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Blog by Gavi Wolfe, legislative director at the ACLU of Massachusetts

Looking to 2019, states will continue to be critical battlegrounds in the fight against authoritarianism – and Massachusetts will be on the forefront. In the face of unprecedented challenges from the federal government, Massachusetts must exercise leadership to shape the future of freedom for our generation and those to come.

This legislative session, the ACLU of Massachusetts – together with our supporters, volunteers, and community partners – are setting out to reaffirm our democratic values and ensure civil liberties are not lost on our watch.

Here are just a few of our plans to build the future of freedom this session:

Technology & Civil Liberties

Biometric surveillance technologies – tools that track us based on our faces, voices, and even the way we walk – are being developed in the private sector and quickly attracting enthusiastic attention from law enforcement. If turned over to the government without proper civil liberties protections, these technologies will give government dystopian control over all of us.

The ACLU has a plan to ensure privacy protections keep pace with advancing technologies: It starts with hitting pause on unregulated government use of biometric recognition technologies. We’re calling on the Massachusetts legislature to enact a moratorium until the state adopts key protections for civil rights, due process, and racial justice.

At the same time, Beacon Hill must strengthen existing data breach laws to guard against misuse of biometric information. High-profile data breaches show the urgent need to protect sensitive data. Our faces, voices, and fingerprints should be protected just like our social security numbers.

Massachusetts is ideally situated to lead the way on responsible integration of machine learning technologies and other tools that impact people every day. As our government begins to turn to technology and big data to make determinations about everything from incarceration to parental rights, it’s time to convene a legislative commission of experts to study how Massachusetts can lead the nation in ensuring algorithmic fairness, transparency, and accountability.

Treatment, Not Imprisonment

In the midst of an opioid crisis that has claimed an increasing number of lives in Massachusetts and across the nation, public officials must do everything they can to support people in their efforts to overcome addiction. If our Commonwealth is serious about ending the opioid crisis, we need to reframe our approach to drug use – to one that is rooted in public health, not punishment.

That’s why, this legislative session, the ACLU of Massachusetts is prioritizing legislation that moves the state away from imprisoning people simply because they stumble on their road to recovery. When a person suffering from addiction is released by a court, it is both unsafe and unjust to require them to remain completely drug-free or else be sent to jail.

Smart Justice

Last legislative session, with major advocacy by the ACLU, the legislature passed sweeping criminal justice reform. There’s a tremendous amount to celebrate about the new law, from sentencing reforms to critical protections for people incarcerated in Massachusetts.

This session, the ACLU of Massachusetts is building on that landmark accomplishment by advocating for greater criminal justice transparency, with legislation to ensure district attorneys participate in existing data collection and reporting. A comprehensive picture of the criminal legal system – including prosecutors’ charging and diversion data – will better inform future policy-making in Massachusetts.

Going forward, Beacon Hill must also set new standards about when law enforcement can take people’s private property. In a recent report by the nonpartisan Institute for Justice, Massachusetts earned an “F” grade for its regressive asset forfeiture laws.

Reproductive Freedom

The Trump administration, politicians, and Trump-appointed judges across the country are waging a full-out assault on reproductive freedom – and we need to act to safeguard the right to abortion. As the Trump administration continues its daily attacks on our health and reproductive rights, and as the Supreme Court considers hearing a case designed to gut Roe v. Wade, we cannot be complacent here in Massachusetts.

In fact, even in Massachusetts, the constitutional right to abortion does not always translate into access to care.

An Act to Remove Obstacles and Expand Abortion Access, or the ROE Act, is the necessary policy prescription. By removing unnecessary, burdensome provisions that delay or deny care, Massachusetts will ensure all people can make decisions for themselves and access safe, legal abortion no matter what happens in Washington.

Voting Rights

At the ACLU, we have been working to guarantee voting rights for nearly 100 years, and will continue to work to protect and expand access to the ballot. It’s time for Massachusetts to join the 19 other states that have passed Election Day registration to help every voter in every city, town, and precinct exercise their right to vote. Increased ballot access and voter participation mean a stronger democracy.

Immigrants’ Rights

With the federal government continuing to detain and deport people in droves with zero regard for civil rights and family unity, Massachusetts needs to take concrete action. It’s time to step up, do right by immigrants and their families, and protect them from the worst excesses of the Trump administration.

From ensuring immigrants’ rights to due process and access to justice are never denied here in the Commonwealth, to limiting Massachusetts’ role in the White House’s continued attacks on immigrants, there is a lot of work we can – and must – do to affirm our country’s promise as a beacon of liberty for all.

Learn more about our legislative priorities

Read our roundups from the 2016-17 legislative session and 2017-18 legislative session.

