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"What happened today were individuals who went inside to use their Capitol building for demonstrations, something that could happen any time in our capitol's history," Harbaugh said. She said that while the qualification of signs under the "displays" rule would be a matter for attorneys, the incident itself spoke to the rule's requirement that groups as small as four people get permits "unreasonable and abridges their right to demonstrate and their right to go to the Capitol building and hold signs and protest the government."

Although the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin declined to comment on partisan issues, spokesperson Stacy Harbaugh said the group has various LGBT campaigns at the state level. These include a lawsuit against Wisconsin Family Action and an anti-bullying campaign in Milwaukee, where the ACLU of Wisconsin has a large youth program. “While politicians at the federal level are arguing about these very important issues, there are rights that still need to be defended at the state level, and we are involved with that,” Harbaugh said.

Karyn Rotker, senior staff attorney for the ACLU of Wisconsin, said she learned last year that agencies such as the Transportation Department are required to have an annually updated plan for complying with Title VI. But when she asked for the plan, she found it was dated 2004.

On August 28, Wisconsin State Senator Mark Miller sent a letter to Capitol Police Chief David Erwin expressing his concerns that the citizens of Wisconsin should have a free and open access to the Capitol building. In a letter of response by Capitol Police Chief David Erwin on August 30, Chief Erwin outlines why he believes permit requirements for political protests are reasonable.

Director Chris Ahmuty is concerned that in ousting the production, DNR used a particular religious view to limit free speech on public property. He’s investigating whether to file a legal complaint over the incident as a free-speech violation. “How far this goes could depend on how fearful SummerStage is about losing their contract for next year,” Ahmuty said. Meanwhile, DNR claims that the play was not canceled due to religious pressure at all, but rather because of a clause in the SummerStage contract that stipulates all productions must be “family-friendly.”

This isn’t the first time WisDOT has been sued over this very issue.  A settlement was reached in 2000, which arose out of a similar lawsuit regarding I-94 corridor planning.  According to The ACLU of Wisconsin, the WisDOT agreed it would “continue to use its best efforts to expand and improve transit service within the Milwaukee Metropolitan Area to enable transit dependent residents of Milwaukee to better access areas of job growth.”  But where are the tangible results of that promise?

Police are looking at cameras to quell crime in places such as the 600 block of University Avenue, which has been the site of a handful of high-profile summer crimes. The American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin has asked Wray to define how the cameras would be used, said Stacy Harbaugh, a spokeswoman. "Unfortunately, cameras aren't going to go away," she said. "Once cameras get installed, they're very hard to take out. So it's really important that the rules are clear." There are already 34 cameras downtown, Harbaugh said. They include at least five visible ones high atop the 600 block of University.

The ACLU's Women's Rights Project was co-founded in 1972 by Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Through litigation, community outreach, advocacy and public education, the ACLU Women’s Rights Project empowers poor women, women of color and immigrant women who have been victimized by gender bias and face pervasive barriers to equality.

Tuesday March 9, 2010 Environmental and civil rights organizations are joining forces to urge that Water Supply planning consider meaningful alternatives to facilitating the continuation of unequal and unsustainable development patterns. The organizations object to the continuing failure by regional planners to consider whether alternatives to current sprawling land use patterns would be better for the environment, and more beneficial to communities of color and low income communities.