New York Civil Liberties Union

NYPD Biased Against Blacks in Marijuana-Related Stops, Civil Liberties Group Analysis Suggests

The NYPD's stop and frisk campaign led directly to the surge in low-level marijuana arrests, figures released today by the New York Civil Liberties Union show. For context, marijuana arrests are the top arrest category in the entire stop and frisk program. Last year, five percent--or 26,000--of all ... More >>

The NYPD Has Conducted 5 Million Stop & Frisks (No, But Really...)

This isn't exactly an anniversary worth celebrating. Yesterday, if the rates went as usual, the Boys in Blue have conducted their five millionth (yes, you read that correctly) stop-and-frisk. This performance can be traced by juxtaposing the activity in the first year of the Bloomberg administratio ... More >>

NYC Federal Court Rules Major Part of 'Stop & Frisk' Unconstitutional

When we wrote an article entitled '2012: The Year Of Stop & Frisk' a week ago, this is the last tidbit of news we expected to hear.Yesterday, in Manhattan's Federal District Court, Judge Shira A. Scheindlin struck down a main tent of the Bloomberg administration's notorious crime-fighting tactic ... More >>

NYCLU Files Lawsuit Against State Over DOC's Solitary Confinement Policies

The New York Civil Liberties Union yesterday filed a lawsuit in federal court charging New York State prison officials with overseeing policies that lead to the "arbitrary and unjustified use" of solitary confinement for prison inmates.The plaintiff in the lawsuit, Leroy Peoples, spent more than two ... More >>

Letters From The Hole: Here's A Poem From A Guy Who's Been In Solitary Confinement For 25 Years

The New York Civil Liberties Union recently released a report outlining the "inhumane, arbitrary use of solitary confinement" in New York state prisons.Included in the report are handwritten letters from several inmates placed in segregated housing (solitary confinement) for various -- in many cases ... More >>

The Next Mayor: An NYPD Still Outside the Law?

NYCLU Pushes Legislation To Curb Discrimination Against Transgender New Yorkers

New Yorkers are legally protected against discrimination based on race, sex, sexual orientation, or disability -- which means people who fall under any of those categories cannot lose access to homes, jobs, and other services because of their racial, sexual, or physical identities. Currently, howe ... More >>

In OWS Eviction Case, Defense Fires Back at City: 'Brookfield is the Lawbreaker Here'

​On Monday, we reported on the developing court battle surrounding the famous eviction of protesters from Zuccotti Park in November -- an important legal case that is moving forward just as Occupy Wall Street resurfaces in full force with the arrival of spring. And late yesterday, the Voice recei ... More >>

NYPD Clean Halls Program Faces Legal Challenge

Later this morning, civil liberties advocates will announce a new challenge to the controversial NYPD program of patrolling the hallways of thousands of privately-owned buildings. Private owners enroll in the program, known as Operation Clean Halls, which has swelled in Manhattan alone to at least ... More >>

As OWS Re-energizes, New Developments in Zuccotti Eviction Legal Case

​While those following Occupy Wall Street have their eyes focused on the resurgence of action this month, few have been following a legal case dating back to the famous November eviction at Zuccotti Park -- a case which the city is now commenting on through a brief it filed in the courts last week ... More >>

Nassau County Jail Suicides Spur New York Civil Liberties Union Lawsuit

An Iraq war vet and inmate at Nassau County Correctional Center committed suicide Feb. 24 -- making him the fifth prisoner to take his own life in the facility since 2010. Seven inmates in total have died in this period, and state authorities have determined that several of these incidents were prev ... More >>

New York Civil Liberties Union: Queens DA Uses 'Unconstitutional' Interrogation Tactics

If you get arrested in Queens, you might get interrogated before being arraigned or meeting with a lawyer -- a practice which the New York Civil Liberties Union has decried as "unconstitutional" and "unethical" in a legal brief filed today against the borough's District Attorney. The NYCLU claims t ... More >>

Black and Hispanic Students Targeted Unfairly by School Cops, NYCLU Claims (UPDATE)

​The NYPD took over school safety in 1998, and the New York Civil Liberties Union claims that cops have since abused their position, using their role to stop-and-frisk students. Today, the NYCLU released what's said to be the first study chronicling student arrest and summons data, and resul ... More >>

NYCLU Goes After Brookfield Properties For Zuccotti Eviction

The birthplace of Occupy Wall Street lives on! And so does the anger surrounding the infamous eviction of protestors back in November. Today, the New York Civil Liberties Union filed a brief with the city's Criminal Court arguing that Brookfield Properties, the owner of Zuccotti Park, had no legal ... More >>

House Arrest, Redefined

The NYCLU files suit over the NYPD's stop-and-frisk program for private property

NYCLU: Allowing Church Worship In Public Schools Violates Religious Freedom

The fight to block churches from using public school space got support today from the New York Civil Liberties Union, which says the policy is a threat to religious freedom. The Civil Liberties Union is arguing in testimony today that these kinds of arrangements between religious organizations and ... More >>

