ACLU Sues Indiana State Police For Restrictions on Anti-Death Penalty Protests
Anti-death penalty protesters want to stand vigil during executions outside the prison entrance but have been blocked by police since early July. The ACLU lawsuit says the 1.6-mile no-protest zone around the federal prison does not serve a significant government interest and should be struck down.
ACLU Sues City of Minneapolis For Injuries to Demonstrators During George Floyd Protests
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Minnesota, along with law firm Fish & Richardson, has filed a civil rights lawsuit on behalf of four protesters against the City of Minneapolis, the Minneapolis Police Chief, the head of the police officer’s union, and others.
Federal Judge Orders Cohen’s Release, Says He Was Punished For Planned Book
A federal judge orders Cohen to be released after finding that the purpose of his re-imprisonment was in retaliation for his plans to criticize Trump. Prior to being put back in prison, Cohen was pressured into signing an agreement that would have relinquished his First Amendment rights.
ACLU Petition Says Cohen Imprisoned in Retaliation for Planned Book About Trump
According to the petition, Cohen was asked to sign a form agreeing not to publish the book as a condition of his release. His lawyers and the ACLU are asking the US District Court for the Southern District of New York for his immediate release into home confinement.
ACLU Sues City of Seattle For Using Excessive Force On Protestors
On June 9th, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Washington filed an emergency lawsuit demanding that the City of Seattle immediately stop using chemical agents on protestors. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court of Western Washington on behalf of Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County and individual demonstrators, comes in response to the Seattle Police Department’s (SPD) continued use of chemical agents for crowd control.
Lawmakers Call for the Drug Enforcement Administration to End Its Surveillance of Protesters
“The DEA’s narcotics interdiction tactics are not appropriate measures to address the limited violence that has taken place over the past few days or to monitor peaceful protests,” the letter said. “The expansion of the DEA’s law enforcement authority, including the use of ‘covert surveillance’ and collection of intelligence, is unwarranted and antithetical to the American people’s right to peacefully assemble and to exercise their Constitutional rights without undue Intrusion.”
ACLU Sues Minneapolis Police for Deliberate “Indifference” to Press Freedom
The complaint cites six incidents of arrests, 14 incidents of the use of physical force, five incidents of the use of chemical agents, and five incidents of threatening language and gestures, made by police officers against reporters, often without warning.
Appeals Court Considers Massachusetts’ Law Against Secretly Recording Police
The ACLU of Massachusetts says that the law, which was originally written to protect citizens from government surveillance, is now used to punish people for exercising their First Amendment right to gather information about public officials.