At Liberty

For the launch of our podcast series, At the Polls, we are answering your questions about voting in the lead up to the election. Our first question is: What will election night look like in a global pandemic? Election night is a quintessential American tradition. The votes come in and television networks begin to report the results. Ultimately, well into the night, the election is called, one candidate concedes to the other, and we all get to watch it all happen live. But, what happens when millions of people decide to mail in their votes due to COVID-19 and precincts just can’t process these votes as quickly? What does a delay in results mean? If you have a question you’d like us to answer about voting, call us and leave a message at 212-549-2558. Or, email us podcast@aclu.org. We look forward to hearing from you.

Immigrant communities are often asked to “get right with the law,” but is the law right in the first place? That’s what our guest Alina Das asks in her new book No Justice in the Shadows. She taps her experience as the daughter of immigrants and as an immigration attorney to ask whether immigrants who violate the law should be detained or deported. Too often, she argues, our immigration system is used as a tool of discrimination and oppression, rather than as a tool of justice, and the consequences are dire. Our current immigration system is breaking up families, forcing people to face persecution – even death – in their home countries, and it’s all based on a false premise of ensuring public safety and national security. Das is a professor of clinical law and supervising attorney at NYU School of Law. She is also the Co-Director of the Immigrant Rights Clinic. We’ve got some exciting news here at At Liberty. Starting on September 15th, we’re launching a special 2020 voting series called At the Polls. This will be in addition to our normal At Liberty episodes. Each week, we’re answering a new question about voting rights in the lead up to the presidential election. If you have a question you’d like us to answer, call us and leave a message at 212-549-2558. Or, email podcast@aclu.org. We so look forward to hearing from you. And until next time, stay strong.

As the COVID-19 pandemic stretches on, people across the country face the economic devastation left in its wake. Along with staggering unemployment numbers, millions of renters now face eviction — a situation made even more dire by the global health crisis. Congress responded by instating an eviction moratorium for more than 12 million rental units across the country. But that moratorium expired on July 24th. This week, the Center for Disease Control introduced another moratorium, protecting certain renters in certain circumstances until the new year. But that still leaves many unprotected, and those who are protected remain burdened with a hefty bill due in 2021. ACLU Senior Staff Attorney Sandra Park has monitored this situation since the start of the pandemic and has litigated discriminatory eviction policies in the U.S. for almost two decades. She joined us this week to explain the current crisis. A BIG ANNOUNCEMENT! Starting on September 15, we’re launching a special 2020 voting series called At the Polls. This will be in addition to our normal At Liberty episodes. Each week, we’re answering a new question about voting rights in the lead up to the presidential election. If you have a question you’d like us to answer, call us and leave a message at 212-549-2558. Or, email us podcast@aclu.org. We look forward to hearing from you. ACLU Senior Staff Attorney Sandra Park has been monitoring this situation since the start of the pandemic. She has litigated discriminatory eviction policies in the U.S. for almost two decades, and she joined us to explain the latest. A BIG ANNOUNCEMENT! Starting on September 15th, we’re launching a special 2020 voting series called At the Polls. This will be in addition to our normal At Liberty episodes. Each week, we’re answering a new question about voting rights in the lead up to the presidential election. If you have a question you’d like us to answer, call us and leave a message at 212-549-2558. Or, email us podcast@aclu.org. We look forward to hearing from you.

The golden arches. The happy meal. These are phrases that immediately mean something to most Americans. In fact, with more than 36,000 restaurants in 100 countries, McDonald's may well be one of the most recognizable brands in the world. But today, we're focusing on a much lesser-known side of the fast-food giant, looking at McDonald's role in Black America. Joining us to talk about how the struggle for civil rights and the expansion of the fast-food industry have shaped each other is Dr. Marcia Chatelain, a professor of history and African American studies at Georgetown University and the author of Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America and Fran Marion, McDonald's franchise worker and organizer with Fight for 15. A BIG ANNOUNCEMENT! Starting on September 15th, we’re launching a special 2020 voting series called At the Polls. This will be in addition to our normal At Liberty episodes. Each week, we’re answering a new question about voting rights in the lead up to the presidential election. If you have a question you’d like us to answer, call us and leave a message at 212-549-2558. Or, email us podcast@aclu.org. We look forward to hearing from you.

Sports have long been an arena where civil rights and civil liberties questions have taken center stage: Track and field star Tommie Smith raised his fist for racial justice on the 1968 Olympic podium. Tennis great Billie Jean King fought for equal pay for women. And, Olympic runner Caster Semana challenged intersex bigotry to be able to compete. But one group of athletes has often kept quiet during social movements: college athletes -- largely because the institutions they play for silence them. At a time when racial justice conversations have ignited across the country, we’re taking a look at how universities silence their athletes and the barriers to holding those universities accountable. Joining us to talk about college athletes and free speech is Frank LoMonte, First Amendment lawyer and director of the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information at the University of Florida and Toren Young, former football player at the University of Iowa.

We’re coming up on the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment which was ratified on August 18th, 1920 and then certified eight days later. The 19th Amendment inked women’s suffrage into American history, a culminating moment in an effort to win political power. But the ordained heroes of women’s suffrage – like Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and later Alice Paul – often tossed out the leadership and movement-building of Black women. The absence of those voices from the popular historical record has obscured the centuries-long role that Black women have played in expanding voting rights. And, of course, we’re releasing this episode just days after presidential candidate Joe Biden announced Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate, which marks the first time a woman of color is on a major party ticket. Joining us to discuss how the history of voting rights has led us to this moment is Martha S. Jones, the Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor, and professor of History at Johns Hopkins University. She is also the author of a new book called Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All.

