By Sarah Armstrong, Outreach Coordinator

Check out our top eight civil liberties moments in Oregon in 2014. Free speech, protection from unwarranted government snooping, ending the failed war on marijuana, marriage, and more. Wow, what a year! 

We are so thankful for your support. Here's to more great victories in 2015. Happy New Year, Oregon.

#8 - High School Student Stands Up for Free Speech in Scappoose

Long-time Scappoose High Dance Team member Marissa Harper and her mother were shocked to see a new policy that prohibited students and parents from any communication regarding any aspect of the dance team made “verbally or written via social media” or face punishment. As Oregonian reporter Helen Jung put it, "The first rule of Dance Team is you do not talk about Dance Team."

Marissa’s mother asked school officials to intervene, but when no changes were made she contacted us. Marissa made the tough choice to give up the dance team in order to stand up for free speech rights.

Our lawsuit got the school district’s attention and it quickly settled the case, agreeing that its social media policy had violated the free speech rights of students and their parents and running a written apology in their newsletter.

#7 - Oregon Case Goes All the Way to the U.S. Supreme Court

The “Jacksonville Protest Case” stemmed from the treatment of protestors in Oregon, not Florida! Way back in 2004, then-President Bush stopped for dinner in Jacksonville, a small town in southern Oregon. Secret Service agents directed police to move anti-Bush demonstrators several blocks away while at the same time allowing a group of pro-Bush demonstrators to remain. The police effort turned violent and officers used excessive force to move the demonstrators. 

We filed suit, alleging that Secret Service violated the free speech rights of the anti-Bush protestors by moving them out of earshot of the President solely because of their viewpoints. For over nine years, the federal defendants fought, all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, to have the case thrown out. Portland attorney and ACLU Board Member, Steven Wilker argued vigorously on behalf of our clients. However, in a disappointing decision, the Court ruled that we cannot sue Secret Service agents for their actions that day because there were plausible security justifications for their actions. 

 “No one disputes that the Secret Service has an overriding interest in protecting the President, but that does not include the right to shield the President from criticism, a critical distinction that the Court unanimously reaffirmed, said Steven Shapiro, legal director of the ACLU. “In our view, the jury should have been allowed to decide whether this case was actually about security or censorship."

#6 - Secret “No Fly List” Ruled Unconstitutional

In a landmark ruling this summer, a federal judge in Portland struck down the government’s procedures for people on the No Fly List to challenge their inclusion. The ACLU lawsuit, filed on behalf of 13 Americans who found themselves on the list without any notice, reasons, or meaningful way to get off it, argued that the current procedures were Kafkaesque and unconstitutional. The judge agreed and ordered that the government must notify our clients of their flying status, give reasons to those still on the list, and provide an opportunity for them to challenge those reasons. 

See this comic for a detailed illustration of what life on the No-Fly List looks like »

In October, after years fighting to find out why they were blacklisted and banned from flying, seven of our clients were notified that their names had finally been cleared. The government must complete reconsideration of the remaining cases by January 16.

#5 - You Have the Right to Film Police. We Made an App to Help.

In November, we released Mobile Justice Oregon, a smartphone application that allows users to take video of police encounters and quickly upload it to us. It can also send an alert when a police stop is being recorded by another user nearby and has helpful “Know Your Rights” information about interacting with police.

The app release preceded the grand jury decision not to indict Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Mike Brown, which spurred nationwide protests about police accountability. Oregon protestors have regularly used our Mobile Justice app to monitor police encounters, sending video and reports for our volunteers and staff to review.

#4 - Oregon Counties End ICE Holds

A federal judge ruled in April that a woman’s Fourth Amendment rights were violated when Clackamas County Sheriffs held her without probable cause on an immigration hold. Law enforcement agencies across the state took note and many quickly ended the practice of honoring voluntary ICE detainers – see the full list.

Detainers have resulted in the illegal imprisonment of countless individuals—including U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, and Latinos in particular—without any charges pending, sometimes for days or weeks after they should have otherwise been released from custody.

“Immigration detainers undermine public safety and community trust in police,” said Legislative Director Becky Straus. “They often snare victims and witnesses of crime in their net. When members of the community believe that any encounter with local law enforcement may result in contact with federal immigration enforcement, those individuals are less likely to trust law enforcement enough to report incidents of crime or come forward as witnesses.”

#3 - Get a Warrant, DEA!

When Oregon created its prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP) it was intended to be a public health tool to help physicians avoid drug overdoses and abuse by their patients. We insisted on a probable cause warrant requirement before any of the records could be released to federal, state or local law enforcement officials. So, when the DEA repeatedly sought the prescription records of patients and physicians with only administrative subpoenas, which do not involve a judge, we joined the State of Oregon in challenging the DEA’s actions.

We intervened on behalf four patients and one physician who used pseudonyms to protect their privacy.Our clients objected to the DEA’s warrantless access to the PDMP because their prescription records reveal deeply private information about their health and medical history, including their gender identity (two of our clients are transgender men taking testosterone as part of their transition from female to male sex) and mental illness (one client takes medication to treat anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorders).

In a landmark ruling, a federal judge agreed that patients have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their drug prescription records, and that law enforcement must obtain a warrant in order to search such information.  

#2 - Voters End the War on Marijuana in Oregon

Treating marijuana use as a crime is a failure. In the last decade, Oregon police arrested or cited more than 95,000 people for marijuana offenses. (That’s like arresting or citing every single person who lives in Hillsboro.) Furthermore, we know the laws are enforced unfairly. People of color use marijuana at the same rate as whites, but they’re more than twice as likely to be arrested or cited for it in Oregon

We are very pleased that Oregon chose a better path forward by voting to end the failed war on marijuana. (We just wish all the DAs would agree to dismiss and stop prosecuting marijuana-related offenses that will no longer exist next July.)

#1 - Love Wins in Oregon!

Advocates worked for over a decade to bring marriage equality to our state. After launching a robust campaign to put the freedom to marry on the ballot (including collecting over 116,284 signatures from supportive Oregon voters) the litigation effort moved forward. In May, a federal judge struck down Oregon’s laws excluding same-sex couples from marriage – paving the way for marriages to begin immediately.

 

It was an exciting and joyous moment for thousands of supporters of the freedom to marry in Oregon.

Counties immediately began issuing marriage licenses to happy couples across the state.