This Week in Civil Liberties (07/26/2013)

What technology to collect location data (and the privacy implications of law enforcement use of it) was at the center of an ACLU report released last week?

In which state is a motorcycle safety bill with a series of sweeping anti-abortion restrictions attached to it on its way to the governor's desk? (Here's how you can ask him to veto.)

True or false: spending years in the isolation of solitary confinement can erode mental health.

Which federal court will consider opening meetings with sectarian prayer this fall?

What law did Morgan Stanley violate by issuing high-risk loans in communities of color that were particularly vulnerable to economic ruin, according to an ACLU lawsuit?

The Chilling Effects of License-Plate Location Tracking

Location tracking has far-reaching implications for the way we live, even if we don't think we've done anything wrong. The ACLU's recent report, "You Are Being Tracked," shows that automatic license plate readers allow law enforcement to track every car on the road, not just those relevant to an investigation. This type of widespread tracking endangers our rights of protest and association and has the potential to reach deep into our lives and alter our daily decision making.

North Carolina Politicians Taking Ladies for a Ride

Politicians in the North Carolina House are trying to push through a series of sweeping anti-abortion restrictions. First, they attached the provisions to an anti-Sharia law and more than 60 activists were arrested on Monday at protests at the capitol. Then the Governor said that he'd likely veto the restrictions if they weren't changed. So the bill's proponents tried sneaking the provisions into a different bill-this one relating to motorcycle safety.

The #motorcyclevagina bill just passed the Senate and is on its way to the Governor. But North Carolinians still don't want politicians meddling in health care decisions. It seems legislators still haven't gotten the message, but the fight is not yet over. Tell Governor Pat McCrory to uphold his promises, #StandWithNCWomen, and veto the bill.

When I Was on Death Row, I Saw a Bunch of Dead Men Walking. Solitary Confinement Killed Everything Inside Them.

We know that the death penalty system is broken. Racial bias, junk science, underfunded public defense, and other serious breakdowns in our legal system can mean that people – sometimes innocent people – will languish on death rows for years while pursuing appeals. Spending these years in extreme isolation can erode mental health to the point that some will "volunteer" to die rather than continue to live under such conditions. Many prisoners die a slow and painful psychological death before the state ever executes them.

Death Row Exoneree #138 Anthony Graves blogs about watching prisoners "come to prison sane and leave this world insane, talking nonsense on the execution gurney" while he was on death row.

No Playing Favorites with Prayer

"We can't be defeated, we can't be destroyed, and we can't be denied because we are going to live forever with you through the salvation of Jesus Christ." Usually, these are the words a churchgoer might hear on a Sunday morning. Instead, Robert Voelker was astonished to hear them delivered by an elected official as part of the opening invocation at a meeting of his County Board of Commissioners in Rowan County, North Carolina.

While federal courts have allowed nonsectarian prayer at government meetings, most courts have made clear that prayers specific to one faith violate the Constitution's religious liberty protections. However, that could change when the U.S. Supreme Court considers this issue again next term in a case stemming from a small town in New York.

An important step towards holding Wall Street accountable

In a historic ruling, a judge gave the ACLU the green light to move forward with a case alleging that Morgan Stanley discriminated against black homeowners in the Detroit area in violation of the Fair Housing Act ("FHA").

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