLU-WA legal team on the landmark “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” case Witt v. Air Force. Read more
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