Tag Archives: ACLU

Apple, Google Products Target of Court Order

Apple Logo inside Corporate offices

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – The American Civil Liberties Union on Wednesday said it had identified 63 cases across the U.S. in which the federal government asked for a court order compelling Apple Inc or Google to help access devices seized during investigations.

The cases predominantly arise out of investigations into drug crimes, the ACLU said, adding that the data indicate such government requests have become “quite ordinary.”

Representatives for the Justice Department and Apple declined to comment.

A spokesman for Google, a unit of Alphabet Inc, declined to say how frequently it has cooperated with All Writs Act requests or orders, and how often it has contested them.

The Justice Department previously disclosed that Apple has received 70 court orders requiring it to provide assistance since 2008, which it obeyed without objection.

However, last October Apple contested a Justice Department demand for assistance in a Brooklyn drug case. Since then, Apple has objected to several other government requests for help accessing devices across the country, the company said in a court filing last month.

A U.S. judge in Brooklyn agreed with Apple and ruled that Congress has not authorized the government to ask for the help it demanded of the company. The Justice Department has appealed that ruling.

The ACLU report comes after the Justice Department withdrew a request for Apple’s assistance in California, saying on Monday it had succeeded in unlocking an iPhone used by one of the shooters involved in a rampage in San Bernardino in December without Apple’s help.

Other cases involving government requests for Apple’s help are still pending.

A variety of Apple and Google products have been targeted by court orders, according to the ACLU report. In one, an Apple iPhone 5 was seized by a man arrested in 2013 for importing methamphetamine from Mexico.

A California court ordered Apple to help the Justice Department bypass the passcode and copy data onto an external hard drive. The order does not specify which operating system was running on the phone.

(Reporting by Dan Levine)

Judge Rules Commissioners Can’t Pray Only In Jesus’ Name

A federal judge has ruled that a group of county commissioners cannot present prayers in Jesus’ name even if all the commissioners are Christians.

The ACLU and the ACLU of North Carolina Legal Foundation filed suit against the commissioners of Rowan County in March 2013 claiming that commissioners said during their opening invocations that “there is only one way to salvation, and that is Jesus Christ,” and thank the Lord for the “virgin birth,” the “cross at Calvary” and “the resurrection.”

A local resident who was against the Christian message in the public meeting explained why they helped bring the suit.

“I want my local government to be open and welcoming to people of all beliefs,” Nan Lund, a local resident who is among three plaintiffs named in the suit, stated in a news release announcing the legal challenge. “But when officials begin a public meeting with prayers that are specific to only one religious viewpoint, I feel unwelcome and excluded.”

Federal Judge James A. Beaty Jr., ruled in favor of Lund and the other plaintiffs, saying that the actions of the councilmen was unconstitutional.

“The practice fails to be nondiscriminatory, entangles government with religion, and over time, establishes a pattern of prayers that tends to advance the Christian faith of the elected commissioners at the expense of any religious affiliation unrepresented by the majority,” he wrote.

“While an all-comers policy is not necessarily required, a nondiscriminatory one is,” he said. “When all faiths but those of the five elected commissioners are excluded, the policy inherently discriminates and disfavors religious minorities.”

The county has not announced if they will appeal the ruling.

Federal Judge Throws Out Atheist Suit Against Commandments

A federal judge in Oklahoma has dismissed a lawsuit brought by atheists against a Ten Commandments monument in the state capital.

The anti-Christian group American Atheists, based in New Jersey, filed suit on behalf of an anonymous woman who claimed about the installation of a monument to the Ten Commandments on the grounds of the Oklahoma capitol building.

The State Capitol Preservation Commission argued that the woman had only seen the monument once and had traveled to the capitol solely for the purpose of being offended by the monument.

U.S. District Judge Robin Cauthron ruled that the woman lacked standing to sue because she could not prove that she had suffered any personal injury from the display.

The monument has faced suits in the past.  The ACLU sued in August 2013 claiming the presence of the display was unconstitutional.

ACLU Trying To Force Hospital To Perform Abortions

The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington is attempting to force a hospital to perform abortions in their facility.

The lawsuit claims that Skagit Regional Health is violating a state law that requires medical facilities that provide maternity care to also kill babies via abortion.  The lawsuit was filed on behalf of a woman who is doctoral nursing student.

“As a woman and a health care provider, I care deeply about reproductive health issues. I want to make sure that women throughout Washington have access to the full range of reproductive health care services,” Kevan Coffey said in a statement. “And I personally want to have all options, including abortion, available to me.”

“The right of women to choose or to refuse to have an abortion is fundamental and has long been recognized under Washington law,” said ACLU Executive Director Kathleen Taylor. “We want to ensure that all women in our state can access the full range of reproductive health care at public health facilities in their communities.”

The state has said numerous times that hospitals have to provide abortion services if they want to provide maternity services.

Satanist Destroys Ten Commandments Monument

An admitted Satanist drove his vehicle into the Ten Commandments monument outside the Oklahoma state house, breaking it into pieces.

Michael Reed, Jr., says that Satan told him to destroy the monument and then urinate on it.

Reed destroyed the monument on Thursday and then walked into the Oklahoma City Federal Building on Friday stating that he was going to kill President Obama.  He was taken into custody by the Secret Service for the threats.

Reed reportedly was placed into a mental hospital and is being indefinitely detained.

The ACLU, which had been actively trying to remove the monument, issued a condemnation of the action while still attacking Christians and those who support the monument.

“The ACLU of Oklahoma and our clients are outraged at this apparent act of vandalism,” it stated. “Our Oklahoma and federal Constitutions seek to create a society in which people of all faiths and those of no faith at all can coexist as equals without fear of repressions from the government or their neighbors. Whether it is politicians using religion as a political tool or vandals desecrating religious symbols, neither are living up to the full promise of our founding documents.”

