Research & Publications

Access in-depth resources and analysis published by the ACLU regarding our most pressing civil liberties issues.

Mark Zuckerberg has a dystopian vision for a surveillance society. Here’s how we can fight back.

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Collage graphic of white glasses overlaid on facial recognition camera footage, lime green accents sit in the background of the collage on a black background.
Publication
Jul 14, 2020
Police car with sirens
  • Police Accountability|
  • +1 Issue

Trump’s DOJ found Massachusetts police guilty of appalling rights abuses. Will the legislature act?

Qualified immunity in Massachusetts allows police to get away with appalling rights violations. Lawmakers must swiftly pass legislation that includes strong qualified immunity reform.
Publication
May 14, 2020
Voting booths
  • Voting Rights

Voting rights are indispensable, even in a pandemic

We can’t let COVID-19 threaten our democracy.
Publication
May 13, 2020
Screens with AI assisted analysis and surveillance of individuals
  • Privacy and Surveillance|
  • +1 Issue

Blocking Face Surveillance in Boston

The ACLU is proud to work with the Boston City Council to pass much-needed ordinances to ban face surveillance and assume democratic control over the city’s rapidly expanding surveillance apparatus.
Publication
Apr 8, 2020
ACLUM
  • Racial Justice

Data show COVID-19 is hitting essential workers and people of color hardest

Publication
Mar 17, 2020
Doctor Stethoscope medical privacy

In battling coronavirus, we can be both safe and free

If we are to avoid living in some kind of locked-up surveillance dystopia, government officials at the federal, state, and local levels together must make voluntary compliance possible.
Publication
Feb 28, 2020
Mary Holmes standing in front of a brick wall

Resonant Echoes: The ACLU and the Long Fight against Racist Police Practices in Massachusetts

In the final installment of this series, Rahsaan Hall looks at efforts by the ACLU of Massachusetts to confront racism in law enforcement and racially disparate policing.
Publication
Feb 21, 2020
Federal Marshals Escort Ruby Bridges to School

Equal Protection of the Laws: The ACLU and the ongoing fight against segregation

Whether it's desegregated housing or education, Black Americans have fought for centuries to win the basic freedoms enshrined in the Constitution. Rahsaan Hall charts the ACLU's role in the long struggle for equal protection under the law.
Publication
Feb 13, 2020
Marchers with signs at the March on Washington in 1963

Voting Rights: The ACLU and the struggle for democracy

Since the Voting Rights Act was signed in 1965, the ACLU has been working fervently to ensure that our nation fulfills its promise of full representation for Black Americans.
Publication
Feb 4, 2020
The Scottsboro Boys

Justice for the Scottsboro Boys: the ACLU's early work for Black civil rights

In the first of our blogs for Black History Month 2020, Rahsaan Hall discusses the ACLU's early racial justice work, beginning with our defense of the Scottsboro Boys.