News & Commentary

The American Civil Liberties Union's primary work is litigation, but this month it's moonlighting as a wedding planner as part of its role in the campaign to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide.

Salud Garcia and Pam Kleiss

The ACLU of Wisconsin sent a letter today to the Madison Metropolitan School Board after hearing that they were considering a new Student Behavior Plan which would clearly state that students cannot be suspended/expelled for certain smaller-level behavioral issues and eliminate zero tolerance policies.

The Wisconsin Legislature passed a bill on cellphone tracking that is awaiting the governor’s signature, but the American Civil Liberties Union says it falls short of privacy protections in other states.

Written by Wisconsin Gazette Wednesday, 26 March 2014 06:21

The following is an opinion piece reprinted with permission from the author.

Wisconsin Attorney General J.B Van Hollen asked the Supreme Court today to grant certiorari in Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, Inc, et al., v. Van Hollen, a case brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Wisconsin, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, challenging that state’s admitting privileges law for abortion providers. The admitting privileges law singles out abortion providers for medically unnecessary restrictions and would force two of the four clinics in the state to stop offering abortion care. The Seventh Circuit had upheld a lower court’s decision blocking the Wisconsin law. Judge Posner, writing for the court, described the medical grounds supporting the law as “feeble.” Doctors and leading medical groups, such as the American Medical Association, the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the Wisconsin Public Health Association, have opposed such requirements because they are unnecessary for the provision of safe, high-quality health care, and because they prevent women from getting necessary services. Wisconsin law does not require doctors providing surgery at other health centers to have admitting privileges even for more complicated procedures. The Wisconsin law is based on a model bill, not from any medical organization, but from Americans United for Life (AUL).  AUL has touted these measures as a way to shut down women’s health centers. It is similar to laws passed in Mississippi, North Dakota, and Alabama that have all been blocked by the courts, as well as a Texas law that recently went into effect and has left large swaths of the state without any abortion providers.

Another 43 religious schools have registered with the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) to receive tax dollars as the voucher subsidy program expands across the State. They join the 25 religious schools subsidized last year.  The limit on vouchers and their cost to taxpayers doubles next year to 1,000.  Every one of the 68 schools is religious.

By Scott Wittkopf, Forward Institute