The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal from a Pennsylvania school district that tried to ban students from wearing "I (heart) Boobies!" bracelets to promote breast cancer awareness, ending a case that began more than three years ago with the suspension of two middle-school girls who refused a principal's order to take them off.
Read More »Tag Archives: ACLU
Judge: Temporary gay marriage ban block unlikely (UPDATE)
A federal judge has asked the American Civil Liberties Union to reconsider its request to temporarily block Wisconsin's gay marriage ban.
Read More »ACLU asks judge to block gay marriage ban (UPDATE)
Civil rights advocates have asked a federal judge to block Wisconsin's gay marriage ban while their lawsuit challenging the prohibition winds its way through court, arguing same-sex couples could suffer harm if the ban remains in place.
Read More »Cellphone search cases implicate broad privacy interests
Faced with a pair of cases raising the issue of warrantless searching of arrestees’ cellphones, the U.S. Supreme Court will again need to apply centuries-old constitutional principles to rapidly changing technologies.
Read More »Ruling in Penn. voter-ID case buoys Wis. hopes
Opponents of Wisconsin's voter-ID law hope that a recent win on the East Coast bodes well for their efforts to get Wisconsin's law overturned.
Read More »Walker says he senses no gay marriage ‘movement’
Gov. Scott Walker, a staunch defender of Wisconsin's gay marriage ban, said Wednesday that he senses no "significant movement" to undo the law even though a federal lawsuit filed Monday challenges its constitutionality.
Read More »Same-sex couples challenge state’s gay marriage ban (UPDATE)
A group of same-sex couples filed a federal lawsuit Monday challenging Wisconsin's ban on gay marriage, arguing the prohibition is unconstitutional and denies them civil rights married couples enjoy.
Read More »Push for sentencing changes underway in Congress
An unusual alliance of tea party enthusiasts and liberal leaders in Congress is pursuing major changes in the country's mandatory sentencing laws.
Read More »Justices: Court-ordered psych evidence doesn’t violate 5th Amendment
Defendants who offer a diminished capacity defense cannot seek to exclude rebuttal evidence from court-ordered mental evaluations on Fifth Amendment grounds, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Kansas v. Cheever.
Read More »Groups sue feds over foreclosure fighting tactic
The American Civil Liberties Union has sued the Federal Housing Finance Agency, asking it to disclose efforts to stop municipalities from using eminent domain to bail out underwater homeowners and make its dealings with the financial industry more transparent.
Read More »Court: Clicking ‘Like’ on Facebook is free speech
Clicking "Like" on Facebook is constitutionally protected free speech and can be considered the 21st century-equivalent of a campaign yard sign, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.
FISA judge: No challenges to phone records orders
A newly declassified opinion from the government's secret surveillance court says no company that has received an order to turn over bulk telephone records has challenged the directive.
Read More »Web privacy bill moving forward in Legislature
A proposal that would make it illegal for Wisconsin employers to ask workers or job applicants to turn over their passwords to social media accounts such as Facebook is moving forward in the Legislature.
Read More »Judge won’t lift block on Wis. abortion law (UPDATE)
A federal judge refused Wednesday to lift his temporary hold on a new requirement that Wisconsin abortion providers have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals.
Read More »Judge blocks portion of Capitol access policy (UPDATE)
Groups of up to 20 people can gather in the state Capitol without a permit, a federal judge ruled, striking down portions of the current policy requiring permits for all activities as an unconstitutional infringement on free speech rights.
Read More »Supreme Court strikes federal marriage provision (UPDATE)
In a historic victory for gay rights, the Supreme Court on Wednesday struck down a provision of a federal law denying federal benefits to married gay couples and cleared the way for the resumption of same-sex marriage in California.
Supreme Court nixes human gene patents
In a decision that seemed designed to carve out a middle ground in the legal battle over whether companies can hold exclusive rights in the use of biological material, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that isolated human genes are not patentable, but synthetically created genetic material may be patented.
Read More »Lawsuits over government surveillance languish
Before there was Edward Snowden and the leak of explosive documents showing widespread government surveillance, there was Mark Klein - a telecommunications technician who alleged that AT&T was allowing U.S. spies to siphon vast amounts of customer data without warrants.
Appeals court: Voter ID constitutional (UPDATE)
A Wisconsin law requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls is constitutional, a state appeals court ruled Thursday in a decision offering hope for Republicans working to reinstate the mandate.
Read More »Lawmakers alter DNA collection proposal (UPDATE)
The Republicans who dominate the state’s Joint Finance Committee plan to keep Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal to collect DNA samples from people who have been arrested on suspicion of felonies. But they could drop the plan to take them from those arrested for certain misdemeanors, the co-chairman of the committee said Thursday.
Read More »Bill to add penalties for harassing lawmakers
A Wisconsin lawmaker is pushing for tougher laws to deter people who would intimidate or harm members of the Legislature and their families.
Read More »ACLU questions Capitol policy in court (UPDATE)
Civil rights attorneys pressed a federal judge Wednesday to temporarily block the state's Capitol access policy, arguing the rules stifle free speech and don't serve any legitimate government interest.
Read More »ACLU sues over Capitol sing-along crackdown
Gov. Scott Walker's administration's crackdown on a handful of state Capitol protesters violates their constitutional right to free speech, American Civil Liberties Union attorneys alleged in a lawsuit filed Monday.
Roe v Wade: After 40 years, deep divide is legacy
By today's politically polarized standards, the Supreme Court's momentous Roe v. Wade ruling was a landslide. By a 7-2 vote on Jan. 22, 1973, the justices established a nationwide right to abortion.
Read More »New federal law could fund DNA collection in state
Republicans scratching for a way to fund Gov. Walker's plan to collect DNA from suspects upon arrest may have a chance at extra dollars courtesy of Congress.
Read More »US Supreme Court hears warrantless blood sample case
The justices of the U.S. Supreme Court appeared unwilling Wednesday to allow police to take blood samples from suspected drunk drivers without a warrant.
Read More »Late court decisions may impact 2012 election
Before voters get a say in this year's presidential race, lawyers and judges are having theirs.
Read More »Federal Circuit ruling a win for biotech field, sets up high court showdown
In a second victory for the biotech industry in one year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has reinstated its ruling that a company’s isolation of human genetic material, and its process for using that material to determine the effectiveness of certain cancer therapies, meet the threshold test for patent-eligibility.
Read More »High court will take up wiretaps lawsuit
The Supreme Court says it will consider shutting down a legal challenge to a law that lets the United States eavesdrop on overseas communications.
Read More »Constitutional Law — First Amendment — eavesdropping
11-1286 ACLU v. Alvarez
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