News Releases

On June 6, 2005, the United States Supreme Court issued a ruling that upholds the federal ban on the medicinal use of marijuana. The case was decided on a 6-3 vote. This means that state laws allowing medical marijuana and federal laws prohibiting marijuana (even for medical purposes) continue to exist side-by-side.

In a precedent-setting ruling on free speech in cyberspace, a federal court in Seattle today upheld the right to speak anonymously on the Internet.

The Washington Supreme Court today struck down the City of Sumner's curfew ordinance, ruling that the law is unconstitutionally vague. The American Civil Liberties Union represents the Sumner parent who challenged the law. The parent had been fined for violating the curfew in 1999 after he allowed his teenage son to go to a neighborhood convenience store at night.

One of the most insidious features of the War on Drugs has been government seizures and closures of the property of people who are not involved in illegal activities. The Washington Court of Appeals dealt these practices a setback when it ruled in April, 2000 that the state’s drug nuisance abatement law was unconstitutional as applied to Oscar's II, a Seattle nightclub.

ACLU Brief Says Judge's Misconduct Highlights Problems in State's Judicial System: "Freedoms are threatened when judges ignore them."

The ACLU is trying to put the kibosh on warrantless police searches of hotel registries. Suspicionless searches strike at people’s right to travel freely and violate protections against unreasonable governmental intrusion into one’s private affairs.

Watch video of security expert Bruce Schneier speaking about security and the war on terror.

For the second time, Washington's high court invalidated a law that empowered the government to regulate what is said during political campaigns.

Washington Supreme Court found (in State v. Smith) that "exigent circumstances" existed when police searched a home without a warrant and therefore the search was valid.

Seeking to uphold union democracy, the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington and Public Citizen today filed a lawsuit backing the free speech rights of a union member running for office. The suit was filed on behalf of Joseph Hughes to secure his right to speak with fellow members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW).