News & Commentary

by Mark Davenport

June 12, 2013. Victoria Middleton. Post and Courier. Charleston. In comments reported in The Post and Courier on June 6, Sheriff Al Cannon ignores the ACLU’s findings of racial disparity in arrests in Charleston County (where blacks are 3.2 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than whites) and claims the report is based on “biased research.”

New ACLU Report Features Original Data Analysis on Marijuana Arrest Rates by Race and Details High Costs of Enforcement

May 29, 2013. Free Times. By Corey Hutchins. Columbia, SC. In Washington, D.C., Congress is tackling a sweeping immigration reform proposal, led in part by South Carolina’s senior U.S. senator, Republican Lindsey Graham.

May 14, 2013. Spartanburg Herald. Security and privacy are not a zero-sum game. We welcome our state legislators’ efforts to provide oversight on the use of unmanned surveillance vehicles (UAVs), commonly called drones, by law enforcement agencies. House Bill 3514 would put in place a system of rules to allow for the benefits of drone technology without bringing us closer to a “surveillance society,” in which everyone’s movements are monitored, tracked, recorded and scrutinized by authorities.

By Victoria Middleton, Executive Director of the ACLU of South Carolina

April 24, 2013. The State. Bruce Smith, Associated Press. CHARLESTON, SC. Representatives of several statewide groups said Wednesday now is the time for Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform and they praised U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham for his role in getting a bill to the Senate.

April 22, 2013. Greenville News. By: Clark Brooks. U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham said Sunday that the surviving Boston bombing suspect should be tried in federal court for his crimes, and also designated a potential enemy combatant so he can be questioned separately and without a lawyer by U.S. intelligence-gathering agencies.

March 8, 2013. Charleston Post & Courier. By Andrew Knapp. Men in green cargo pants and helmets rappel from a roof and point rifles into a hideout. A metal canister bounds into a room and explodes, deafening anyone inside. Armored vehicles speed to a scene, and robots probe a possible bomb.