News & Commentary

The New Orleans City Council recently proposed an ordinance, No. 32-107, that would put the city’s already-intrusive surveillance apparatus on steroids, subjecting New Orleanians to near-constant monitoring of their daily lives.

The people of Shreveport scored a victory for freedom and equality this week when the Caddo Parish Commission voted to remove the Confederate monument from the grounds of the local courthouse.

Renata Singleton was the victim in a criminal case and served five days in jail. That’s right, the victim. And Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro is to blame.

The ACLU of Louisiana sent a letter today to members of the Iberville Parish Council warning them that a proposed ban on desecrating the American, Louisiana or Iberville Parish flag would violate the Constitution.

The ACLU of Louisiana today condemned statements by Caddo Parish Sheriff Steve Prator, in which he argued that “good” people are needed in jail to perform prison labor. Sheriff Prator stated that it is a “necessary evil” to keep the “good ones that we use every day to wash cars, to change the oil in our cars [and] cook in the kitchen.”

After ten years as Executive Director of the ACLU of Louisiana, Marjorie R.  Esman has announced that she will retire effective October 31, 2017. 

The American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana Executive Director Marjorie Esman issued the following statement regarding the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision not to hear a challenge to non-unanimous jury convictions.  Only Louisiana and Oregon allow verdicts by less than a unanimous vote of the jury in noncapital cases.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana put Louisiana schools on notice today, warning them that forcing students to stand during the National Anthem or punishing students who “take a knee” in protest of racial injustice and police brutality would violate students’ First Amendment rights.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana today filed suit in U.S. District Court against the Louisiana Department of Corrections for banning interviews with prisoners at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola.