Press Releases

ACLU-D.C. lawyers and advocates are among the nation's leading experts on civil liberties and constitutional freedoms. They are regularly sought out by leading broadcast, print and online media to lend an essential voice to the conversation about some of the most important issues facing the nation and the District. For all press inquiries, please contact: [email protected]

Feb 07, 2025

Proposed Bill to Overturn D.C. Home Rule is a Direct Attack on American Democracy and States’ Rights

“It is deeply inefficient for Congress to spend their time on whether people can turn right on red lights in D.C. or on how the trash gets picked up in our neighborhoods. Micromanaging D.C. is not anything that voters elected Members of Congress to accomplish.”
Feb 04, 2025

ACLU-D.C. Sends Letter to U.S. Attorney Martin for First Amendment Concerns in Letter to Elon Musk

ACLU-D.C. sent a letter in response to U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin Jr.‘s February 3 letter to Elon Musk outlining our concerns that threatening legal action against those who merely criticize or challenge DOGE employees undermines free speech.
Feb 03, 2025

Immigrants’ Rights Advocates Sue Trump Administration Over Efforts to Completely Shut Down Asylum at the Border

“The United States has long served as a refuge for people fleeing persecution abroad, as we declare proudly on the Statue of Liberty. Trump’s attempted border shutdown is an affront to our history and our values, and it will impose incalculable suffering on refugees fleeing for their lives.”
Jan 30, 2025

ACLU Urges Appeals Court to Uphold Ruling Protecting Expedited Citizenship for Military Service Members

“Since World War I, the United States has naturalized non-citizen soldiers before they deploy, so that they serve — and perhaps die — as citizens of the nation they serve. Congress has recognized for a century that this is proper, and the Pentagon has no right to change it.”
Jan 23, 2025

ACLU-D.C. Responds to Trump's Pardon of Two Convicted D.C. Metropolitan Police Officers

"Trump’s pardon of two Metropolitan Police Department officers convicted for their roles in the murder of Karon Hylton-Brown and subsequent coverup is an affront to both public safety and the legitimacy of law enforcement."
Jan 22, 2025

Immigrants’ Rights Advocates Sue Trump Administration Over Fast-Track Deportation Policy

“President Trump’s decision to fast track deportations is chaotic, unfair, and inhumane. We hope the courts will order President Trump to do his constitutional duty to ‘take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.'"
Jan 21, 2025

ACLU-D.C. responds to Trump's Executive Order on Schedule Policy/Career federal workers (formerly Schedule F)

"The federal workforce executive order is a power-grab by Trump, expanding his authority to fire employees he perceives as insufficiently loyal. Federal workers should not be fired because they are more loyal to the U.S. Constitution than they are to the president."
Dec 20, 2024

ACLU Sues Bureau of Prisons for Keeping People in Prison Longer Than the Law Allows

There’s no excuse for the Bureau of Prisons to pretend not to understand Congress’s clear command that people who have earned the right to early release must be released. This law has been on the books for six years."
Dec 17, 2024

D.C. Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services Grants Two Children Rehabilitative Placements in Response to Lawsuit

“While we are glad DYRS finally transferred our clients to their placements following last week’s court hearing, we need systemwide relief so that all children committed to DYRS promptly receive the rehabilitation to which they are entitled by law.”