News & Commentary

Fifty-two years ago this week, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act, prohibiting racial discrimination in voting. It was a defining moment for the Civil Rights Movement and for all of us who had marched in Selma

On April 10, 2017 the ACLU of Georgia and the American Civil Liberties Union filed a friend-of-the-court brief arguing that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act clearly prohibits workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

Defending voting rights in the state of Georgia is like playing a game of whack-a-mole. When you defeat one threat to voting rights, another one inevitably pops up in its place. Recent actions by state and local lawmakers, including a bill on Gov. Nathan Deal’s desk (House Bill 268), show how these attacks on eligible voters just keep on coming.

The 2017 legislative session ended after midnight on Thursday, and we were there until the bitter end — fighting for the Constitution and for the civil rights of all Georgians.

This past Saturday, the ACLU of Georgia joined the people of Macon to send a powerful message: that all Georgians deserve to be treated equally under the law — regardless of their color, creed, sexual orientation or gender identity. The March on Macon, organized by local college students and endorsed by the Macon-Bibb County Commission, raised awareness about the need to strengthen Georgia’s currently weak civil rights protections so that they protect all people, including LGBT Georgians, from discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations.

On Friday, February 17, the Georgia General Assembly will be halfway through its 40 day session. Next week, the General Assembly will return on Tuesday, February 21 and continue until Friday, February 24. Crossover Day: Crossover Day, scheduled for March 3, is the last day for a piece of legislation to transfer from the chamber in which it was introduced to the other chamber for consideration. While there are other legislative procedures that can be employed to pass legislation after this date, Crossover Day is very important to determining which bills are ultimately able to pass the General Assembly and become law. LEGISLATION: Immigration

We are excited to introduce the ACLU of Georgia’s new legislative update, By The People, which will keep you updated on the bills, elected officials and other legislative developments that impact civil and human rights in Georgia.

At the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia, our job is to defend the rights guaranteed to all Georgians by the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights: freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press and the right to due process and equal protection under the law. Protecting the rights enshrined in our Constitution and safeguarding its limitations on government power requires constant vigilance.

This is a remarkable day. When Donald Trump was elected president, we promised that if he tried to implement his unconstitutional and un-American policies that we would take him to court. We did that today. And we won.