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Wednesday, January 9, 2019 - 5:00pm

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The 2017-2018 legislative session ended on July 31, 2018. Here is a round-up from Gavi Wolfe, legislative director for the ACLU of Massachusetts, explaining what we have accomplished this session and what lies ahead:

In the face of unprecedented threats to civil rights and civil liberties from Washington, DC, the ACLU of Massachusetts knew this legislative session wouldn’t be business as usual. States play a key role in ensuring freedom in times of national crises. That’s why – at a moment in history marked by relentless federal attacks on reproductive freedom, immigrants’ rights, open government, free press, and democracy itself – we set out to protect people whose rights are most threatened by proposed changes to federal law.

This legislative session, we committed ourselves to a Massachusetts Freedom Agenda to strengthen existing protections and move freedom forward here in the Commonwealth. Bolstered by our supporters, volunteers, and community partners, we’re proud to celebrate a number of historic state legislative victories this year.

We are deeply appreciative of legislative leaders in the Massachusetts House and Senate who recognized the need to defend civil rights and liberties, and who have worked hard to make bold changes to Massachusetts systems, laws, and policies for the better. There is always more work to be done on many fronts, and we look forward to partnering with our allies in advocacy and with leaders on Beacon Hill to continue to make the Commonwealth a more equal, just, safe and free place for all its residents.

Women’s Rights

In the face of a White House hell-bent on interfering with women’s personal health care choices, the ACLU of Massachusetts doubled down on our commitment to reproductive freedom. This session, we’re celebrating many victories that safeguard the right to make the most fundamental decisions about our bodies, our families, and our lives, no matter what happens federally.

First, we stood up for pregnant employees by advocating for the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. In our testimony, we said it loud and clear: Women should never be penalized at work for making the choice to have a family. The new law, signed last summer, assures that women won't be forced to choose between a healthy pregnancy and keeping their jobs.

Because people should never have to choose between the family they love and the job they need, we joined in the powerful coalition effort that transformed Massachusetts into a national leader in providing paid family and medical leave. This landmark ACLU-backed legislation will make a critical difference in achieving economic equality for women and security for all hardworking Bay Staters.

Finally, we fought for – and won! – a trifecta of victories improving safe, confidential, and legally guaranteed access to essential reproductive health care for all. When the Trump administration announced its executive order to block birth control access, we pushed Massachusetts leaders to quickly pass the ACCESS Act to protect and expand contraceptive access for people throughout the Commonwealth. But we recognize that a right to health care on paper – without a guarantee of confidentiality – may not mean a lot to a young person on their parents’ heath plan. So, we changed the law to protect patient privacy and turn the promise of health access into a reality. And later, when President Trump promised to appoint Supreme Court justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade, we urged Beacon Hill to swiftly repeal an archaic, unconstitutional abortion ban still moldering on the books in Massachusetts – and they did! Together with the Coalition for Choice and allies, the ACLU of Massachusetts led advocacy efforts for these victories to ensure that – no matter what happens in Washington, D.C. – reproductive freedom in Massachusetts is unequivocally protected.

Criminal Law Reform

For decades, the ACLU of Massachusetts has been on the frontlines of meaningful criminal law reform. After years of hard work by Massachusetts leaders and advocates alike, we were thrilled when the Legislature passed sweeping criminal justice reform earlier this year.

There’s a lot to celebrate about the legislation. As a key player in a broad coalition of advocates, the ACLU fought for and won important sentencing reforms, like eliminating several mandatory minimum sentences, providing alternative sentencing for parents and primary caretakers, and raising the minimum age of juvenile court jurisdiction. We also achieved critical protections for people incarcerated in Massachusetts, including restrictions on the use of solitary confinement, guaranteed access to in-person visitation, and a mechanism to enable compassionate medical release of people who would otherwise die behind bars. This far-reaching legislation represents a critical step toward a fairer, safer, and more just Massachusetts.

In addition to improving our criminal laws, the ACLU of Massachusetts is committed to shifting drug policy from punishment to prevention and treatment. As such, we are thrilled that the opioid bill passed on the last day of the legislative session takes important steps in the right direction. In particular, we are proud that the Legislature has begun to more fully embrace access to medication-assisted treatment for people who are incarcerated in the Commonwealth, and backed away from the idea of locking people up to coerce them into treatment.

In every legislative session, we will remain committed to working together for even stronger reforms to reinvest in public health and human needs, end our reliance on incarceration, and eliminate racial disparities in the system.

Democracy & Open Government

The ACLU of Massachusetts has long worked to fully engage eligible voters and make voting as simple and accessible as possible. While voter suppression is on the rise nationally, we’re proud that Massachusetts is leading the way by expanding ballot access and modernizing how our voter registration system works. This session, we helped make the Commonwealth the 14th state to adopt automatic voter registration. As a result, we now have the chance to engage nearly 700,000 more Bay Staters in the democratic process.

Voting is one key way to hold government accountable and build a healthy and strong democracy; requiring government transparency is another. That’s why we proudly pushed for and won critical open government protections in two areas related to criminal justice.

