News & Commentary

ACLU of Connecticut executive director David McGuire shares insight into how we can collectively act and organize to slow, shut down, and reverse the country's march towards autocracy under the Trump administration.

Legislative session ends on June 9. As we head into the last weeks of session, the clock is ticking on all of these bills.

Any proposal for vaccine credentials must be primarily paper-based, decentralized, and protect privacy.

If Connecticut decriminalizes cannabis, it must include steps to repair the harms of the past and to prevent future harm. Although we support its concept of decriminalizing cannabis, the Governor's cannabis bill, as introduced, unfortunately falls short on both decriminalization and equity.

The federal court’s ruling was good news for any state hoping to protect residents with net neutrality laws.

This week, Governor Malloy issued an executive order requiring the state Department of Transportation to conduct a $10 million study of electronic tolling on Connecticut roads. Missing from that executive order? Any mention of people’s privacy rights.

In December, the Hartford City Council gave the go-ahead for the city to apply for a $2.5 million grant to expand police surveillance in Connecticut’s capital city. This grant would enable Hartford police to purchase two high-powered drones and to expand Hartford’s existing police surveillance network.

The Hartford City Council approved a grant to allow city police to expand surveillance camera and drone programs. Separately, these programs threaten civil liberties. Together, they could be a nightmare for anyone who cares about safety, justice, equality, and freedom in the capital city.

The ACLU of Connecticut spoke out for justice, equality, and liberty during the 2017 legislative session--and so did our supporters. By the end of the General Assembly's 2017 regular session, ten bills to advance justice, equality, and liberty had passed out of the legislature.