Newsletter

Over 400 anti-voter measures have been introduced in the U.S. since 2021, and the U.S. Supreme Court has gutted the federal Voting Rights Act (VRA). In this climate, it’s more important than ever for states to step up to protect access to the ballot box. We made big progress in 2023, and we are just getting started. In Connecticut, we are committed to making voting more accessible by supporting the effort to pass a ballot measure that would allow the legislature to create no-excuse absentee voting as an option for any eligible voter, and by continuing our fight to ensure incarcerated people retain their right to vote, all while promoting the equitable rollout of early voting.

Nationally, the ACLU is investing in key battleground states across the country to fight voter suppression, promote access to the ballot, protect against partisan gerrymandering, and so much more. The ACLU strives to ensure that ALL citizens may vote without intimidation, coercion, or unnecessary barriers and works to strengthen the integrity of our election systems.

2023 Highlight: With our coalition partners, we led the effort to pass the Connecticut Voting Rights Act (CTVRA), which makes democracy more accessible, especially for Black and Latinx voters, by strengthening protections against voting discrimination. The CTVRA is the most comprehensive state-level voting rights act in the country and sets a new standard for voting access everywhere, and it will be in effect for the 2024 election.

Deep-seated systemic racism and inequities that disadvantage communities of color are still woven into the fabric of our institutions today — from education and housing to the criminal legal system. We must eliminate racism and advance racial justice, and we support and advocate for changes that actively combat racism and work toward a racially just and equitable country. From fighting for legislation to combat racial profiling, to litigating cases to challenging discriminatory laws, to pushing for changes to create real equity in opportunity and justice, we seek to preserve and extend constitutionally guaranteed rights to people who have historically been denied their rights on the basis of race.

The ACLU strives to create a world where “we the people” truly means all of us — this means dismantling systemic racism and working to repair centuries of harm inflicted on communities of color.

2023 Highlight: Last year, the “Individual Freedom Act,” colloquially known as the Stop WOKE Act, went into effect in Florida. The law limits the ways concepts related to systemic racism and sex discrimination can be discussed in teaching or conducting training in workplaces or schools. The ACLU of Florida and national ACLU filed a lawsuit against HB 7, resulting in an injunction against it, and they continue to fight this law in court.

Our country’s expansive criminal legal system hurts everyone’s abilities to thrive, and it disproportionately hurts people of color, LGBTQ+ people, disabled people, and low-income people. The ACLU of CT is addressing the front end (policing and prosecutors) and back end (the carceral system and its collateral consequences) of the criminal legal system by educating people about the human and financial costs of policing and incarceration, fighting to end prison debt, advocating to eliminate barriers to reentry and collateral consequences of living with a record of arrest or conviction, and seeking harm reduction by advocating for humane prison conditions. The ACLU is doing similar work across the country, and ultimately seeks to end mass incarceration and eliminate racial disparities within our criminal legal system.

2023 Highlight: For years, we have been fighting for outside oversight and accountability for State’s Attorneys – and this year a new law went into effect that holds State’s Attorneys accountable to data-driven, regular, independent reviews of the patterns and practices of their Judicial Districts. This law helps ensure that State’s Attorneys don’t treat someone differently just because of their race, zip code, or how much money they have.

For decades, billions of dollars have been spent locking up Black and Brown people instead of investing in Black and Brown communities. Through litigation, legislative advocacy, and education, we seek changes to counterproductive policies that have disproportionately harmed communities of color in our state, and to educate people about their rights when interacting with police. Connecticut, like the rest of the country, must hold police accountable for racist, harmful, and unconstitutional actions. We seek to reallocate funds from policing to community-based programs and services; expose systemic racism caused and perpetuated by police; increase access to open records; create consequences for police who commit violence; and reduce the power, role, and scope of policing in Connecticut and across the country. Through this work, the ACLU strives to ensure that everyone, including Black and Brown people, is safe, healthy, and thriving.

2023 Highlight: An investigation by the Connecticut Racial Profiling Prohibition Project revealed that for years, Connecticut State Police submitted at least 25,966 false and inaccurate traffic stop records, with the end result that police overreported fake traffic stops of white people and disproportionately underreported real traffic stops of people of color. We are advocating for an independent outside investigation, decertification of the police involved, meaningful oversight of state police moving forward, and the passage of legislation to end secondary stops.

Nationwide, we are facing the most serious assault on access to abortion in decades, which poses an acute threat to public health and personal freedom. In collaboration with our partners, the ACLU is:

• fighting back against attacks on abortion rights in courts across the country;
• ensuring accessible and affordable reproductive care for everyone, including contraception, birth control, and maternal health;
• advancing our reproductive rights through state ballot initiatives, legislative advocacy, and more.

