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Supreme Court Urged To Deny Appeal On Torture Photo Case (09/08/2009)
NEW YORK – The Supreme Court should deny the government's request for a review of a lower court's decision ordering the government to release photos depicting widespread abuse of detainees overseas, according to a formal opposition filed today by the American Civil Liberties Union. In April, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals had directed the government to turn over the photos in an ACLU Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit, and the Obama administration has asked the Supreme Court to review and reverse that decision.

Government Asks Supreme Court To Hear Torture Photo Case (08/07/2009)
NEW YORK – The government today asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its appeal of a court ruling requiring the release of photos depicting the abuse of prisoners held in U.S. custody at overseas locations. In September 2008, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ordered the government to turn over the photos in response to an ACLU Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit. The Obama administration originally indicated that it would not appeal that decision and would release the photos, but abruptly reversed its position shortly before the agreed-upon deadline.

Justice Souter Ends A Distinguished Career As U.S. Supreme Court Concludes A Relatively Quiet Term (06/29/2009)
NEW YORK – The Supreme Court concluded its 2008 Term today, clearing the stage for the confirmation hearings of Judge Sonia Sotomayor, which are scheduled to begin in the Senate on July 13. It also marks the end of Justice David Souter's distinguished career on the Supreme Court.

ACLU Releases Report On Supreme Court Nominee Sonia Sotomayor (06/08/2009)
NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union today released a report summarizing the civil liberties and civil rights record of Judge Sonia Sotomayor, who was nominated by President Obama to replace retiring Justice David Souter as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. The report was prepared in accordance with ACLU policy, and will be made available to the public and members of the Senate.

ACLU Urges Supreme Court To Hear Case Of 17 Uighurs Detained Indefinitely At Guantánamo (05/07/2009)
NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union urged the United States Supreme Court in a friend-of-the-court brief to hear the case of 17 Chinese ethnic Uighurs who have been detained without charge for over seven years at Guantánamo Bay and whose continued detention was found unlawful by a federal district court. The district court ordered the Uighurs, who the government concedes are not "enemy combatants," released into the U.S. because they cannot be returned to China given the threat of torture there, and because no other country has agreed to accept them. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reversed that decision in February when it held that federal courts are powerless to order the men released into the U.S. even if their continued detention is illegal. In its friend-of-the-court brief filed yesterday, the ACLU urged the Court to review the D.C. circuit decision.

ACLU Urges Supreme Court To Hear Case Of 17 Uighurs Detained Indefinitely At Guantánamo (05/07/2009)
NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union urged the United States Supreme Court in a friend-of-the-court brief to hear the case of 17 Chinese ethnic Uighurs who have been detained without charge for over seven years at Guantánamo Bay and whose continued detention was found unlawful by a federal district court. The district court ordered the Uighurs, who the government concedes are not "enemy combatants," released into the U.S. because they cannot be returned to China given the threat of torture there, and because no other country has agreed to accept them. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reversed that decision in February when it held that federal courts are powerless to order the men released into the U.S. even if their continued detention is illegal. In its friend-of-the-court brief filed yesterday, the ACLU urged the Court to review the D.C. circuit decision.

Supreme Court Hears Voting Rights Act Challenge (04/29/2009)
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme Court will hear an appeal today brought by a small municipal utility district in Austin, Texas challenging a key section of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the landmark federal law that ensured African-Americans and language minorities access to voting booths across the South and the nation. The challenged provision, Section 5, requires certain jurisdictions that have a history of racial discrimination in voting to obtain advance approval from the federal government before changing their election laws. The outcome of the case will have enormous implications for minority voters.

Supreme Court Rules FCC Ban On Fleeting Expletives Not "Arbitrary," Doesn't Rule On Constitutionality (04/28/2009)
NEW YORK – By a five to four decision, the Supreme Court ruled today that the Federal Communications Commission had not acted arbitrarily when it changed a long-standing policy and implemented a new ban on even "fleeting expletives" from the airwaves. The Court explicitly declined to decide whether the new rule is constitutional, and sent that issue back to the lower courts for their review.

U.S. Supreme Court Hears Arguments Today On Unconstitutional Strip Search Of 13-Year-Old Student For Alleged Ibuprofen Possession (04/21/2009)
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme Court today heard oral arguments over whether school officials violated the constitutional rights of a 13-year-old Arizona girl when they strip searched her based on a classmate's uncorroborated accusation that she previously possessed ibuprofen. The American Civil Liberties Union represents April Redding, the plaintiff in the lawsuit, whose daughter, Savana Redding, was strip searched by Safford Middle School officials six years ago.

Supreme Court Refuses To Revive Online Censorship Law (01/21/2009)
WASHINGTON – In a clear victory for free speech, the Supreme Court has announced that it will not hear the government's appeal of a ban on the Child Online Protection Act (COPA), the federal law that would criminalize constitutionally protected speech on the Internet.

Supreme Court Agrees To Hear Voting Rights Act Challenge (01/09/2009)
WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court agreed today to hear an appeal brought by a small municipal utility district in Austin, Texas challenging a key section of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the landmark federal law that ensured African-Americans access to voting booths across the South. The American Civil Liberties Union represents an African-American voter who lives in Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District Number One, the jurisdiction that brought the challenge. A number of civil rights organizations are also participating in the lawsuit.

Supreme Court Deals Blow To Bush Administration's Guantánamo Policy And Affirms Individual Right To Bear Arms (06/26/2008)
NEW YORK - The Supreme Court ended its 2007 Term by rejecting a centerpiece of the Bush administration's crumbling Guantánamo policy for the third time in four years while recognizing, for the first time in American history, an individual right to bear arms under the Second Amendment.

Supreme Court Decisions Protect Workers From Retaliation For Reporting On-The-Job Discrimination (05/27/2008)
NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union welcomed two decisions from the U.S. Supreme Court today protecting workers from retaliation when they complain about on-the-job discrimination.

Supreme Court Upholds Lethal Injection in Kentucky (04/16/2008)
NEW YORK – The ACLU expressed disappointment with today's 7-2 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court upholding the three drug lethal injection method of capital punishment used in Kentucky and other states.