News & Commentary

The ACLU of Wisconsin joined other environmental justice groups like the Black Health Coalition of Wisconsin and Midwest Environmental Advocates in opposing the Wisconsin Department of Transportation’s plan to continue to expand highway access via the Zoo Interchange while cutting transit spending. As recipients of federal funding, the state cannot have programs that have a discriminatory effect. The WisDOT’s transportation funding and policy decisions are leading toward more roads for car owners and fewer transportation options for people who depend on public transportation. 

Many cities, towns and villages around Wisconsin have ordinances that regulate signs on private property. They are usually justified on grounds of aesthetics and traffic safety. If these ordinances just limit the size of the signs or how close they are to the street, they do not impermissibly infringe on freedom of speech. However, occasionally ordinances of this type prohibit property owners from placing political signs, in which case they are clearly unconstitutional.

The Governor’s privatization ideology appears to have blinded him to the stark realities Wisconsin school children will face if a budget is passed with a $834 million cut in school aids over the course of the biennium. Walker’s de-funding scheme coupled with a costly and wasteful expansion of the failed private school voucher program in Milwaukee and independent charter schools statewide will privatize public education in Wisconsin.

Monday February 28, 2011 Today the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin in a letter to Wisconsin Department of Administration Secretary Michael Huebsch insisted that the Secretary ensure fair access to the Capitol. The Department has restricted access to the Capitol by citizens wishing to exercise their rights to free speech and assembly.

As protests have sprung up around Wisconsin this week, the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin Foundation has organized specially trained, neutral observers to be witnesses to interactions between police and demonstrators. With more protesters on both sides of the public debate over the budget repair bill expected this weekend, the ACLU will continue to have observers monitor the demonstrations and the law enforcement response. The ACLU has also widely distributed information about protesters’ rights and responsibilities by handing out its popular “bust cards” at protests and by posting on internet and social media sites all week.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin urges the State Legislature to reject those portions of the budget repair bill that curtail government employees’ rights to organize and collectively bargain over the terms and conditions of their employment. These labor rights are aspects of the First Amendment rights of freedom of association and speech. Private and public employees alike, through their association with other persons in a labor union, must have the ability to seek compensation, benefits and other working conditions through collective bargaining with their employers.

Today the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit heard oral arguments about the rights of transgender inmates in Wisconsin prisons. The ACLU, the ACLU of Wisconsin and Lambda Legal sued the state on behalf of transgender inmates, some of whom had been receiving hormone treatment in Wisconsin prisons for years. “The district court correctly struck down a discriminatory law that denied transgender people, and no one else, crucial care for a serious medical condition,” said John Knight, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Project. “We hope that the court of appeals affirms this ruling and recognizes that medical treatment decisions must be based on medical, rather than political, justifications.” In 2005, the state of Wisconsin passed a law that barred prison doctors from providing transgender inmates medically necessary hormone therapy or sex reassignment surgery while in state custody. The court case got media mentions in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, a blog of the Capitol Times and Common Dreams.

Today the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit heard oral arguments about the rights of transgender inmates in Wisconsin prisons. The ACLU, the ACLU of Wisconsin and Lambda Legal sued the state on behalf of transgender inmates, some of whom had been receiving hormone treatment in Wisconsin prisons for years. “The district court correctly struck down a discriminatory law that denied transgender people, and no one else, crucial care for a serious medical condition,” said John Knight, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Project. “We hope that the court of appeals affirms this ruling and recognizes that medical treatment decisions must be based on medical, rather than political, justifications.” In 2005, the state of Wisconsin passed a law that barred prison doctors from providing transgender inmates medically necessary hormone therapy or sex reassignment surgery while in state custody. The court case got media mentions in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, a blog of the Capitol Times and Common Dreams.

The new session of the Wisconsin Legislature has barely begun and legislators are pushing a bill that will require all voters to present a government-issued photo ID every time they go to the polls. The bill (Senate Bill 6 - PDF) will be heard by the Senate Committee on Transportation and Elections Jan. 26. The ACLU has opposed these deeply flawed laws in other states. But the law as proposed in Wisconsin is the worst and most restrictive we've ever seen. To deny potentially thousands of voters the right to freely cast a ballot to fix a non-existent problem is unconscionable in a free society. While proponents of this bill say it will fix vote fraud, the state Senate Committee on Transportation and Elections will hear from voters and advocates who will testify on why the plan will have a discriminatory impact on minorities and will be a costly and ineffective attempt to prevent fraud.