News & Commentary

One evening in 1983, Sabrina Fields and a friend were walking in downtown Omaha. This shouldn’t be a crime. But an Omaha police officer decided that their behavior violated Omaha’s loitering and prowling ordinance. Thankfully, Sabrina knew her rights and fought her ticket in court.

In 2006, the Nebraska Public Service Commission listened to ACLU of Nebraska lawyers argue against phone companies like AT&T and Verizon, who violated state law by cooperating with the National Security Agency’s wiretapping and phone spying programs. That year, ACLU Nationwide took action against NSA snooping via phone companies.

In the ACLU of Nebraska's second year, we looked into a situation at Westside High School in Omaha involving three students who were asked to stay home until they cut their hair.

In 1982, Banned Books Week became a national celebration. Before, state governments and local school districts had made attempts to ban several books.

On November 8th, or before then if you vote-by-mail, Nebraskans who have a felony conviction and waited for two years will be able to vote.

Father, Grandfather, Protector, Best Friend, and Hero, John Shelor. My father was only 57 years old when he was diagnosed with HIV and dementia. It is hard for any daughter to become a caretaker for her dad. The fact that I had to deal with discrimination alongside health care issues is something no family should have to face.

Every year, speakers are invited to public schools around Nebraska to talk about subjects like rejecting drugs and alcohol. In 2010, many parents contacted the ACLU with concerns that some of the speakers included specific religious messages to the captive audience of K-12 students. One of those speakers was then-assistant Husker football coach Ron Brown. ACLU warned every school district they could not host religious presentations during school hours. Coach Brown said he was not willing to stop promoting his religion.  “…public school children are being required

Every so often, frequently in election years, there are public conversations about patriotism. There’s been no shortage of such conversations in recent weeks between Colin Kaepernick and the National Anthem or a proposal in Congress related to the American Flag.

Maria Marquez Hernandez, who was brought to the U.S. by her parents and raised here as an undocumented child, was an honors student and doing well in college. When Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) was introduced in 2012, Maria applied for it and received a Social Security number and a work authorization card. Even with this documentation, Maria was not allowed to receive a driver’s license because of a block put on DACA recipients by Governor Heineman. That’s when Hernandez decided to stand up and speak out.