News & Commentary

Our communities do not have to choose between protecting public safety and combating the spread of COVID-19. By heeding the advice of public health experts and implementing proven community-oriented policing strategies, law enforcement agencies can keep our first responders and our communities safe.

Thank you to our partners at WDSU for giving the ACLU of Louisiana the opportunity to air a public service announcement highlighting the risks incarcerated people are facing from COVID-19 and the importance of keeping families together during this difficult time.

ACLU of Louisiana executive director Alanah Odoms Hebert was interviewed on Democracy Now! about the devastating racial disparities of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ACLU's work to release vulnerable populations from prisons and jails. 

Hurricane Katrina showed us that the consequences of suspending due process at a time of emergency could be disastrous.

The death of asylum-seeker Roylan Hernandez Diaz in a Louisiana prison was a preventable tragedy and an urgent reminder of the Trump administration’s systemic failure to protect the health and well-being of the people in its custody.

New Orleans has the second-highest per capita rate of confirmed cases of COVID-19 of any city in the country – but too many of its leaders are displaying a callous disregard for the evidence-based steps that would stem the spread of this deadly disease.

An officer sued DeRay Mckesson. The lawsuit, which should have been swiftly dismissed, now threatens the First Amendment rights of millions.

"This is a system that doesn't give much justice to anyone, except the people who can pay for it."

It was a shocking abuse of power. Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro used fake subpoenas to coerce and intimidate victims – and even throw them in jail when they refused to comply with falsified documents.