At Liberty

With the recent spread of COVID-19 in the United States, we now face a public health emergency unlike any we’ve seen in our work at the ACLU. Across the country, schools are closed, employees are adapting to new work from home policies, and some state and local officials have even implemented “shelter in place” orders. At the ACLU, we work with a variety of vulnerable populations. COVID-19 brings new concerns to our daily fight to protect civil rights and liberties. For this episode, we spoke with three of our colleagues Dale Ho, Michael Tan, and Maria Morris who work on voting rights, immigration, and prison reform, respectively, to learn about how COVID-19 is affecting their work. For more information on the ACLU's COVID-19 response visit: https://www.aclu.org/news/topic/covid-19-pandemic-response and follow us on Twitter: @aclu.

Megan Rapinoe is a superstar soccer player who has become a global icon for her breathtaking play, her purple/pink hair, and her bold activism. She’s a World Cup champion, Olympic gold medalist, and co-captain of the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team. She has also kneeled during the national anthem in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick and others to protest police brutality and she’s spoken out in favor of many progressive causes. Now she and her national teammates are demanding equal pay with their male counterparts and they’ve taken the issue to court. She joined us remotely to discuss the latest with this important pay equity lawsuit, the roots of her activism, and what it’s like to score a game-winning goal in the World Cup final.

In 2018, Stacey Abrams ran for Governor of Georgia and lost by just 54,723 votes to Republican Brian Kemp, who was then serving as Georgia’s Secretary of State. Before Kemp entered the governor’s race, he purged 1.4 million voters and instituted many other policies to dissuade people from voting. It’s a story of the real-world impact of voter suppression. What happened in that race was egregious, but it was not unique. In the aftermath of the election, amidst calls for her to run for senate and even president, Stacey Abrams has devoted herself to voter protection. Now, with the presidential election underway, Abrams joins us on the podcast to share how her organization Fair Fight is educating, empowering, and motivating people to vote.

Abortion access is yet again under attack. Yesterday, the Supreme Court heard arguments in June Medical Services LLC v. Russo, a case that threatens to chip away at the constitutional right to a safe and legal abortion. The Court will decide whether or not a Louisiana law that requires abortion providers to have the ability to admit patients to a nearby hospital is constitutional. If allowed to go forward, that requirement would decimate access to abortion and open up the floodgates for similar laws in other states. On this week's episode, two lawyers from the ACLU's Reproductive Freedom Project, Brigitte Amiri and Andy Beck, join us from DC to share what they heard during yesterday’s oral arguments.

Since President Trump took office, his administration has waged a series of attacks on asylum in the United States. They are restricting the number of asylum cases heard in a given day, sending asylum seekers to other countries to await review, and even working to bar specific groups of people from the process entirely. Now, a case before the Supreme Court threatens the right of asylum seekers to have their day in court. The decision will impact not just the civil liberties of asylum seekers, but all of us. On this episode we speak with Lee Gelernt, Deputy Director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights project who will be arguing to protect this right before the Supreme Court.