News & Commentary

By David Schor, Legal Intern, ACLU of Oregon

By Becky Straus, Legislative Director

ACLU Files a Friend of the Court Brief in GPS Tracking Case

By Jeffrey Ellis, Director of the Oregon Capital Resource Center

On April 2, 2012, the Community Alliance of Lane County hosted a Justice for Trayvon Martin rally at the Wayne Morse Plaza in downtown Eugene. ACLU of Oregon co-sponsored the event which called for an end to racial profiling. Here is the speech that Claire Syrett, Field Director for ACLU of Oregon, gave at the rally.

By Lauren Cullop and David Fidanque

By Ben Bronner, Volunteer

On December 15, 2011, the ACLU of Oregon sent a letter to the superintendent of Reedsport School District, informing him of the problems at Highland Elementary School and reminding him that coercing students to participate in the Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional. Since 1943, the law has been clear that public school students cannot be forced to recite or otherwise participate in the Pledge of Allegiance against their will. In the case West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, the Supreme Court found that the right to remain silent during the Pledge of Allegiance stems from the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Just as the First Amendment protects our right to express our beliefs, it prohibits the government from compelling us to declare a belief that we do not hold. As the Barnette court wrote, “If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein.” Oregon law also explicitly recognizes the right to not participate in the Pledge of Allegiance. Shortly after receiving the AC

January 24, 2012