Supreme Court decision season is upon us, and with that, we wait for the final opinion in the Mississippi abortion ban case that could overturn Roe v. Wade. The idea of living in a post-Roe world is terrifying, the impacts will be broad and almost everyone will feel them in one way or another. This is the truth that activists and organizers on the ground in states like Mississippi, Florida, and Texas know all too well. They’ve been warding off anti-abortion attacks for decades, all while mountin...
May 26, 2022•36 min
May marks Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month and Mental Health Awareness Month. To mark the importance of this month and how it intersects our work at the ACLU, we are bringing you this conversation with Malaysian American award-winning writer and audio producer, Stephanie Foo. Stephanie is the author of the new book, What My Bones Know, a memoir about intergenerational trauma and complex post-traumatic stress disorder, or c-PTSD. In the book, Stephanie details her path of healing fr...
May 19, 2022•33 min
Last week, the draft opinion for the decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization was leaked. Justice Alito wrote the draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. Everything about what has happened is remarkable: the leak, the decision, and the reasoning. The repercussions for what it means for people who can get pregnant are dire, and if that wasn’t enough, the repercussions may extend far beyond. Last week, we focused our conversation on what the draft opi...
May 12, 2022•39 min
This is “Ask an Expert,” a special mini-series where our constitutional experts answer your civil rights and civil liberties questions. For our first edition, we are diving deep into Free Speech, and talking to expert Ben Wizner, the Director of the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology project. We have been sourcing free speech questions from you over email, social media, and our phone line. We’ve sorted through the questions and categorized them into a few episodes. So far, we've found our fr...
May 10, 2022•32 min
On Monday night, the news publication Politico leaked a draft of a majority Supreme Court opinion written by Justice Alito. The draft details the highly anticipated decision in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, known to the public as the case that could overturn Roe v. Wade. Supreme Court decisions typically don’t come out until June, but this leaked draft, confirmed by Justice Alito himself, has sent early shockwaves across the country. In the draft majority opinion, Jus...
May 03, 2022•29 min
This is “Ask an Expert,” a special mini-series where our constitutional experts answer your civil rights and civil liberties questions. For this edition, we are diving into free speech and talking to expert Ben Wizner, the Director of the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy and Technology project. Last week for our first episode, we established our free speech footing, defining exactly what free speech is and isn't. This week, Ben is back to break down free speech as it exists online and on social media in 1...
May 03, 2022•33 min
For years now, pain has been the leading cause of disability worldwide, affecting more than 50 million Americans annually. This isn’t the kind of pain you endure when you trip onto the pavement, scab, bruise and heal. It’s the persistent gnawing, aching, throbbing that happens over a long period of time. This is chronic pain. One of the most powerful and effective forms of treatment for pain is the safe use of opioids. Opioids in combination with other therapies have allowed those hindered by pa...
Apr 28, 2022•32 min
This is "Ask an Expert," a special mini-series where our constitutional experts answer YOUR civil rights and civil liberties questions. For our first edition, we are diving deep into Free Speech, and talking to expert Ben Wizner, the Director of the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology project. Free Speech is widely considered the bedrock of democracy, but still, many Americans feel both conflicted and confused by what actually constitutes free speech, what we can say, where we can say it, and...
Apr 26, 2022•28 min
On June 1, 2020, Black Lives Matter protesters gathered in Lafayette Square Park near the White House to protest against police brutality and the police killing of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. In a violation of civil rights and what the New York Times named “one of the defining moments of the Trump presidency,” then President Trump and his administration called upon law enforcement to use force and violence to remove protesters from the area, without warning. A short while later, President T...
Apr 21, 2022•34 min
Lawmakers, parents, think tanks, and conservative pundits have waged a war over how to teach students about systemic racism. As a result, school board members have been ousted, and some educators have resigned over the death threats, social media bullying, and harassment they’ve received from those who are adamant that teaching a more inclusive history harms students. These activists and lawmakers have centered much of their anger on a framework called Critical Race Theory. Though they’ve used i...