In the last month, we’ve seen the Trump administration deploy federal law enforcement officers to Portland, Oregon. Those agents have been documented using sharpshooters to maim protesters, sweeping people away in unmarked cars, and attacking journalists, legal observers, and medics with tear gas. The federal government just agreed to withdraw most of the federal presence there, but simultaneously announced they plan to send agents to other cities including Cleveland, Detroit, and Milwaukee to quote “fight violent crime.” Critics, including the ACLU, are concerned about how this presence encroaches on fundamental civil rights and are calling for an end to federal abuses. Hina Shamsi, the Director of the ACLU’s National Security Project, joins to discuss.

July 26th marked the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, or the ADA. The ADA is a federal law that requires businesses, employers, public facilities, schools, and transportation agencies to make accommodations for disabled people, and helps weed out basic discrimination. When President George HW Bush signed the ADA into law in 1990, it was one of the most comprehensive pieces of civil rights legislation in American history. But the disability rights movement didn’t begin or end with the ADA. In spite of the law’s existence, Americans with disabilities still face discrimination and other barriers to equal rights and opportunities. Today, even though nearly 50 percent of Americans live with at least one disability, few know the history of the fight for disability rights. With Crip Camp, a new documentary on Netflix, filmmakers Jim LeBrecht and Nicole Newnham fill in some of that history through the personal and political stories that started the rise of a movement.

Since the protests decrying the murder of George Floyd began in May, the institution of American policing has taken center stage. Activists are calling for change, and the phrase "defund the police" can be heard in cities across the country. As the concept of slashing police budgets and reinvesting those resources into Black and Brown communities goes increasingly mainstream, a more radical call is also gaining attention: Abolish the Police. Joining us to talk abolition, divestment, and what a world without police might look like are attorney, author, researcher, and organizer Andrea Ritchie, and senior staff attorney for the ACLU’s Trone Center for Justice, Carl Takei.

Recently, we've seen a reckoning in the culinary world around the whitewashing and co-opting of ethnic food. The industry has long been controlled by a certain few who have authored and then profited from the foods we eat and the stories we share. But the tide is turning. And our guest for this episode, Padma Lakshmi, is part of that and is part of that movement. You've likely seen her tasting and critiquing some of the best chefs in the U.S. on Top Chef, sharing her favorite recipes across social media and advocating for immigrants rights and women's rights. Padma has a long list of accomplishments. She sits on the Jane Spirit Leadership Committee, is an Emmy nominated host and executive producer, a New York Times best selling author, founded the Endometriosis Foundation and is an ACLU artist ambassador for women's rights, immigrants rights. If that wasn't enough, she's joining us today to talk about her new Hulu show, Taste the Nation, where she breaks down important questions about the influence of immigration on American food and culture.

The Supreme Court term just came to a dramatic close. We saw wins for LGBTQ plus rights, DACA recipients, abortion rights, Native American tribal authority and a vindication that executive privilege is not absolute. But it wasn't all good news. The court issued a blistering rebuke on the rights of asylum seekers to have their day in court. We are here with ACLU legal director and experienced Supreme Court litigator David Cole. He will help us make sense of the term’s wins and losses and preview what's to come in the fall.

The calls of activists have forced a national reckoning with the legacy of white supremacy in our country. That reckoning has led us to an examination of systems that exert control over Black lives, from policing to reproductive health care. There is a long history of the ways that reproductive freedom has been denied to Black women. And there is an important story of the ways that people of color, led by Black women, have built movements to liberate themselves and reclaim freedom. Joining us to discuss is Renee Bracey Sherman, the founder and executive director of We Testify, an organization dedicated to telling the stories of people who have had abortions.

In the last month, protests have erupted across the country calling for justice for Black lives, a wholesale restructuring of policing, and a greater racial reckoning across all facets of American society. It feels like change is in the air. But we’ve been here before: Eric Garner was killed by police in New York City in July 2014, followed weeks later by Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, igniting outrage and protest. Activists then hoped for change too. We’ve seen countless social justice movements surge in popularity, cause a stir, and then peter out weeks or months later. This time, however, feels different, but how do we actually ensure that it is different? Activist, educator, and writer, Brittany Packnett Cunningham, who has been on the frontlines of these conversations most prominently since the Ferguson protests, join us to discuss how we sustain movements and compel real change.

The Supreme Court decided in a 7-2 decision to deny certain asylum seekers their right to have their day in court. This decision follows the Trump administration’s relentless attacks against asylum seekers, including closing the border and other ports of entry during the COVID-19 pandemic. In March, Lee Gelernt, the ACLU’s Deputy Director of the Immigrants’ Rights Project argued the case of Department of Homeland Security v. Thuraissingam, defending the rights of Vijayakumar Thuraissigiam, an asylum seeker from Sri Lanka who fled ethnic persecution. Lee joins us today to break down the decision and its broader impacts on the immigration system.

President Trump’s financial records and tax returns have been a recurring focal point since his election. Both the Manhattan District Attorney and various House Committees are asking to see these records in order to conduct their investigations into potentially unlawful behavior. But the president and his attorneys claim both that Congress is overstepping its power in requesting that information, and that the President of the United States should be immune to such subpoena requests. We now await decisions in two Supreme Court cases that could force President Trump’s hand and require his accounting firm and banks to turn over business records and financial disclosures. Joining us today on the podcast to help break down the importance of these two cases is Steve Shapiro, an ACLU legend and former legal director who came out of retirement to co-author an amicus brief for one of these cases.