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TROY, Mich. — A judge who sentenced three teenagers to probation for being drunk at their high school prom had them jailed after he saw them drinking and ridiculing him on a Web site one of them created. "I told them, 'If you think this gives me any pleasure, you're wrong,'" Oakland County District Judge Michael Martone said after sentencing the last of the girls, Amanda Senopole, to 10 days in jail last week. "You know, it's just a crying shame," Martone said. "I work my butt off trying to help kids like this, trying to figure out what works....

The fear of lawsuits from the American Civil Liberties Union has driven 216 Boy Scout, Cub Scout and related troops across the state - including 35 in North Jersey - to sever their charters with public institutions. Many of them, including Troop 124 in Northvale, have enjoyed a long friendship with municipalities that have sponsored the Scouts, provided them with funding and offered a comfortable meeting space. But an ACLU threat has sent troops scrambling for new sponsors. The Boy Scouts of America issued a directive last April for all troops to transfer their sponsorship by the end of the...

Prominent Journalists, Nonprofit Groups, Terrorism Experts and Community Advocates Join First Lawsuit to Challenge New NSA Spying Program NEW YORK, Jan. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Saying that the Bush administration's illegal spying on Americans must end, the American Civil Liberties Union today filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit against the National Security Agency seeking to stop a secret electronic surveillance program that has been in place since shortly after September 11, 2001. "President Bush may believe he can authorize spying on Americans without judicial or Congressional approval, but this program is illegal and we intend to put a stop to it," said ACLU...

Though cold weather means fewer rowdy parties, the Albuquerque Police Department's Party Patrol still makes its rounds - but it is citing fewer minors. The patrol and all other APD officers have stopped enforcing part of a city ordinance passed in 2001 to curb teen drinking, according to a Nov. 17 memo from APD attorney George Heidke to the city attorney's office. The controversial "constructive possession" provision in the Offenses by Minor ordinance allowed officers to cite any minor with possession of alcohol, just for being at a party where alcohol was served - whether they drank or not. The...

NEW YORK — The New York Civil Liberties Union sued the city yesterday, challenging restrictions on people's right to photograph public places after an award-winning filmmaker from India was blocked from videotaping near the MetLife building. In its lawsuit, the civil rights group highlighted the plight of Rakesh Sharma, who said he was left feeling ashamed and humiliated when he was detained in May 2005 after police saw him use a hand-held video camera on a public street in midtown Manhattan. Sharma was taping background footage for a documentary examining changes in the lives of ordinary people such as taxi...

WASHINGTON - In the 50 years that Grant Goodman has known and corresponded with a colleague in the Philippines he never had any reason to suspect that their friendship was anything but spectacularly ordinary. But now he believes that the relationship has somehow sparked the interest of the Department of Homeland Security and led the agency to place him under surveillance.

<p>A sign posted tonight at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. by the parents of a U.S. Marine asking antiwar protesters to not protest at the hospital was taken down and stolen by members of Code Pink and Kevin McCarron, of Veterans for Peace.</p>

A U.S. appeals court today upheld the decision of a lower court in allowing the inclusion of the Ten Commandments in a courthouse display, hammering the American Civil Liberties Union and declaring, "The First Amendment does not demand a wall of separation between church and state." Attorneys from the American Center for Law and Justice successfully argued the case on behalf of Mercer County, Ky., and a display of historical documents placed in the county courthouse. The panel voted 3-0 to reject the ACLU's contention the display violated the Establishment Clause of the Constitution. The county display the ACLU sued...

Federal prosecutors have dropped charges against Deborah Davis, the 53-year-old Arvada woman who refused to show her identification to federal police officers on an RTD bus traveling through the Federal Center in Lakewood. Davis' supporters, at first jubilant to learn Wednesday morning that she will not be prosecuted, were dismayed to learn hours later that officers of the Federal Protective Service still will ask passengers on the public bus to show their identification. The policy applies to all passengers, including those, as in Davis' case, who are traveling through the Federal Center and not getting off the bus there. Federal...

The first time she was asked to show identification while riding the bus to work, Deborah Davis was so startled that she complied without thinking. But the more she thought about it, the less sense it made. That's how Davis, a 50-year-old Colorado woman with four grown children and five grandchildren, ended up getting dragged off the bus by federal security officers, who handcuffed her, took her to their station, and cited her for two misdemeanors. Davis, who is scheduled to be arraigned on December 9, is risking 60 days in jail to show her fellow Americans that they don't...

WASHINGTON — At the U.S. prison for suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, everyone can get a Koran, but no one gets a Bible. Saifullah Paracha, a 58-year-old former Pakistani businessman with alleged ties to Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, has been in U.S. custody since 2003. Like the other inmates at Guantanamo Bay, he has a copy of the Koran. But he also wants an English translation of the King James version of the Bible. Paracha believes that because the Bible is one of the scriptures accepted in Islam, he is entitled to a copy to read in...

