Press Releases

Press requests should be directed to media@aclupa.org.

Voters and Civil Rights Organizations Take Legal Action Challenging Trump Campaign’s Voter Suppression Efforts in Pennsylvania

Voters are fighting back against the Trump campaign’s illegal attempt to make it difficult for Pennsylvanians to vote by mail and to have those ballots counted during the pandemic.

ACLU-PA Statement on State Senate Passage of Probation-Related Legislation

The Pennsylvania Senate unanimously passed legislation to implement numerous alterations to the commonwealth’s probation system.

Federal Appeals Court Upholds and Expands Students’ Free Speech in Schuylkill County Case

In a landmark decision, a federal appeals court ruled that public schools cannot censor students’ off-campus speech based on a fear of disruption of school activities.

State Advocates Respond to June Medical Services Supreme Court Ruling

In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court struck down a Louisiana law meant to shut down abortion clinics. The decision comes four years after the court struck down a nearly identical law in Texas, which had shuttered half of the state’s abortion clinics in a few short years.
Issue Areas: Reproductive Freedom

Pennsylvania Supreme Court Strikes Down Lebanon County Ban on Medical Marijuana for People on Probation

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled unanimously today that Lebanon County’s policy banning the use of medical marijuana by people who are on probation and who are registered medical marijuana patients violates state law.

PA Supreme Court Rules in Favor of ACLU in Effort to Obtain State Police Social Media Policy

The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania today ruled that the Commonwealth Court erred when it opted not to review the social media policy of the state police and then ruled that the policy did not need to be released in response to a Right To Know request by the ACLU of Pennsylvania.

ACLU-PA Statement on the Death of Dominique Rem'mie Fells

On Monday, Dominique “Rem’mie” Fells, a Black transgender woman, was found dead in Philadelphia, and the Philadelphia Police Department has ruled her death to be a homicide.
Issue Areas: Trans Justice

Partial Agreement Reached in Class Action Lawsuit Requiring Soap, Cleaning Products, and Facemasks in Philadelphia Jails to Address COVID-19 Spread

A judge approved a consent order on a partial settlement agreement in a class action civil rights lawsuit on behalf of people currently incarcerated in Philadelphia. The lawsuit seeks the immediate implementation of health and safety protocols to protect people from COVID-19 in the city’s prisons.

Challengers Tell Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court That Ballot Question on Criminal Proceedings is Unconstitutional

Today, an attorney for the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania and Lorraine Haw argued before the Commonwealth Court that a ballot question on rights in criminal proceedings posed to voters last year is unconstitutional and that the court should declare it void.