News Releases

Reasonable rules against harassment on the basis of sexual orientation do not violate the free speech rights of students and teachers. Here are some general guidelines for striking a balance between protecting free speech and protecting students against harassment.

Noting that freedom of speech is "essential to our democratic ideals," U.S. District Court Judge Robert Lasnik today overturned the ban on candidates mentioning their opponents in the City of Seattle's voter pamphlet. The ruling came in a lawsuit filed by the ACLU challenging the Seattle Ethics and Election Commission's censorship of candidate statements. Agreeing with the ACLU's arguments, Judge Lasnik found that the restriction on candidate statements violates the First Amendment because it bans the expression of certain viewpoints.

The federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled today that the City of Pasco, WA violated the rights of two artists when it censored their works. The ruling comes in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington on behalf of artists Janette Hopper and Sharon Rupp challenging the exclusion of their works from a program to display art at the Pasco City Hall in 1996.

Increasingly, corporations and some police officials around the country are seeking to silence their critics by filing actions known as SLAPP suits, or Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation. These suits aim to intimidate citizen activists with limited means by forcing them to spend time and money on baseless legal proceedings.

Seeking to promote open government, the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington today filed a lawsuit seeking public documents about the City of Seattle's stance in contract negotiations with the Seattle Police Guild.

The ACLU's Kitsap County Chapter fought an effort to censor David Guterson's Snow Falling on Cedars, a murder mystery about prejudice toward Japanese Americans after World War II. After South Kitsap County School District teacher and parent review panels endorsed the book, a vocal group of parents condemned the acclaimed work as pornographic.

The ACLU successfully challenged regulations purported to give the Washington Liquor Control Board authority to prohibit labels on beer bottles that the Board believes are "immodest, undignified, or in bad taste."

Proponents of free speech literally chalked up a victory on the campus of Western Washington University in Bellingham. In 1999, WWU administrators proposed new guidelines for writing messages in chalk on Red Square plaza that would unreasonably limit who could write messages and what they could say.

People of color in cities large and small across this nation still live with the day-to-day reality that skin color makes one a suspect in America. Police are more likely to stop and more likely to search motorists who are people of color. The ACLU is working to combat the practice of making decisions based on the race or ethnicity of an individual.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington today is filing its second lawsuit in United States District Court in Seattle challenging the City of Seattle's establishment of a No Protest Zone during the meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on December 1-3, 1999.