NYCLU Sues Manhattan District Attorney for Records on NYPD Patrols

​Stop-and-frisk has already been a hot topic in 2012 with folks rallying for better police accountability and others screaming at the mayor at a recent visit to Harlem. Today, advocates from the New York Civil Liberties Union are going after what they see as a very peculiar form of stop-and- ... More >>

Occupy Wall Street Can't Bring Tents, Sleeping Gear, or Zzzzs Back to Zuccotti Park

Nick PintoOWS legal team after the ruling.​Judge Michael D. Stallman of the Supreme Court of New York just issued a ruling denying Occupy Wall Street's request for a temporary restraining order that would allow them to return, sleeping gear and all, to Zuccotti Park. Two most interesting par ... More >>

New York Schools Defying Constitutional Protections for Undocumented Immigrants?

Is the "show us your papers" ethos of Arizona's S.B. 1070 coming to New York State's school children? That's what the New York Civil Liberties Union contends, in a story in today's New York Times. Twenty percent of public school districts around the state, writes Nina Bernstein, are requiring famil ... More >>

Hiram Monserrate and NYCLU Get Day in Court; Ruling on Reinstatement Expected Today

Despite appearances, ex-state-senator (pro tem?) Hiram Monserrate has not been abandoned by everyone. The New York Civil Liberties Union is standing with him in court, supporting his legal action to regain his senate seat, from which the senate expelled him on February 9th, on due process grounds ( ... More >>

Court: MTA Must Open TAB Hearings for Transit Offenses to the Public

​It looks like another ticket sweep is on in the subway. And now, if you're ticketed, you may receive not only justice, but also press coverage. The New York Civil Liberties Union just won a ruling against the MTA, finding the Authority's closed-hearing process for transit offenses unconstit ... More >>

Judge: NYPD Must Give Up Race Data on Cop Shootings

​While the city council debates the naming of a street after Sean Bell, several other black people shot at by cops are turning up in the news. The New York Civil Liberties Union has been asking the NYPD for police shooting data broken out by the race of the victim. Supreme Court Judge Joan A. ... More >>

NYPD Ordered to Give Up Documents About 2004 RNC Arrests

​The NYPD is going to have to turn over thousands of pages of documents related to mass arrests and surveillance of protesters during the 2004 Republican National Convention, a federal judge ruled late Monday afternoon. The ruling is in response to two federal lawsuits filed by the New York C ... More >>

NYCLU Sues Homeland Security Over Spying on Citizens

The New York Civil Liberties Union is suing the Department of Homeland Security to find anything it can about the NYPD's plans to build a massive surveillance system in Lower Manhattan. The system will allow the NYPD, and possibly the federal government, to create a computerized database on the mo ... More >>

The Big Frisk: Why The Increase in Stop-and-Searches?

It takes a lot to keep the lid on New York crime, but does it take 171,094 stop-and-frisks in three months? Only MSG gets more than that. But that's what the NYPD clocked from January to March this year. The New York Civil Liberties Union doesn't approve of this high pat-down incidence -- a 16 perce ... More >>

Surveillance: NYPD Retreats, FBI Takes Over

With the ghost of J. Edgar Hoover returning, Ray Kelly yields some ground to the NYCLU

Bloomberg Writes His Own Report Card

Thankfully, there's no term limit on the Constitution and its protection of students

Back to School With Ray Kelly's Bullies on Patrol

Another fall begins with the Police Commissioner's henchmen in control

NYCLU Sues the NYPD On Behalf of a New York Post Reporter

Police Agreement: More Access and Less Horse Attacks for Political Protesters

Anonymous Unmasked in Scientology Protests

President Bloomberg? Not This Bad Apple

Mayor Mike should get more heat for teaching kids to fear the police

NYCLU to Host Real ID Act Forum

I Turn My Camera On

New rules, but still no truce between filmmakers and the mayor's office

Rudy Redux

Will we get another law-and-order mayor who decides on his own what the law is?

Schoolyard Bullies

A policy of cops searching students is in need of a mental detector

Spying on Big Brother

Now you can find out if you're being surveilled by the FBI or the NYPD.

Rights Lawyers Question Cop Review Lag

Subway Searches: Round 2

No Lawsuit Ceasefire on NYPD Searches

Letter to the Editor

Intimidated Classrooms

New York Civil Liberties Union: students can dissent in class only if professor permits

Girls in Trouble

'Hooky Party' Puts the Spotlight on Schools' Treatment of Pregnant Teens

Security or Suppression?

Examining NYPD Crackdowns on Activists

Letters

War Among Civil Libertarians

A Rigged Board Election at the NYCLU?

Spies in Blue

NY Cops Pushed Legal Limits in WEF Protests

Marching Orders

NYPD Seeks to Tighten Rules for Public Protest, Activists Cry Foul

Budgetary Bias

Groups Charge Discrimination in Education Spending

Spycam City

The Surveillance Society: Part One