News & Commentary

The New York Police Department announced this week that it will deploy 14 new drones as part of its policing activities across New York City. The use of this highly invasive technology represents a new frontier for both public safety and abuses of power.

The most common refrain from gun rights supporters in the wake of mass shootings or other gun violence is that the best response to a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. Yet in recent weeks, we have seen two Black men, a group already disproportionately victimized by police use of lethal force, shot and killed by police while protecting those around them with guns they were legally allowed to carry.  

When the American Civil Liberties Union arrived in South Carolina in 1968, it tackled a very different set of cases from the legal battles it is waging today.

When reports starting flowing in across the state on November 6, 2018, of long wait times and malfunctioning voting machines, we sent a letter to South Carolina State Election Commission Executive Director, Marci Andino, alerting her to the issues and imploring her to step in.  We also demand that she address the funding issue with the state legislature to buy new voting machines before the 2020 election.

On Tuesday, October 30, Susan Dunn delivered testimony before the Joint Citizens and Legislative Committee on Children in support of S.916.  

Thank you for attending the 50th Anniversary Celebration on Thursday, September 27, 2018!  We had a wonderful time celebrating the last 50 years, and we look forward to 50 more with you!

We partnered with Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and the South Carolina Progressive Network to send a letter to the South Carolina Election Commission asking for the voter registration deadline to be extended.  Hurricane Florence made landfall on the coast of North Carolina Friday, September 14.  The unprecedented amount of rain the hurricane brought to the region, however, is forcing communities down-river in South Carolina to evacuate or limit travel as late as September 25.  This disruption to normal activities can have significant impact on voter registration, and extending the deadline to allow everyone to register is not too much to ask.

The deadline prison riot at Lee Correctional prompted the strike.

Two Lowcountry municipal courts are going to have to defend allegations that they unconstitutionally incarcerated numerous indigent defendants without providing counsel, a federal judge has ruled.