Several elected leaders, including Governor Mary Fallin, have said they will pay money from their own pockets to rebuild the monument.

Ten Commandments Monument Constitutional

An Oklahoma judge has ruled that a Ten Commandments monument is Constitutional.

The American Civil Liberties Union had filed suit against the monument claiming that it was an illegal endorsement of religion by the government.  The ACLU said that the position of the Oklahoma Capitol Preservation Commission that the monument was historical in nature was overridden by the religious message.

Judge Thomas Prince sided with the OCPC.  He said that the monument served a historical purpose witting among 51 other expressive monuments on the Capitol grounds.

“Today’s ruling is a clear message that the Ten Commandments can be displayed on public grounds like the Oklahoma Capitol because of the historical role the text has played in the founding of our nation,” said Attorney General Scott Pruitt. “The U.S. Supreme Court found constitutional a nearly identical monument in Texas. We were confident in the state’s case from the start and appreciate the court’s thoughtful consideration and ruling in the state’s favor.”

The monument, proposed by Rep. Mike Ritze in 2009 and paid for completely by Ritze, had no taxpayer dollars involved in the creation or placement.

Supreme Court Asked To Rule on “Choose Life” License Plates

The Supreme Court is being asked to weigh in on the constitutionality of states issuing license plates with the ”Choose Life” slogan.

The Alliance Defending Freedom filed an appeal on Friday with the court on behalf of the speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives, Thom Tills, and the president pro tem of the North Carolina Senate, Phil Berger.  The appeal comes after a three-judge panel with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the license places were unconstitutional.

The ADF says “state governments have the right to advance messages consistent with their public policies.”  The Supreme Court, the ADF notes, has already affirmed that right in other cases.

The ACLU of North Carolina brought the initial suit against the plates because there were no pro-abortion license plates offered at the same time.

The “Choose Life” plates cost an extra $25, of which $15 goes to a pregnancy care fellowship that helps with pregnancy care centers in the state.  If the ACLU is successful in removing the plates, thousands of women in North Carolina will be denied pregnancy care coverage because the ACLU is doing nothing to replace the funds that will be lost.

Louisiana Sheriff Defies ACLU

A Louisiana sheriff says that he is not going to cancel a planned public prayer event even if the ACLU is objecting to the event as unconstitutional.

Sheriff Julian Whittington of Bossier Parish, Louisiana is hosting the second annual “In God We Trust” rally on the Fourth of July.  The event will include food, games, prayer and what the Sheriff termed “patriotic and God-lifting music.”  The event is taking place on the grounds of a sheriff’s substation in Bossier, property that is owned by the city.

The ACLU is complaining that the existence of the event on the city property means they’re violating church and state and the event needs to be shut down no matter how much of a benefit it is to the city.

Sheriff Whittington said he’s not the least bit concerned about the ACLU.

“Not only am I elected to serve the people of Bossier Parish, but I live here and my family lives here. I think Bossier Parish is a better place with Christianity and Christian values involved in it,” Whittington told the Shreveport Times.  “I don’t work for anybody in Washington. What they do, what they say, I couldn’t really care less.”

The ACLU says the event is telling non-Christian residents of the area that “they are less than equal and not worthy of support by their sheriff” even though Sheriff Whittington has not made any statements nor taken any actions that back up the ACLU’s assertion.

Supreme Court Unanimously Sides With Pro-Life Group

The Supreme Court handed down a unanimous decision in favor of a pro-life group that wanted to challenge an Ohio law that put them at risk for a lawsuit if someone felt their political ads were “false.”

The Susan B. Anthony List had sued a now-former Democratic U.S. Congressman who had claimed the group lied about him in a campaign ad that said he supported taxpayer funded abortion because of his support of the Affordable Care Act.  While the Congressman dropped his complaint against the group under the Ohio law, the group sued to say the law was unconstitutional.

The group said that the lawsuit by former Rep. Steve Driehaus also violated the group’s freedom of speech.  The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled the group had no standing to pursue a lawsuit because the suit against them had been dropped after the election was over.

The ACLU, a very anti-life legal group, surprised observers by backing SBA List in the case.

“Speech is rarely black and white,” an ACLU spokesman said.  “If the government silences one side of the debate, the public is less informed and others might be fearful of criticizing elected officials.  The answer to unpopular speech is not less, but more speech.”

Anti-life groups said the case is about the “right to lie” despite the fact the SBA List has shown the Affordable Care Act includes multiple abortion funding provisions.

North Carolina House Protects Student Religious Freedom

The North Carolina House of Representatives has passed a bill that would protect the rights of students to express their religion along with allowing teachers and staff to voluntarily participate in student-led religious activities at schools.

The bill, SB370, was presented to the House after an elementary school student was banned from reading a self-written poem about her grandfather.  The grandfather was a World War II veteran who often cited his prayers for protection as part of his stories of service.  The school said the student could not mention God.

The bill states that students may “[e]xpress religious viewpoints in a public school to the same extent and under the same circumstances as a student is permitted to express viewpoints on nonreligious topics or subjects in the school.”

The bill also prohibits any teacher from issuing a bad grade to a student because they may not like a student’s religious beliefs.  In addition, the bill includes protections for teachers and staff to be a part of student-led activities in schools that include religious worship.

“Local boards of education may not prohibit school personnel from participating in religious activities on school grounds that are initiated by students at reasonable times before or after the instructional day so long as such activities are voluntary for all parties and do not conflict with the responsibilities or assignments of such personnel,” the bill states.

The ACLU has taken issue with the bill.

The bill is expected to be approved by the Senate.