Apr 14, 2022•37 min
April marks Sexual Assault Awareness Month and with that, we are bringing you a conversation today about Title IX. One of the protections against sexual assault within our education system and in our workplaces. In May of 2020, then Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos gutted Title IX protections for schools, particularly as they pertained to sexual assault adjudication, giving schools the leeway to evade accountability procedures and disempower victims. This action was fueled by conservative back...
Apr 07, 2022•33 min
For over half a century, Affirmative Action has woven its way into the fabric of our society through nondiscrimination policies and initiatives aimed at establishing equal opportunity for women, people of color, and other minorities across schools and the workplace. Over the years, courts and colleges have repeatedly clashed over the role of race in admissions policies. The Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld Affirmative Action programs - most recently in 2016, and this year, the Supreme Court h...
Mar 31, 2022•37 min
This week, we’ll be talking about something that’s on everyone’s mind: Ukraine. After weeks of building forces on the border, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Since then, the UN has reported that nearly 700 civilians in Ukraine have lost their lives - although the true figures are likely much higher. Over 3 million refugees have fled the country, while more than 2 million Ukrainians have been internally displaced from their homes. Th...
Mar 24, 2022•30 min
This week, we’re bringing you a conversation about the recent surge of anti-trans bills that have been levied in state legislatures. 2020 saw 79 different anti-trans state bills dealing with everything from education to athletics, and healthcare to bathroom access. In 2021, that count nearly doubled, with 147 proposals aimed at trans people, and especially trans kids. And this year, in 2022, we’re tracking roughly 280 bills that have been filed ahead of or during this legislative session. Now, l...
Mar 17, 2022•34 min
Today we’re speaking with music legend Jon Batiste. He’s an Oscar-winning composer, pianist, bandleader and singer who is going into the 2022 Grammy Awards with 11 nominations – the most of any artist this year. You may have seen him on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” where he’s been the music director and bandleader since 2015. You may have heard him on the soundtrack of the Pixar-animated film “Soul” where he performed and composed the jazz portion of the score. Or you may have experience...
Mar 10, 2022•29 min
For some of us, simply living in our bodies is a daily act against oppression, against marginalization, criminalization and hate. This work is exhausting…most justice work is. That’s why finding what brings us joy is so central to both our individual and our collective liberation. While seemingly simple, when put in practice, pleasure can be revolutionary. This is the idea that Adrienne Maree Brown puts forth in her book, “Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good.” Taking inspiration from...
Mar 03, 2022•31 min
Our guest today is Imani Perry. Her latest book is “South to America: A Journey Below the Mason Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation.” In it she writes that understanding this country starts with the South. Imani challenges the idea of the South as a backward place, a repository for the U.S.’s shame over slavery, white supremacy, and poverty. To cast away the South, she writes, only props up a heroic self-mythology of the U.S. that fogs up the mirror of history. Imani is based at the departm...
Feb 24, 2022•31 min
Just weeks ago, Justice Steven Breyer announced his retirement from the Supreme Court, opening the door for President Biden to nominate a new judge to the bench. Keeping his campaign promise, Biden confirmed that he will be nominating a Black woman to replace Breyer, a historic move for a field that has not always welcomed Black women with open arms. Joining us to discuss the impact of this future nomination is Ria Tabacco Mar, Director of the ACLU’s Women’s Rights Project and one of At Liberty’...
Feb 17, 2022•35 min
It’s election season again and, in America, sadly, that means it is voter suppression season. Starting in 2020, 49 states proposed over 440 bills to make it harder for Americans to vote, and many of them have passed. In 2021, state lawmakers started using the newly released census data to draw state maps that lock up their political power – often at the expense of communities of color. And now in 2022, these tactics are almost certain to impact the midterm elections for Congress, as well as loca...
Feb 10, 2022•29 min
February marks Black History Month, a time to recognize the significant achievements and culture of Black Americans–from bell hooks to Beyonce–and also to honor an accurate history about them, a history that we know is rife with discrimination and abuse -- think: slavery, Jim Crow, and the structural racism we’re still infected with today. Sadly, more and more, this history is being challenged and even erased in our culture and, right now, in our schools, through tactics like curriculum restrict...