POTTSVILLE, Pa. -- Melissa WolfHawk, due to give birth any day now, lives in fear that her baby will be taken from her - by the government. The county child-welfare agency believes her child won't be safe because her husband is a sex offender who spent more than a decade in prison for rape in a case involving two teenage girls. But WolfHawk says her husband of three years, DaiShin WolfHawk, is no "monster," and she won a federal court order Sept. 30 keeping child-welfare workers from asking about her pregnancy, at least until a hearing next week. The American...

According to their own literature, the American Civil Liberties Union's job "is to conserve America's original civic values – the Constitution and the Bill of Rights." Preserving our values is a very admirable goal. But in spite of their lofty rhetoric, the ACLU is not such a protector of America's values. To the contrary, no organization, together with its allies, has consistently done more harm to our traditions and values. Just in the past few weeks, the ACLU has again proven their contempt for American values in several arenas. In September, the ACLU filed a friend-of-the-court brief urging the Supreme...

FARGO - A ninth-grader here has been banned from his school's assemblies after asking a sensitive question to a U.S. Army pilot. Phil Sannes also had to apologize to speaker Michael Durant after he asked the "Black Hawk Down" helicopter pilot on Thursday whether he had been raped during his capture by hostile forces in Somalia. "He asked a fair, hard-balled question," said Phil's dad, Jon Sannes. "I don't know why he's being punished." "I felt the question posed was inappropriate at that time and that place," said Peggy Stibbe, assistant principal. In 1993, Durant flew a Blackhawk in Mogadishu,...

BRAVE NEW SCHOOLS Dad on trial over homosexual book District banned him from property after dispute at meeting -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: September 21, 2005 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com David Parker, parent of kindergartner, stands before Judge Robert McKenna in Concord District Court April 28 after spending the night in jail (Photo: Article 8 Alliance) The trial of a Massachusetts man who was arrested after disputing the teaching of homosexuality in his son's kindergarten class has been continued until next month. In April, David Parker, of Lexington, spent a night in jail and was charged with criminal trespassing after refusing...

PITTSBURGH - A judge on Wednesday ordered a school district to readmit a 14-year-old student expelled for writing violent, profane rap lyrics, finding that his songs didn't amount to "true threats" against the school and so were protected by the First Amendment. ADVERTISEMENT The Riverside Beaver County School District kicked out Anthony Latour because officials believed his lyrics constituted threats to shoot up the school and another student. The American Civil Liberties Union, representing Latour, claimed his songs were "battle rap" — a music genre in which two people try to out-rhyme each other, often using violent putdowns. U.S. District...

Until last year, Tanya Ortega de Chamberlin had a clean record, with no criminal convictions or even an arrest. But her refusal to provide her date of birth or Social Security number to a South Salt Lake police officer changed that. Although she was not suspected of committing a crime, and eventually provided the requested information, Ortega de Chamberlin was still cited based on her initial resistance. The obstruction charges against her were later dropped. But Ortega de Chamberlin says that's not good enough - she has filed a lawsuit asking for a declaration that her constitutional right to be...

The ACLU filed suit in U.S. District Court in Manhattan to stop random searches of New York City subway passengers. Bertram Petty, spokesman for the ACLU defended the suit against a wave of criticism. “Bombing trains is, in our view, a legitimate freedom of expression issue,” said Petty. "Police searches of suspect bags, brief cases and the like represent ‘prior restraint’ of this constitutionally protected freedom.” Petty characterized this suit as consistent with previous successful ACLU suits to block laws against nude dancing and flag burning. “I guess some will contend that we have gone too far with this line...

LOS ANGELES The Los Angeles sheriff's department is investigating claims by the American Civil Liberties Union that gay inmates have been mistreated at a county jail. The A-C-L-U claims about 20 gay inmates were forced to remove their clothes in a busy hallway July 19th at the Men's Central Jail while being called names and taunted with vulgar sexual language by some deputies. The A-C-L-U wants anti-discrimination training for all deputies. Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said jail supervisors launched an investigation two weeks ago. He said the department's Equity Oversight Panel, which investigates discrimination allegations against sheriff's employees, is also...

ROSELAND -- Battles over zoning and permits appear to be a common problem lately in the small town of Roseland. But residents now have a complaint that's not just about small town ordinances. It's about the nation's Constitution and its First Amendment, freedom of speech. This week, some residents have pitched signs in their yards, urging the two married members of the three-person Town Council, David and Dorothy Snyder, to resign. In return, residents have received warnings or tickets from the town, telling them they are breaking the law. "We don't have freedom of speech. We can't say what we...