American Civil Liberties Union

The House Passed a Cell Phone Privacy Measure Yesterday. Police Say It's "Going to Kill People"

Digital rights advocates cheered yesterday after the state House passed a measure requiring police to obtain a search warrant before collecting personal cell phone data. Groups as diverse as the ACLU of Texas and the arch-conservative Texas Eagle Forum have expressed concern that current law, which ... More >>

Arlington PD Answers All Your Questions About Its "Aviation Unit," Which Consists Entirely of Two Drones

The Arlington Police Department recently got permission from the FAA to use the two small, battery-operated drones they purchased last year using grant money from Homeland Security. Presumably, the drones will mostly be used to hover over Jerry Jones while he's at work, clipping him in the head with ... More >>

Someone's Always Watching You at Klyde Warren Park, Sometimes From Their Living Room

The surveillance cameras at Klyde Warren Park aren't exactly hidden. They're rather conspicuous, in fact, with their large white boxes emblazoned with "Dallas Police" and prominent placement on light poles throughout the 5.2-acre green space. But BearCom, which manufactured and installed the 13 wir ... More >>

Dallas Police Will Soon Have License Plate Scanners

Dallas police will soon be able to run your license plate through state and federal crime databases without ever lifting a finger. This morning, the City Council approved DPD's $3.2 million plan to equip some of its squad cars with automated license plate scanners, which can check up to 1,800 plate ... More >>

Rick Perry and State Senator Jane Nelson Want Texas to Drug Test Welfare Recipients

It's the most wonderful time of the year: There's still some very stale, deeply discounted Halloween candy kicking around the aisles at CVS, Christmas music has suddenly overtaken your dentist's office, and Texas legislators have begun pre-filing bills for the upcoming legislative session. The ses ... More >>

Huck Finn Stays at Mansfield, and Other Takeaways from ACLU's Banned Book Report

The ACLU of Texas released its annual compendium of books that school districts have pulled from their shelves for being too coarse, profane, sexual, or otherwise too interesting for our precious children, despite every Mom in America having a copy of 50 Shades of Gray by her nightstand. There's g ... More >>

Federal Court Unanimously Strikes Down Texas' Voter ID Law, Calls it Discriminatory

For the second time in three days, a federal court has called a Texas voting measure as discriminatory. Earlier today, a three-judge panel in D.C. issued an opinion striking down the state's voter ID law, passed by the legislature last year. The law would require voters to present a valid photo ID ... More >>

In Farmers Branch Immigration Fight, Competing Readings of Supreme Court's Arizona Ruling

Opposing counsel in a six-year legal battle over a proposed Farmers Branch immigration ordinance are trading letters to the judge, arguing, naturally, that the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on Arizona's immigration law supports their side. Last month, the high court struck down every provision of Ari ... More >>

The Gay Selma

Schools ignore gay bullying at their own peril

The ACLU of Texas Wants You to Know: You Still Don't Need a Photo ID to Vote

With early voting for the May 29 primary election already underway, and with the federal government's tet-a-tet with Texas over its 2011 voter ID law far from settled, the ACLU of Texas wants to remind you that no, you don't need to show an ID to vote and if a poll worker asks you for one, you can t ... More >>

Dallas ISD, the ACLU and the Continuing Debate Over Graduations in Churches

Back in January, the Dallas Independent School District suffered some minor self-inflicted PR wounds when it tried to eliminate a policy that bans schools from holding graduations in places of worship, except for in "unusual" circumstances. After the ACLU did the whole ACLU thing -- stern press rele ... More >>

One Man's (Somewhat Frantic and Almost Failed) Hunt for Emergency Contraceptive

One night late last year, Jason Melbourne walked into a CVS pharmacy in Mesquite, hoping against hope to walk out with an emergency contraceptive, or "the morning-after pill." It wasn't the morning after. He and his wife had their "accident" a few days before, and the 72-hour window in which EC is m ... More >>

Activists Call Texas's Voter ID Law Discriminatory, Plead For Feds' Help

"I knew I should have signed that bill with my red-white-and-blue Sharpie."​Hey, maybe this will help Rick Perry shore up support with the Tea Party's Ship-Em-Out Division and his new Arizona boyfriend: Those kooky activists at the ACLU and some of their libtard friends are pleading with the D ... More >>

Report: Dallas County Jail Still Shackling Those Oh-So-Dangerous Women in Labor

When the contractions start, the restrictions end. In theory, anyway.​Chief Uterus Correspondent Anna Merlan is on assignment. I know Anna usually handles the lady stuff, but if it's OK with you guys, I'm going to dispense some quick advice to the Female Friends of Unfair Park: If you gals ha ... More >>

So, Wait, Rick Perry May Not Speak at The Response? Well, That Seems a Bit ... Odd.