2023 Highlight: Since Roe v Wade has been overturned, the ACLU has utilized our powerful litigation capacity to help mitigate the harm caused by this decision, seizing every opportunity to block abortion bans. We have gone to court in 11 states and Guam seeking to both block overturn abortion bans. Currently, our litigation is protecting access to care in 4 states and in Guam, and this year we supported bills in Connecticut to advance reproductive freedom and maternal health.

Hundreds of anti-LGBTQ+ bills, especially targeting youth and transgender people, have been introduced in state legislatures across the country. Drag bans, trans sports bans, and LGBTQ+ book bans are on the rise, and Connecticut is no exception. In Connecticut and across the country, the ACLU is:

• fighting back against attacks on LGBTQ+ people, especially trans youth, in the courts and state legislatures;
• protecting the rights and safety of transgender people and ensuring their access to healthcare;
• ensuring LGBTQ+ people aren’t discriminated against or denied services because of someone else’s religious belief.

2023 Highlight: A federal court has ruled in favor of our client, Veronica-May Clark, in her lawsuit challenging the Connecticut Department of Correction (DOC)’s failure to treat her gender dysphoria for years. In September, the court ruled that DOC employees were “deliberately indifferent to Ms. Clark’s serious medical needs” in violation of the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

Free speech and privacy belong to all, but the United States has often failed to protect the rights of people who have not typically held the reins of political power. Now, the free speech rights of people of color, women, LGBTQ+ people, religious minorities, immigrants, and even students and teachers are under threat – and Connecticut is no exception. We are:

• safeguarding our right to protest, combatting censorship, and promoting free speech;
• fighting back against censorship in classrooms and libraries, and protecting students’ right to learn;
• ensuring that civil liberties are protected as technology advances, especially in the areas of artificial intelligence, government surveillance, and data privacy;
• educating students, teachers, parents, and others in Connecticut to know your rights if someone tries to ban a book in your school or library – something that is on the rise in our state.

2023 Highlight: When Stamford resident Michael Friend had his phone and protest sign confiscated and was arrested for exercising his freedom of speech, the ACLU Foundation of CT sued on his behalf. In February, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Friend in his claims that the police violated Friend’s First Amendment rights to free speech and information, and Fourth Amendment right against malicious prosecution.

There are more than 43 million immigrants in the United States, and around 14 percent of people in Connecticut are immigrants. Immigrant communities are frequently targets of discrimination, and undocumented immigrants are particularly susceptible to abuse by the government. Nationwide, we are:

• challenging constitutional abuses that arise from immigration enforcement at the federal, state, and local levels
• exposing and challenging the brutal and inhumane conditions of confinement in immigration detention centers
• ensuring due process during immigration proceedings and deportations
• fighting for the rights of people fleeing persecution to seek asylum in the U.S.

2023 Highlight: Along with our partners, the ACLU is suing Florida over SB 264 which restricts Chinese nationals from acquiring property in the state of Florida under the guise of protecting national security. This is just the latest iteration of anti-Asian discrimination and violates both the Constitution and the Fair Housing Act.

When people finish their prison sentence, their “debt” to society is supposed to be paid. Yet under Connecticut’s cruel prison debt law, the state charges people $249 for each day they are incarcerated. 

The state charges people $249 for each day they are incarcerated. 

This debt follows people for decades, decimating inheritances from deceased loved ones, proceeds from lawsuits, and, ultimately, anything a person leaves upon their death. Because of systemic racism, this disproportionately harms Black and Latinx people in Connecticut. In Beatty v Lamont, the ACLU Foundation of Connecticut represents three incredible people who are fighting to end prison debt in our state, for themselves and for thousands of other people who are at risk of having their or their loved one’s possessions taken by the state. In April, we filed an amended complaint and added new plaintiffs to the case.

In April, Natasha Tosado and Doug Johnson joined Teresa Beatty in the fight to end prison debt in Connecticut. 

The ACLU of Connecticut approached the 2023 legislative session with ambitious goals to improve access to the ballot box, begin holding prosecutors accountable, and protect children from police lying and threats. When the gavel struck at the end of the Connecticut General Assembly’s 2023 session, we had testified on more than 130 pieces of legislation, and all four of our top priority bills passed. 

*Protecting kids from police deception

Children should be safe and protected everywhere, including if they are facing an interrogation with police. Yet it has been legal in our state for police to lie to and threaten people, including children, to coerce false confessions. After years of effort from us and the Innocence Project, the legislature passed a bill to ban police from using deceptive interrogation tactics against people under 18 years old. This new law will go into effect on October 1, 2023.