Feb 03, 2022•31 min
This week we’re going to talk about families, and a uniquely American hypocrisy surrounding them. On the one hand, politicians are always talking about supporting strong, nuclear families, and in some ways, we do. We give tax breaks to people who get married and have children. Kids eat free at Denny’s on Tuesdays. Yet, also in America, government officials at the federal, state, and local levels are tearing families apart by the thousands under the cover of our laws. For example, in the Trump ad...
Jan 27, 2022•29 min
Content warning: This conversation mentions sexual abuse. January 22nd, marks the 49th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court case granting the right to an abortion "without excessive government restriction.” Year after year, Roe has weathered legal attacks, but this year, due to the conservative majority on the bench, the threat to Roe v. Wade is at an all-time high. A case heard by the Supreme Court on December 1st addressing a Mississippi abortion law posed a direct challenge ...
Jan 20, 2022•34 min
Joel Castón was incarcerated when he was 18 years old. He’s now 45 and in November of last year, just two months ago, Joel was released after serving over 26 years. While incarcerated, he received a degree through the Georgetown Prison Scholars Program and started a mentorship initiative called Young Men Emerging. And, because D.C. changed the law to allow incarcerated people to vote, he ran for office, and he won: he is now an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner in Washington D.C. representing t...
Jan 13, 2022•31 min
Today, we’re checking in with LaTosha Brown, Co-founder of the Black Voters Matter Fund and the Black Voters Capacity Building Institute. We first spoke to LaTosha a year ago after her work in expanding voting access in Georgia proved so successful. But that was then, and this is now. Challenges abound this year, likely as a direct reaction to her work. New restrictions making it harder to vote, so-called election reforms, and redistricting will have a direct impact on the 2022 midterms. It’s wh...
Jan 06, 2022•29 min
For our 2021 holiday special, we are taking you through the holiday food traditions of ACLU staffers and their families. Food is often the glue holding families and cultural identity together. We wanted to celebrate that and share it with you. Listener note: you may find yourself unusually hungry during this episode. We recommend you have something tasty on hand. We are joined by ACLU staffers Blanca Gamez, our Deputy Organizing Director, Zara Haq, a Senior Campaign Strategist, and Rotimi Adeoye...
Dec 23, 2021•31 min
On the podcast, we’ve chronicled some of the year’s biggest stories: the insurrection, the rescinding of the Muslim ban, devastating police brutality, state after state attacks on the rights of trans kids, the abusive system of conservatorships, and the rollback of abortion access, just to name a few. Today we’re going to follow up with guests on some of this year’s most popular episodes to see what progress there’s been since we last spoke, and where there is still work to be done. Zoe Brennan-...
Dec 16, 2021•36 min
As we near the end of the year, we are bringing you an episode of reflection. A lot has happened in the world, in our country, and in our work at the ACLU. We all felt the high stakes of last week's oral arguments at the Supreme Court on abortion. And while that has left us with concern, there is still so much to celebrate this year from our work across the organization. We’ve made meaningful strides fighting for better COVID policy, criminal legal reform, immigration reform, free speech, disabi...
Dec 09, 2021•30 min
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a Mississippi abortion case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization that challenges a nearly 49-year-old precedent protecting a pregnant person's right to an abortion established in the landmark case Roe v. Wade. The law in question is a Mississippi law that prohibits nearly all abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, violating the 1992 precedent set in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, where the ruling said that a state may not prohibit an...
Dec 02, 2021•19 min
This week, we are stepping back in time and re-visiting our conversation with author and activist, Glennon Doyle. In this conversation, Glennon talks about how to bring our loved ones into understanding of equity and justice through the use of storytelling, imagination, and conversation. On this podcast, we learn a lot about history, about civil rights issues, and about how we can use the law to move the needle. Today, we are going to spend time talking about how we can best share that knowledge...
Nov 23, 2021•44 min
I’m Paige Fernandez, the ACLU’s Policing Policy Advocate and I’m so excited to be taking the At Liberty reins for the next month. I have a confession to make: I have had a true crime obsession most of my life. My job at the ACLU and my organizing work and personal beliefs may make this surprising. I spend my time working to help communities divest from their local police forces and I talk openly about how abolition, to me, feels like the best solution to ending our carceral punishment system and...
Nov 18, 2021•32 min
