ACLU-NCA Welcomes its New Executive Director, Benetta Standly

We are very excited to announce the impending arrival of our new Executive Director, Benetta (pronounced “bineeta”) Standly, who will take charge of the office on June 11. (click here for complete article)

Walk with PRIDE! …in solidarity with the Capital PRIDE Parade

JOIN US SATURDAY, JUNE 9TH @ 4:30pm!

ACLU members are proud of our history in working to make real the pledge of "Liberty and Justice for All."

Walk with us June 9th and help make American history again!

The ACLU was founded in1920 when immigrants, socialists and labor leaders were being targeted, harassed, detained and deported—not because most of the ACLU were immigrants (we weren't), but because we were Americans who recognized injustice and cared about protecting our neighbors.

Because you too recognize injustice, please join the ACLU in showing support for our gay neighbors and Walk with Pride during the Capital Gay Pride Parade on Saturday, June 9th, starting at 4:30pm. We will rendezvous at the old ACLU-NCA offices outside 1400 20th Street, NW, off Dupont Circle metro.

Sign up at (202) 457-0800, email Beverly@aclu-nca.org, donate online at www.aclu-nca.org.

DC Schools' Budget May be Open At Last -- Mayor Rejects DCPS Secrecy, Raps Failure to Release Full Data to ACLU Request

Have you, like many, wondered where over $800 million goes in DC school spending, when so many questions are being raised about results? Across the District, parents, educators and advocates have been wondering, and raising questions about why it is so hard to find out the full revenue and spending picture.

The ACLU wondered, also. We started by asking the D.C. Public Schools for a copy of the budget for the coming 2012-13 school year--the full picture of money in, money out.

Fall 2012 Legal Fellowship Opportunity for Lawyers and Third-Year Law Students

OVERVIEW:

The American Civil Liberties Union of the Nation's Capital (ACLU-NCA) invites applications for a two year Tony Dunn Fellowship in Civil Liberties. This Fellowship is funded through the generosity of the Anthony Stewart Dunn Foundation, which supports civil liberties in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia.

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

The Dunn Fellow will work as part of the ACLU-NCA Legal Department. The Fellow will  investigate and evaluate requests and correspond with those seeking ACLU legal help; provide legal research and analysis; develop theories to support new litigation projects; draft pleadings, affidavits, motions, and briefs; participate in discovery and trial practice; provide support and assistance to other ACLU affiliates and to volunteer attorneys; and supervise student interns. Learn more »

Police Secrecy Surrounding High-Tech Data Sources -- Focus of ACLU Testimony

Police are tracking people through their cell phones and capturing data on the travels of tens of thousands of car license tags, yet the public can't learn anything about these high-tech surveillances, according to ACLU testimony. These developments were detailed in the ACLU statement to the D.C. Council Committee on the Judiciary oversight hearing on the Washington Metropolitan Police Department held February 29.

D.C. Council Presses Officials for Action on ACLU Data Showing High Rate of Suspensions at D.C. Charter Schools

The D.C. Council recently grilled officials and asked for action in reponse to dramatic testimony to the D.C. Council Committee of the Whole on February 8, when ACLU Senior Staff Attorney Fritz Mulhauser revealed new ACLU findings -- that public charter schools in the District in 2009-2010 (the latest year for which there is adequate data) suspended 4,500 of their 29,000 students--16 per cent of the enrollment.

ACLU-NCA testifies on operation of new disorderly conduct law

On February 1, ACLU-NCA Senior Staff Attorney Fritz Mulhauser testified at a DC Council oversight hearing reviewing the implementation of the recently revised statute on disorderly conduct. Our  testimony focused on two problems of overzealous enforcement, involving the "incommoding" and "disrupting public gatherings" portions of the law.

ACLU-NCA opposes mandatory pretrial detention bill

On February 3, we opposed Bill 19-485, which would mandate pretrial detention or the use of an electronic monitoring device by any person accused of a crime involving a gun. We pointed out that the bill’s central purpose – removing from the courts the ability to tailor the conditions of pretrial release to fit the defendant – was at odds with the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition of excessive bail.

ACLU/NCA condemns congressional censorship

The ACLU condemned the arrest of journalists attempting to film a public hearing of a House subcommittee, apparently because the journalists were known to have a viewpoint different from the Republican leadership's.

ACLU Challenges Another "Contempt of Cop" False Arrest: Transit Police At Fault, Suit Says, In 2011 U Street Incident

Lawrence Miller saw his friend, Dwight Harris, thrown from his wheelchair last June 2011 by Metro Transit Police, and he spoke up--asking the officers why; urging them to take more care of a disabled person; and questioning why a peaceful U Street vendor lay bloody on the sidewalk.  Police told him to be quiet and he turned to leave.

Even so, despite committing no crime and aopparently just for asking his questions, Miller was arrested and locked up, charged with inciting a riot and assaulting an officer--charges a prosecutor tossed out at the first opportunity.