News & Commentary

News reports indicate that correctional officers, rather than nurses or other medical staff, have been distributing prescription medications to the children housed at most of the housing units at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lakes schools, resulting in frequent and harmful medication errors.

Statement from Chris Ahmuty, ACLU of Wisconsin Executive Director:  

The ACLU of Wisconsin sent the following letter to Milwaukee County Executive  Chris Abele, Milwaukee County Board Chair Theo Lipscomb & Board Members, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, Milwaukee Common Council Pres. Ashanti Hamilton & Council Members, Wauwatosa Mayor Kathleen Ehley, Wauwatosa Council Pres. Cheryl Berdan & Council Members on May 25, 2016: We are writing to express our support for the proposed Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line from downtown Milwaukee to the Medical Complex, the East-West BRT. As you know, the ACLU of Wisconsin has been a long time advocate for more and better public transportation as a matter of environmental justice and transit equity. The East-West BRT is a starting point to make those needed improvements a reality. There are many thousands of jobs at both ends of the proposed route line, and more throughout the route, at locations like the near west side. The East-West BRT will help provide the many persons of color, persons with disabilities, and members of transit-dependent households who live in the route corridor with improved access to those jobs, as well as to education and health care. In addition, the East-West BRT, when properly linked in to other county bus routes, should broaden transit access to these locations for other central city residents. And it will provide a reasonable alternative to East-West highway capacity expansion, a proposal that would otherwise have significant adverse effects on the disproportionate number of persons of color who reside in the corridor. It is our understanding that implementation of the East-West BRT is the first step on what the county plans as a broader BRT system, and that the next leg is intended to traverse more of the central city, increasing the number of persons of color and transit-dependent households who benefit from BRT. We also urge the county to work closely with neighborhood residents - including those in central city neighborhoods - to ensure that they also have input into, and benefit from, any development or redevelopment that occurs along the BRT route. Again, we strongly support the proposed BRT as a matter of environmental and racial justice, and as a step towards building the quality multi-modal public transportation system that our community deserves. Sincerely, Chris Ahmuty Executive Director  

By ABIGAIL BECKER | The Capital Times

The Police Accountability Workgroup sent the following letter to Mayor Barrett, and copied the Common Council and Fire and Police Commission Board of Directors:

The American Civil Liberties Union has successfully revived part of a lawsuit challenging Wisconsin's voter ID law, with this version aimed at people who face especially high hurdles getting an ID. If the case is ultimately successful, those residents would be able to vote without showing a photo ID at the polls. The ACLU's original lawsuit would have thrown out Wisconsin's photo ID requirement for all voters. The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago dismissed that case in 2014, saying it ran contrary to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling. This latest lawsuit is far more specific. It aims to create an exception to the law for certain voters who have an especially difficult time getting the documents they need to obtain a photo ID. That list includes people who need a birth certificate that no longer exists. In

Statement from Chris Ahmuty, ACLU of Wisconsin Executive Director:

Most elected officials in this country profess to support the U. S. Constitution. While the constitutionality of various issues is debated in our state and federal judicial systems every day, the Constitution is becoming a political issue in this year’s presidential primaries. In this environment of largely unaccountable campaign rhetoric, we should take caution whenever a candidate pledges that he or she will defend the Constitution. Our caution should take the form of demanding to hear that candidates actually understand the Constitution. Views of our Constitution and what public policies flow from it vary widely. It is not enough for a candidate to claim that he or she will f

The state of Wisconsin filed a petition today asking the US Supreme Court to review the 7th Circuit federal appeals court’s decision to invalidate a law that would have required doctors who perform abortions to obtain admitting privileges at a local hospital -- one of the restrictions currently under consideration in the Texas abortion case before the Supreme Court, Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt. If implemented, the law would threaten one of only four remaining Wisconsin abortion providers with closur