Press Releases

ACLU of Connecticut lawyers and advocates are leading experts on civil rights, civil liberties, and constitutional freedoms. They are regularly sought out by leading media to provide a voice to the most important issues facing Connecticut. If you are a member of the press and wish to speak with a representative of the ACLU of Connecticut, please contact us at media@acluct.org. If you are a member of the media and wish to receive ACLU of Connecticut press releases, please send your name, the outlet for which you work, your email address, and phone number to media@acluct.org with the subject line “Press Release Distribution.”

Apr 21, 2023

Additional Connecticut Residents Join Lawsuit Over Prison Debt Law

Two new plaintiffs have joined Beatty v. Lamont, a lawsuit seeking to eliminate Connecticut’s “prison debt” law, under which the state forces people it incarcerated to pay hundreds of dollars for each day they spent in prison.
Issue Areas: Criminal Legal System, Economic Justice
Court Cases: Beatty v Lamont
Mar 08, 2023

Advocates Call to End Deceptive Police Interrogations of Youth

Survivors of police deceptive interrogation, advocates, legislators, and national experts gathered to call on the legislature to pass S.B. 1071, a bill to end deceptive police interrogations of children.
Issue Areas: Criminal Legal System, Policing, Youth and Student Rights, Racial Justice
Mar 06, 2023

Federal Court: Stamford Woman May Sue State Over Prison Debt Law, But Must Substitute Defendants

A federal court has ruled that Teresa Beatty can sue to end Connecticut’s prison debt law. The court also ruled that Ms. Beatty must substitute a different set of state defendants in order for her lawsuit to proceed.
Issue Areas: Criminal Legal System, Racial Justice
Feb 28, 2023

Federal Court Sides with Protester in Case Against Stamford Police Officer

A federal appeals court has ruled that Stamford police officer Richard Gasparino violated Michael Friend’s rights during a protest in which Friend held a “Cops Ahead” sign on a sidewalk near a Stamford police cellphone sting site.
Issue Areas: Free Speech, Policing
Court Cases: Friend v Gasparino, City of Stamford
Jan 31, 2023

Civil Rights Organizations and Connecticut Legislators Call for Passage of a State Voting Rights Act

Lawmakers, civil rights, labor, grassroots, and faith-based groups call for passage of the Connecticut Voting Rights Act (CTVRA).
Issue Areas: Voting Rights, Racial Justice
Dec 16, 2022

Second Circuit Dismisses Challenge to Connecticut’s Trans-Inclusive Student Athletics Policy

In a victory for transgender youth, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a student athletic policy in Connecticut allowing transgender students to play on the teams most consistent with their gender identity.
Issue Areas: LGBTQIA+ Rights, Youth and Student Rights
Court Cases: Soule et al v. CT Association of Schools et al
Nov 09, 2022

Passage of Early Voting Ballot Measure is Victory for Racial Justice

Connecticut voters have voted to approve an amendment to the Connecticut Constitution, which will permit the legislature to pass a law allowing early voting.
Issue Areas: Voting Rights, Racial Justice
Oct 31, 2022

First 2022 Public Opinion Poll of Connecticut Likely Voters of Color Released

Research looks at attitudes toward early voting amendment
Issue Areas: Voting Rights, Racial Justice
Oct 27, 2022

ACLU Foundation of CT Joins Lawsuit Challenging Breastfeeding Discrimination

The ACLU Foundation of CT will represent a Norwalk mother in a lawsuit that seeks to uphold the right to breastfeed without restriction in public schools under Connecticut’s civil rights law.
Issue Areas: Reproductive Justice, Women's Rights