*Prosecutorial Accountability 

As gatekeepers to the criminal legal system, State’s Attorneys hold people’s lives in their hands, and they have the power to make mass incarceration and systemic racism better or worse. Yet they are among the least accountable actors in the criminal legal system. For three years, Smart Justice has been fighting for outside oversight and accountability for State’s Attorneys – now, Governor Lamont has signed into law An Act Concerning Prosecutorial Accountability. This new law goes into effect on October 1, 2023.

*Connecticut Voting Rights Act

Every voter should have equal access to the ballot box, without intimidation or racist barriers. With our coalition partners, including the NAACP LDF, we led the effort to pass the Connecticut Voting Rights Act (CTVRA), which makes democracy more accessible, especially for Black and Latinx voters, by strengthening protections against voting discrimination. The CTVRA will go into effect on July 1, 2023, becoming the most comprehensive state-level voting rights act and setting a new standard for voting access across the country. 

*Early Voting

Connecticut voters are busy, and we need flexibility to be able to vote at the time that works for us. For more than a decade, the ACLU of Connecticut and, more recently, the ACLU of Connecticut Rise PAC, have pushed for Connecticut voters to have the chance to vote early. That work culminated this session, when Governor Lamont signed into law a bill that creates early voting in Connecticut for all elections or primaries held on or after January 1, 2024.

No-Excuse Absentee Voting

Absentee voting makes the ballot box more accessible for all voters, especially people who are elderly, disabled, workers, or parents. After years of effort from us and our allies, the Connecticut General Assembly passed a bill that gives Connecticut voters the chance to decide whether our state Constitution should be changed to allow every voter the option to vote absentee, also known as “no-excuse absentee voting.” So, the November 2024 ballot will include a question: “Shall the Constitution of the State be amended to permit the General Assembly to allow each voter to vote by absentee ballot?" The ACLU of Connecticut Rise PAC is ready to educate and inspire voters to support it.

Reproductive Freedom

Abortion is healthcare, and abortion is a human right. We were proud to be in solidarity with our friends at Pro-Choice CT, Planned Parenthood Votes! CT, and more in supporting bills to advance reproductive freedom and maternal health, including H.B. 6820, which aims to protect abortion providers in Connecticut from lawsuits by other states for simply providing abortion care, and S.B. 3, which protects people’s sensitive health information from abuse and exploitation by “crisis pregnancy centers” (also known as CPCs).

Opportunity for justice-impacted people

Smart Justice was proud to be in solidarity with our friends at Stop Solitary CT, the Yale Transitions Clinic and more in successfully passing legislation to ensure everyone leaving prison in Connecticut has a state ID (critical for accessing jobs, housing, and programs and services) and to allow parole hearings for people who were under 21 years old at the time they were sentenced (giving more youth a chance at hope). 

*ACLU of Connecticut priority bill

For more than a decade, the ACLU of Connecticut and, more recently, the ACLU of Connecticut Rise PAC, have pushed for Connecticut voters to have the chance to vote early. That work culminated this session, when Governor Lamont signed into law a bill that creates early voting in Connecticut for all elections or primaries held on or after January 1, 2024.

Early voting in Connecticut will consist of: 

• For general elections: 14 days of early voting, including weekends, beginning in the 30 days before Election Day, with early voting locations open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on the last Tuesday and Thursday before the election. Each municipality would have at least one designated early voting polling location, established by the local registrar of voters, and municipalities of more than 20,000 people would have the option to establish additional early voting locations. 
   
• For non-presidential primary elections: seven days of early voting prior to a primary (except presidential primaries) 
   
• For special elections and presidential primaries: four days of early voting prior to a special election or presidential primary. 

Smart Justice is a campaign to end mass incarceration and systemic racism in the criminal legal system, led by Smart Justice leaders – advocates who have been directly harmed by the criminal legal system. Smart Justice was at the Capitol day in and day out this year, fighting for a healthier, freer Connecticut. We lobbied for bills to increase access to education, workers’ rights, children’s rights, housing justice, and more, in addition to prosecutorial accountability and banning police deceptive interrogations of children.

The right to read and learn is fundamental, and public libraries are central to our abilities to explore ideas, encounter new perspectives, and learn about the world. Books by and about the history and cultures of Black and Brown, LGBTQ+ people, women, and other people whom the government has marginalized benefit all of us, including youth.

But right now, the fight to ban books focusing on race, gender, and sexuality from school and public libraries has escalated, across the country and here in Connecticut.

If you’re facing a book challenge in your local public school or library, you can push back for freedom to learn and against censorship.