​That's what CNN's reporting, anyhow -- that Rick Perry, who called for that ''day of prayer and fasting" down in Houston on August 6 and has been the face of the franchise, could wind up on the sidelines during The Response at Reliant Stadium. That's according to Eric Bearse, spokesman for the Am ... More >>

ACLU of Texas Reacts to House Passage of Carrollton Rep's Sanctuary Cities Legislation

State Rep. Burt Solomons​As the Texas Tribune notes today, in the wee small hours of the morning, the state House passed Carrollton state Rep. Burt Solomons's HB 12, the so-called "sanctuary cities" legislation deemed an emergency item by Gov. Rick Perry. As the Trib's Julian Aguilar sums it up, t ... More >>

Kicking the Class C Ticket Out of Classrooms

​Since the beginning of the year, two reports have documented how Texas's school districts punish their students: Texas Appleseed's Ticketing, Arrest & Use of Force in Schools How the Myth of the "Blackboard Jungle" Reshaped School Disciplinary Policy, released in January as part of its Texas' ... More >>

"See Something, Say Something": DPD's Got a Whole New Way to Report "Suspicious Activity"

​Andrea's decided to spend some time at the city council's Public Safety Committee briefing this afternoon, where she'll learn a little more about iWatch Dallas, the DPD's just-launched "virtual crime watch" that allows the citizenry to type in tips from their computers and cell phones. Says the D ... More >>

For Your Lunchtime Reading Pleasure: ACLU of Texas's Latest Banned Books Report

​The ACLU of Texas just released its annual banned-books report, Free People Read Freely -- compiled with the assistance of former Washington Post reporter Myra MacPherson, mother of the late, great Leah Siegel. As in previous years, the report documents the books banned, restricted or given the ... More >>

ACLU Wants to Know How the FBI Profiles Ethnic Communities.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio's Reign of Terror Becomes State Policy, Thanks to State Senator Russell Pearce and Governor Jan Brewer

An Opportunity to Stand Up

Sikh and Tired of School Bullies

​The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas just sent word that the organization, in coordination with a U.N.-affiliated advocacy group called United Sikhs, sent out a letter warning Texas school districts -- including DISD -- to protect Sikh students from discrimination or bullying. The miss ... More >>

On Tuesday, State Law Will Allow Prosecutors, Parole Board Access to Suspects' DNA

​Former Observer-er Ann Zimmerman has a piece in The Wall Street Journal today concerning a new state law that takes effect tomorrow -- one that allows Texas prosecutors and parole boards to "see DNA evidence that links a suspect to an old sexual assault, even though the statute of limitations has ... More >>

A Daytime Curfew? What's Next, Making Kids Wear Mao Jackets?

Outside City Hall Today, An Afterschool Civics Lesson from Daytime Curfew Opponents

Patrick MichelsCitizens Against the Dallas Daytime Curfew say Mayor Tom Leppert's got his priorities upside-down.With protest signs, stuffed animals and matching T-shirts, about 40 people -- half of them kids -- gathered outside Dallas City Hall this afternoon to shout down the daytime curfew propos ... More >>

Some Folks Trying to Turn Out the Lights on Extending the Juvenile Curfew Ordinance

'Member how, last month, the Dallas City Council's Public Safety Committee started talking about changing the Juvenile Curfew Ordinance to include daylight hours as well? Turns out, a group's done sprung up to oppose such an alteration: the Citizens Against the Dallas Daytime Curfew, which IDs itsel ... More >>

"Unfortunately, the City of Farmers Branch Doesn't Know When to Quit."

Making Book

Texas Concealed Gun Laws Loosen

Have a gun? Feel free to travel.

How Dallas-Area ISDs Are Celebrating "Banned Books Week." Some, By Banning Books.

Sam Lindsay to FB: Not Yet, Amigos.

U.S. District Judge Sam Lindsay Votes "No" on Farmers Branch Ordinance

MALDEF and ACLU Begin Their Full-Court Press in Farmers Branch

Needle Point

Prison Break

"They Treat Us Like We're Nothing"

Down, Set, Hutto: ACLU To File Suits Against Immigration Facility in Taylor

Rafael Anchia Wants to Kill Anti-Immigration Legislation Dead. Good Luck With All That.

Farmers Branch, Where the Lawsuits are Piling Up

"Un-American, un-Texan and un-Christian"

Drug Crazed

Millions in federal tax dollars are being spent by narcotics task forces in Texas to nab low-level users and dealers. Is this any way to wage a drug war?

The Searchers

Dallas police reissue guidelines on how officers conduct roadside searches

Meet John Doe

Trinity Industries certainly wants to, at least when it comes to Internet critics

Censor.com

Plano wades into the thicket of Internet access, porn, and the First Amendment

Girding for battle

Boys in black

Mesquite High puts a chill on a student's right to dress himself

Losing by Decision

The good ol' boys are winning their fight to keep Courtney Barnett and other girls out of high school wrestling

Countermove

Wrestling referees won't let girls on their mats

Lambs to the slaughter

Laws to speed executions will make it harder to save Death Row's innocent