News & Commentary

According to our birth certificate, our Articles of Incorporation, the ACLU of Pennsylvania started on August 10, 1951, as the “American Civil Liberties Union — Greater Philadelphia Branch.” It was the outcome of a request by the Citizen’s Council on Democratic Rights to become formally affiliated with the ACLU under that name. This request was promptly granted (it was a very short labor), and, as the ACLU-Greater Philadelphia Branch, we became the 17th designated affiliate of the ACLU. After a couple of years, our leadership determined that a more inclusive statewide name was essential, and so in 1954, the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania was born as an additional statewide affiliate.

The ACLU of Pennsylvania is supporting legislation to modernize the commonwealth’s election laws, and that bill, Senate Bill 421, is expected to be considered by the state House this week.

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.