See it Now: Supreme Court Briefing 2008-09

Every autumn, just before the Supreme Court starts a new term, the ACLU invites the press corps to a briefing where our lawyers explain the relevance and impact of upcoming cases. Now you can be at the briefing, too. For the first time through online video, you can see what the reporters saw in Washington, D.C. We feel it is important that our members and the public get to learn firsthand what is at stake. We want you to know and understand what we’re working on, because we know defending the Constitution matters to everyone.

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1. Justice Overview: Everything you need to know about where the justices stand.

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2. Pipeline Cases: ACLU cases that could come before the Court this term.

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3. Troubling Cases Ahead: What to look out for as the term unfolds.

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4. First Amendment Cases: Our basic free speech rights re-examined by the Court.

Steven R. Shapiro, the legal director of the ACLU, has moderated the Supreme Court briefing for 16 years, providing an annual overview of the current Supreme Court and comparing the current Court to its predecessors. This year, ACLU lawyers Laughlin McDonald, Jonathan Hafetz and Chris Hansen offer analysis of ACLU cases concerning voting rights, national security and the First Amendment, that are likely to be taken up by the Court. We hope you enjoy getting the “inside scoop” as much as we enjoyed providing it.

For easy online viewing, the event has been broken into four short videos. Each video stands alone as a theme. But viewed together, they paint a complete picture. We’ve bundled all four videos as a “playlist” on the ACLU’s YouTube channel. Our user name is “acluvideos.” Here is the link to the Supreme Court playlist.

Please share and forward the entire playlist or individual videos to your family, friends and colleagues.