The ACLU of Massachusetts introduced one bill to require the collection and publication of more comprehensive arrest data in Massachusetts, and another to increase transparency and reporting about police use of civil asset forfeiture. We are so glad that both these measures were ultimately passed as part of the criminal justice reform overhaul. You can’t manage what you don’t measure, so good data is a necessary first step in improving police practices and addressing racial disparities in the criminal legal system.

Immigrants’ Rights

So much good has come out of this session. But the hard work doesn’t stop here.

At a time when the Trump administration is detaining and deporting as many immigrants as possible with no regard for civil rights and family unity, the ACLU of Massachusetts championed the Safe Communities Act to protect the rights of immigrants here in our Commonwealth. We also fought for a budget amendment that would have put in place basic legal safeguards against deportation and family separation for hardworking immigrants in our communities.

Unfortunately, throughout the legislative session, Governor Baker shamefully opposed immigrants’ rights and chose politics over people’s lives, casting a long shadow over the legislative process. In the end, the Senate passed important protections, but the House did not. 

To say that we are disappointed is an understatement. By failing to pass the Safe Communities Act, and later failing to pass even more basic protections for immigrants, Beacon Hill abdicated its responsibility to defend immigrants and make everyone in Massachusetts safer. Make no mistake: this decision means President Trump’s mass deportation agenda can now continue here in Massachusetts.

We aren’t giving up. We will fight on, both in Massachusetts’ cities and towns and in the next legislative session.

Though much remains to be done, this is a moment to savor and celebrate – and to thank our supporters and friends for their hard work, too. At the ACLU of Massachusetts, we know that freedom doesn’t protect itself. So, in the days after the end of formal sessions, we cheer our victories and rededicate ourselves to fighting for the future.

 

Learn more about our legislative work

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Wednesday, August 1, 2018 - 11:45am

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Blog by Carol Rose, Executive Director, ACLU of Massachusetts

The First Amendment right to record the police is a critical check and balance for people living in a free, open, and democratic society. It promotes the free discussion of governmental affairs as well as protects the democratic process. And for some communities, it’s a vital tool for uncovering, if not deterring, police misconduct.

But Boston-based civil rights activists Eric Martin and René Pérez were afraid to record the police. Under a state wiretap law passed in 1968, known as Section 99, it is a crime to secretly record private individuals and government workers, even those on duty like police officers. Since 2011, the Boston Police Department has applied for a criminal complaint against at least nine people for secretly recording police officers performing their duties in public, and the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office has opened numerous case files based on this felony charge as well.

Because of this fact, although Martin and Pérez often feared for their safety when openly recording police officers in public, they also knew recording secretly could subject them to arrest and prosecution. Caught between safety concerns and fear of punishment, they often chose not to record at all.

But that’s about to change.

Two years ago, the ACLU of Massachusetts filed a lawsuit, Martin v. Gross, on behalf of Martin and Pérez, arguing that they have every right under the First Amendment to secretly record police officers carrying out their duties in public. This week, a federal court agreed.

Taking photographs, video, and audio in public spaces is a constitutional right — and that includes law enforcement officials carrying out their duties. The defendants in this case argued that they could lawfully apply Section 99 to prevent individuals from secretly recording police officers performing their duties in public. In her recent ruling, Judge Patti B. Saris of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts called that application of the wiretap law unconstitutional.

The court explained that police officers have “diminished privacy interests” when performing their job in public, while the public has a constitutionally protected interest in newsgathering, information-dissemination, and monitoring the conduct of law enforcement officials. The parties must now submit proposed language for an order implementing the court’s decision by January 10.

The ACLU of Massachusetts has long championed the right to record the police in the public performance of their duties. In another ACLU case, Simon Glik openly recorded Boston police officers when they treated a man too roughly on the Boston Common. Glik himself was then arrested for his constitutionally protected behavior. In 2011, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit unanimously affirmed that he had a First Amendment right to record the police carrying out their duties on the Boston Common.

Although the fact pattern in Glik happened to involve an open recording, the First Circuit did not so limit its First Amendment ruling. Judge Saris’ ruling evokes Glik’s protection of both the open and secret recording of police officers performing their duties in public, reiterating that “the First Amendment’s protection for information-gathering has special force with respect to law enforcement officials who are granted so much discretion in depriving individuals of their liberties.”

In recent years, the exercise of this First Amendment right has changed the public’s understanding of encounters between police officers and the public. Time and time again, people’s recordings of police interactions have started national conversations about police reform and accountability, from Eric Garner to Philando Castile to Sandra Bland. As the Trump administration welcomes a new attorney general who opposes Obama-era police reform and civil rights work, all of us play an increasingly important role in keeping the local police in check.

This week’s decision will help ensure that we have the tools to do so.

Learn about the case

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Friday, December 14, 2018 - 5:00pm

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