News & Commentary

Ben Wizner is the Director of ACLU’s Speech, Privacy & Technology Project, which is dedicated to protecting and expanding the First Amendment freedoms of expression, association, and inquiry; expanding the right to privacy and increasing the control that individuals have over their personal information; and ensuring that civil liberties are enhanced rather than compromised by new advances in science and technology. He has litigated numerous cases involving post-9/11 civil liberties abuses, including challenges to airport security policies, government watchlists, extraordinary rendition, and torture. He has appeared regularly in the media, testified before Congress, and traveled several times to Guantanamo Bay to monitor military commission proceedings.

"Captain Underpants and the Perilous Plot of Professor Poopypants." "Captain Underpants and the Wrath of the Wicked Wedgie Woman." "Captain Underpants and the Farty Fight for Free Speech." Okay fine, I made up the last one. The silly titles of the "Captain Underpants" series lined our bookshelf at home, thanks to my younger brother. As his wiser and worldlier older sister, I wanted nothing to do with such absurdity. It seems some older people, however, have taken greater offense to Dav Pilkey's children's books, their paranoia almost more farcical than the titles themsel

On September 17, 2014, four couples, represented by lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Wisconsin, and the law firm of Mayer Brown filed a federal court challenge to Wisconsin's refusal to recognize their marriages and the marriages of other same-sex couples that took place between June 6 and 13. The following couples are plaintiffs in the suit.

The Milwaukee Police Department has conducted nearly 1 million officer-initiated traffic and pedestrian stops mostly in poor neighborhoods since 2008 when Chief Edward Flynn started a patrol-oriented police strategy. His strategy is based on numerous stops for minor traffic offenses. These stops are called pretextual, because the department isn't interested so much in traffic safety — the admitted purpose of the stops is to disrupt potential criminal activity or at least get in the heads of the bad guys. The 1 million stops do not include responses to calls for service. There are other sources of tension between residents and police. In 2012, an ongoing scandal in police District 5 was revealed to the public.

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD

By Judith Davidoff on Thursday 09/11/2014

By Steven Elbow | The Capital Times

MICHAEL TARM Associated Press

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