News & Commentary
Locked Out: When School Boards Exclude Native Representation
At a small school district in northwestern New Mexico, many Navajo parents cannot run for local school board or vote in the school district’s elections where their children go to school.
Beyond the Concrete Box: Gujuan Fusilier’s Story
This blog is the third of a series based on interviews with three men currently held in the Penitentiary of New Mexico who are part of a class action lawsuit challenging the inhumane and unconstitutional conditions of New Mexico’s long-term solitary confinement unit.
By Lalita Moskowitz
Mar 19, 2012
Drug Testing the Poor: Unconstitutional and Un-American
Gary C. Mitchell, ACLU-NM Board President
At a time when unemployment is high and families are struggling, Representative Steve Pearce (NM-2) picks a callous moment to create unnecessary hurdles for Americans to obtain ne
By Micah McCoy
Mar 15, 2012
ACLU Seeks Ruling that Physicians Can Provide Aid in Dying
New Mexico Doctors, Com
By Micah McCoy
Mar 06, 2012
Kicked Out Of School and Publicly Humiliated For Pregnancy
GALLUP, N.M. – The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of New Mexico filed a lawsuit today on behalf of Shantelle Hicks, 15, who was initially kicked out of middle school and then publicly humiliated at an assembly by the school director and another staff member because she was pregnant.The complaint alleges that school administrators violated Hicks’ constitutional right to equal
By Micah McCoy
Mar 05, 2012
Las Cruces Rally Is About Discrimination, Not Religious Liberty
Alexandra Freedman Smith
Religious liberty is the first freedom guaranteed to us as Americans in our Bill of Rights. And for good reason too. The freedom to believe, or hold no religious beliefs at a
By Micah McCoy
Feb 09, 2012
ACLU Sues Bloomfield for Display of 10 Commandments
Yesterday, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico filed a lawsuit on behalf of two Bloomfield, NM citizens who seek the removal of the Ten Commandments monument prominently displayed on the city hall lawn. The lawsuit alleges that the monument is a government endorsement of religion and violates the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution as well as the New Mexico State Constitution.
By Micah McCoy
Feb 07, 2012
VIDEO: Voter Suppression in Albuquerque
Katy Sheridan is a retired grandmother of two who does not own a car. On October 4, 2011, she walked to the polls in the middle of a rainstorm to vote in Albuquerque city elections. She was turned away and told she could not vote because she was not carrying a valid photo ID.
By Micah McCoy
Jan 26, 2012
Forced Parental Notification: Dangerous and Unnecessary
Abortion among teenagers should be made less necessary, not more difficult and dangerous. Many young women are fortunate to have loving and supportive parents and these teens overwhelmingly include their parents in their reproductive health decisions. However, pregnant teenagers also come from troubled homes, where they risk physical and mental abuse by disclosing to one or both of their parents that they are pregnant or are terminating the pregnancy. . New Mexico should be most concerned with protecting the most vulnerable teens—teens who have been or are at great risk of physical and sexual abuse from their families --from unwanted pregnancy. Mandating parental involvement does not solve the problems associated with teenage pregnancy. Instead it unnecessarily puts our most vulnerable youth at risk of harm REQUIRING PARENTAL CONSENT/NOTIFICATION IS UNNECESSARY
By Micah McCoy
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