News Releases

Tacoma Police Department violated Public Records Act, failed to disclose information on invasive surveillance technology

A three-judge panel from the Washington State Court of Appeals declined a request from the campaign for Seattle Charter Amendment 29 (“CA 29”) to issue a stay blocking King County Superior Court Judge Catherine Shaffer’s order to remove CA 29 from the November ballot.

Today, King County Superior Court Judge Catherine Shaffer ruled that Seattle Charter Amendment 29 (“CA 29”), which proposed to establish city policy on homelessness through a vote by Seattle residents, violated state law limiting the permissible scope of local ballot initiatives in many ways and therefore should not appear on the November 2021 ballot.

A lawsuit filed today on behalf of the ACLU of Washington, the Transit Riders Union and the Seattle King County Coalition on Homelessness claims that a proposed amendment to the Charter of the City of Seattle is an illegal use of a local ballot initiative and violates state laws that mandate how local governments make and carry out plans for addressing homelessness. The lawsuit argues that the proposed Charter Amendment 29 goes beyond the scope of Seattle’s initiative powers.

ACLU of Washington reaction to the release of the results of an independent investigation into a complaint over a cotton picking lesson at Sacajawea Middle School in Spokane

On Tuesday, the Port of Seattle passed a measure regarding facial recognition technology (FRT) that falls short of a meaningful ban on biometrics for law enforcement and mass surveillance due to the port's ongoing collaboration with Customs and Border Protection (CBP), a sister agency of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The Supreme Court denied review of a case involving a same-sex couple turned away from a flower shop because they are LGBTQ. The case is Arlene’s Flowers v. Washington.

As antisemitic violence rises in neighborhoods across Washington and around the country, we condemn these and all acts of violence, discrimination, and hate.

The Seattle Parks and Recreation Department’s denial of CHOP Art’s permit application based on the content of the event violates a central tenet of the First Amendment, according to the letter sent Thursday from ACLU-WA and PDA.