News & Commentary

The freedom to openly criticize the government without penalty or punishment is the keystone of our democracy. Free and spirited debate helps inform voters and keeps our elected officials accountable to their oath of office to serve the people and defend the Constitution. 

With just a few weeks until Election Day, here's what you need to know about displaying political signs on private property.

After more than a decade of advocacy by the ACLU of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, Americans for Prosperity, and many others, a new state law has created new protections for Pennsylvanians from SLAPP lawsuits.

We won’t stand by as right-wing school board members contract with a hate group to target the most vulnerable students to score political points.

The ACLU of Pennsylvania categorically condemns threats of violence, as well as bigotry directed at any group. We also stand, as we always have, on the side of free and unfettered political speech, even when that speech seems intolerable to some.

School should be a safe place for all students. It should be an environment that fosters creativity and the free exchange of ideas.

Some elected officials aren’t celebrating today. But we don’t have to take their attempts at censorship and erasure sitting down.

How does the school board expect Central students to grow when they are educated on a partial, obscured, whitewashed understanding of the history of America?

Perhaps less well known is that, since its founding in 1920, the ACLU has been engaged in the fight for civil rights and racial equality. In 1931, it took up the case of the Scottsboro Boys – nine African-American teenagers wrongly accused of raping two white women.