ACLU of Michigan Breaking News:

In this edition of ACLU of Michigan Breaking News:

• Talk Back to ACLU Director Kary Moss - Check Out Our New Blog
• ACLU and Advancement Project Challenge Unlawful Disenfranchisement of Michigan Voter
• ACLU Asks Appeals Court to Remove Restrictive Conditions on Minister's Bond
• Army Vet Settles Intrusive Body Search Case against Detroit Police
• ACLU Asks South Haven Schools to End Religious Proselytizing During School Hours
• ACLU Lawsuit Challenges Racial Discrimination in Eastpointe School

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ACLU Launches New Blog! "Guaranteeing Everyone's Civil Liberties... Priceless"

Kary Moss, ACLU of Michigan Executive Director

It's an exciting time to be the ACLU of Michigan new website, new blog, new president and a new outlook on civil liberties in Michigan. Admittedly, it’s hard to have a new outlook on anything in this state other than the economic crisis that we’re facing, but lucky for us, guaranteeing the fundamental freedoms that this country was founded upon doesn’t cost a thing and, in fact, it could save the state some money. Read Kary's full posting and sign up for RSS feeds here >>

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ACLU and Advancement Project Challenge Unlawful Disenfranchisement of Michigan Voter

Wife Of U.S. Serviceman Was Target Of Unlawful Statewide Voter Purge Program

January 29, 2009

Detroit - The Advancement Project, the American Civil Liberties Union and Pepper Hamilton LLP filed a motion on behalf of Lisa A. Blehm, a Michigan resident who was kept from voting in the November election.

After registering to vote in 2006 using her home address in Michigan, Blehm temporarily relocated to Georgia to join her husband, a Marine who had been temporarily deployed there. While in Georgia, Blehm obtained a driver's license, but declined to register to vote in the state because she intended to maintain her permanent residency and voting status in Michigan. Blehm and her husband returned to Michigan in June 2008. Read the full story here >>

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ACLU Asks Appeals Court to Remove Restrictive Conditions on Minister's Bond

Minister Is Appealing Prison Sentence for Writing Newspaper Editorial, Quoting Bible

January 29, 2009

Detroit - The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan has asked the Michigan Court of Appeals to remove the harsh and unconstitutional bond conditions imposed on the Benton Harbor minister who was sentenced to 3-10 years in prison for writing a newspaper editorial criticizing a Berrien County judge.

In December, the appeals court ordered Rev. Edward Pinkney released from prison while his case was on appeal and ordered the trial court to set the “amount” of bond he should pay. However, Berrien County Court Judge Dennis Wiley did more than set the amount of the bond -- he put Rev. Pinkney on 24-hour house arrest, banned Rev. Pinkney from giving speeches including in his own church, and told him not to engage in any "demeaning" behavior. Read the full story here >>

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Army Veteran Settles Intrusive Body Search Case against Detroit Police

January 22, 2009

Detroit - The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan announced last week that it has settled its lawsuit against the City of Detroit on behalf of an army veteran who was subjected to an illegal and intrusive body search by two police officers at a local gas station. The settlement came on the same day that a trial was set to begin.

In June 2006, Elvis Ware was seated in his car at a local gas station when he was approached by two Detroit police officers, Michael Parish and Michael Osman. Parish approached Ware’s car and forcibly removed him, handcuffed him and began an intrusive search. Read the full story here >>

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ACLU Asks South Haven Schools to End Religious Proselytizing During School Hours

January 12, 2009

Kalamazoo - The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan has asked the superintendent of South Haven Public Schools to put an end to the practice of allowing a local youth minister and lunchroom volunteer to proselytize to students during schools hours and to recruit students for church functions.

“Parents, not the public schools, are responsible for deciding when and whether their children receive religious education," said ACLU lawyer James Rodbard. "Public schools should create an environment where students of all faiths feel comfortable and they should protect children from religious coercion by school volunteers.”

According to the letter sent by the ACLU, an outside volunteer, who is also a youth minister at the Hope Reform Church in South Haven, was permitted by South Haven Schools to come to the middle and high school during classroom hours and solicit students to participate in religious activities through the Hope Reform Church. In one incident, the youth minister and the South Haven High School Assistant Principal forced a student into an isolated room and attempted to pressure the student to pay for a church-based retreat that the student signed up for during school hours, but did not attend. Read the full story here >>

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ACLU Lawsuit Challenges Racial Discrimination in Eastpointe Schools

January 9, 2009

Detroit - The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan filed a federal lawsuit last night charging East Detroit Public School officials with failing to protect two African American students at East Detroit High School from being taunted with racial epithets and slurs on a daily basis and from being physically attacked in the school cafeteria.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, was brought on behalf of siblings, Jacqueline Turner and DeLawrence Turner, after years of negotiations between the ACLU and the school failed. The Turners reported the racially motivated harassment repeatedly to school officials, but the incidents persisted. According to the lawsuit, they were called "nigger" and "coon" many times over a several week period in late 2005 and early 2006. Finally the taunting escalated into a fight on Jan. 11, 2006, in which five white students, who had targeted the Turners daily, physically attacked them. Read the full story here >>