News & Commentary

Did you know the U.S. Postal Office existed before the Declaration of Independence? The USPS’ role in this country is so essential that it was written into the Constitution. This year, it’s preparing for an unprecedented task: delivering millions of mail-in ballots for Election Day. In this week’s episode of At the Polls, we answer voters’ questions about absentee voting along with Joyce Harris, a veteran employee who has been with the USPS for more than 30 years, and Bobby Hoffman, the deputy director of the ACLU’s Democracy Division -— and coincidentally, a former letter carrier for USPS.

With the exception of Thurgood Marshall, no Supreme Court justice did more to realize the Constitution’s promise of “equal protection of the law” than Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died on Friday.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg recognized that dismantling patriarchy was necessary not only for women’s liberation, but for all of us to have the freedom to thrive regardless of gender. That certainty drove her strategy during the eight years she spent as director of the ACLU Women’s Rights Project.

More than 1,000 incarcerated people have died from confirmed cases of COVID-19, and 88 of the top 100 largest outbreaks in the country are in jails and prisons.

We usually know what to expect on any given presidential Election Day. After all, they happen every four years. But this is the first election in our lifetime to occur during a global pandemic, and there have already been significant changes to the electoral process as more voters plan to mail in their ballots than ever before. How will that change our quintessential American tradition of watching the results roll in on election night? 

It’s after Labor Day, the weather is changing, leaves are turning, which all means — Election season is officially here.

Qualified immunity is a legal defense that can shield police officers from liability for misconduct. Once an obscure legal doctrine, it has become a central focus of activists’ calls for police accountability following nationwide protests over police brutality.

Even before the pandemic, people of color faced severe barriers to accessing essential reproductive health care as a result of interrelated factors such as structural racism, gendered oppression, and associated economic disparities.

Though they claim to “advance human welfare” and help their customers “move society forward” by providing the necessary knowledge, information, and analytical tools for researchers, lawyers, and government agencies, they are fueling the mass deportation and detention system.