News & Commentary

The Board of Directors and staff of the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky (ACLU-KY) would like to extend our deepest condolences to the family of Suzanne Kling Post. Suzy was an indomitable spirit who spent a lifetime speaking out against injustice in every form.

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.

Anti-abortion politicians wasted no time going after Roe v. Wade after the midterm elections. Recently, the Ohio House of Representatives passed a ban on abortion starting at six weeks in pregnancy, which would effectively ban almost all abortions given that most people don’t know they are even pregnant at that time. 

The ACLU of Kentucky is accepting applications from third-year law students, judicial clerks, and recent law school graduates for its Legal Fellowship.  The Legal Fellowship is a two-year program that will begin in the late summer/fall of 2019 and is a full-time position.  The Legal Fellow will participate in both litigation and non-litigation advocacy activities to advance civil liberties and civil rights in Kentucky. The Legal Fellow will work under the direction of the ACLU of Kentucky’s Legal Director to help develop and litigate cases at the trial and appellate level in state and federal courts on a wide variety of cutting-edge civil liberties issues. Likely areas of emphasis include criminal justice/smart justice, reproductive freedom, free speech, and immigration.

A Kentucky Sheriff’s office agreed to pay more than $337,000 after a deputy sheriff illegally and painfully handcuffed two elementary school children in 2014. The American Civil Liberties Union initiated a lawsuit in 2015.

Kentucky Youth Advocates, a partner in the Kentucky Smart on Crime Coalition, analyzed the newest U.S. Census Bureau data from 2016-2018 and found that the Bluegrass State continues to have the highest-in-the-nation rate of children raised by a relative.   Compared to the previous period from 2013-2015, the numbers have nearly doubled from 53,000 to 96,000 children.  Nine percent of KY kids are now in the care of a relative, more than double the national average of four percent. The group cited parental substance abuse or incarceration as two of the key drivers of growth of children being cared for by grandparents, aunts, uncles and other family members.

Are you an ACLU voter?  Will you demand the candidates you vote for will fight to protect our democracy, end discrimination, expand our rights, and create a commonwealth and national with liberty and justice for all?  We've put together a publication, our annual report and an ACLU Voter Guide, to equip you with the questions to ask candidates and information to research before you head to the polls. 

Following a three-day trial in September 2017, during which experts and abortion providers testified to the devastating impact of shutting down Kentucky’s last abortion clinic, a federal district court struck down a Kentucky law that would have effectively banned abortion in the Commonwealth. This decision keeps open the doors of the only health center in Kentucky that provides safe and legal abortion care, EMW Women’s Surgical Center. The decision also paves the way for Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky (PPINK) to expand access to safe, legal abortion in Kentucky.

The Kentucky Smart on Crime Coalition (KY SOC) announces the addition of three new coalition members: Kentucky Association of Sexual Assault Programs, Inc., Kentucky Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and Volunteers of America Mid-States, Inc.