News Releases

News Release, Published: 
Monday, June 24, 2002
Under pressure from civil libertarians, the Washington State Patrol has suspended searching randomly selected cars of people seeking to board state ferries. While the state patrol had claimed the searches were voluntary, motorists who did not consent to the arbitrary searches were prevented from boarding the boat.
News Release, Published: 
Wednesday, January 30, 2002
Recommendations to our City Leaders for Contract Negotiations with Seattle Police Officers Guild
News Release, Published: 
Monday, December 31, 2001
The ACLU is working with attorneys around the state to develop constitutional challenges to a new statute that unfairly punishes car owners for actions by others. An amendment to state law adopted in 1998 authorizes police to impound for 30 to 90 days vehicles driven by a person with a suspended license - even if the driver doesn't own the car.
News Release, Published: 
Monday, December 31, 2001
Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler has issued a new agency rule that will require all licensed health insurance companies in Washington to cover all FDA-approved prescription contraceptive devices and drugs if they cover other prescription drugs.
News Release, Published: 
Monday, June 11, 2001
The American Civil Liberties Union is asking the Washington Supreme Court today to uphold a 1999 ruling by the Thurston County Superior Court which said that state-funding of students to attend religion-affiliated schools violates the Washington Constitution.
News Release, Published: 
Sunday, December 31, 2000
For several years the ACLU has worked with parents to keep creationist teachings out of the science classroom in Burlington-Edison High School. Responding to advocacy by the ACLU and concerned parents, the school board in 1998 backed a decision by the superintendent that the science teacher could no longer teach creationism in the guise of "intelligent design theory" in biology lessons.
News Release, Published: 
Monday, November 20, 2000
As we approach the anniversary of WTO and a new series of rallies, the City of Seattle needs to show that it has learned the right lessons from last year's demonstrations.
News Release, Published: 
Saturday, September 30, 2000
In September the Seattle City Council passed the first ordinance resulting from police failures during the WTO demonstrations. As recommended in the ACLU's report on WTO, the law requires all Seattle Police Department officers to wear legible identification on the outermost layer of their uniforms and to orally identify themselves when asked by citizens.
News Release, Published: 
Monday, July 31, 2000
Washington voters in 1998 passed Initiative 692 to allow patients with certain terminal or debilitating diseases to possess and use marijuana for medicinal purposes. After months of negotiations with the ACLU, the Seattle Police Department (SPD) in 2000 issued written instructions for enforcing the Washington Medical Marijuana Act.
News Release, Published: 
Wednesday, March 29, 2000
While concern over police accountability in Seattle has come to the fore in the past year, it is hardly a new issue. In the last dozen years, no less than six City-sponsored reports, and three ACLU-WA reports, have criticized the police internal investigations system for not responding to the needs of the community it serves.

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