News & Commentary

Pennsylvania’s pending Marsy’s Law ballot question is unconstitutional because it combines many changes into a single amendment – what the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has called “logrolling.”

On October 17, 21 organizations based in Allegheny County sent a letter to District Attorney Stephen Zappala calling on him to be more transparent in the operations of his network of 1,000-plus cameras and to end the use of facial recognition technology. Read the letter...

Whether marching at the front of protests, organizing on social media, initiating national school walkouts, proposing sweeping gun reform legislation, or implementing international youth climate strikes, our country’s youth are leading in the fight for change.

In 1972, Pennsylvania enacted the modern crimes code, succinctly categorizing all criminal behavior into 282 offenses. Since that time, the Legislature has made countless unnecessary changes and additions. By 2010, the criminal code contained 636 offenses. Today, there are more than 1,500.

The law clearly protects medical marijuana patients from being denied probation, which is considered a privilege in Pennsylvania. So threatening to revoke a person’s probation if they lawfully use medical marijuana under state law — which is what the Lebanon County court has done — violates the law.

In the weeks leading up to Allegheny County’s municipal primary elections in May, the ACLU of Pennsylvania partnered with a number of community groups for a candidate forum intended to give the public an opportunity to hear from District Attorney Stephen Zappala and challenger Turahn Jenkins.

This new policy is another important step forward to recognize the real lives of people who identify as gender non-binary. I am grateful that Governor Tom Wolf’s administration understands the value in this kind of policy.

The criminalization of marijuana has unnecessarily created a lot of harm, particularly to people of color. That statement may seem obvious. But it was the message that we felt compelled to hammer at an event we attended last week with a few dozen policymakers, students, researchers, scientists, and reporters in Pittsburgh.

In honor of National Constitution Day and the ACLU’s centennial year, we’re rolling out a list of fun facts about the mighty document that governs our nation. We recommend that you store some of these factoids in your back pocket because on February 29, 2020, we’ll be holding our Centennial Celebration in Philadelphia, and Constitutional Quizzo will allow guests to walk away with some special prizes.