It’s been an exciting year for the ACLU. We argued an extraordinary six cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and won four, including the all-important invalidated patents on two human genes associated with increased risk of breast and ovarian cancer. That decision is important for our health, patients’ rights and scientific advancement.
Locally, we continued our work to ensure equal access to quality education for all children and to reduce the impact of harsh discipline policies on children of color, children with special educational needs and children from low-income families. Protecting voting rights and expanding access to voting are always on our radar, which is why we are advocating for same day voter registration and early voting.
We are also extremely concerned about over-incarceration and the impact that arrests for minor, non-violent offenses have on the wellbeing of communities, especially in Wilmington. Using scarce city and state resources to arrest folks for small quantities of drugs and to imprison people who do not have the funds to post a low bail or pay a minor fine just doesn’t make sense.
Finally, at the legislature, we led the campaign to repeal the death penalty and passed Senate Bill 19 through the Senate. We will renew our efforts to pass repeal in the House come January. We also won the second and final passage of the Hazel D. Plant Voter Restoration Act. In partnership with the Office of the Public Defender and the Delaware Center for Justice, we made progress protecting juveniles from life imprisonment sentences and unnecessary inclusion on the state’s sex-offender registry.
As I said, it’s been an exciting year!
As we look forward to 2014, I hope that you will join our fight for equality and liberty by clicking here to make an important year-end gift, and consider making an even more lasting impact with the Legacy Challenge.
Without your support, we cannot end capital punishment. Without your assistance, we cannot help children stay in school and out of trouble with the law. Without your dedication, we cannot improve the lives of Delawareans up and down the state by protecting our freedoms of speech and religion and expanding everyone’s access to the vote. The ACLU is dedicated to standing up to any challenges threatening our civil liberties and unfortunately, today, we face those challenges at every turn. Thank you for helping us push back.
