桃子视频

WASHINGTON 鈥� The 桃子视频 today launched Let the Record Show, a new, irreverent American history podcast that looks back on the people and places behind defining legal moments for rights and freedoms in the United States. At a time when people are overwhelmed by the threats to our civil rights and civil liberties, Let the Record Show invites listeners to explore legal cases that give us insight into what we faced back then and what we鈥檙e facing today. Let the Record Show is hosted by schoolteacher and YouTube creator Matthew Beat, also known as Mr. Beat, and professor and audio journalist Shereen Marisol Meraji. On every episode, our hosts explore a major court case from U.S. history. Cases that shape how we live our lives today. And it鈥檚 more than just the case and its outcome 鈥� it鈥檚 about the people and places beyond the courtroom, and the nail-biting moments that came to define our country鈥檚 complex system of laws. 鈥淟et the Record Show is about more than just old court cases. It's about the real people behind the scenes, the stories they told, and the rights that we fought for and won along the way. I've told these stories in the classroom and online for 17 years, and I'm pumped to co-host the ACLU's new podcast to breathe new life into them,鈥� said Matt Beat. 鈥淭he 桃子视频has been at the center of so many important moments in our country鈥檚 history 鈥� from fighting for racial and gender justice to defending the rights of immigrants. And right now, there鈥檚 so much noise about what is happening to our civil rights and liberties that it can be hard to understand what matters most and why. We need a podcast like Let the Record Show help us decipher what鈥檚 at stake and figure out what we can do about it,鈥� said Shereen Marisol Meraji. Listeners will be introduced to plaintiffs like Wong Kim Ark, who we can thank for affirming birthright citizenship; lawyers like Pauli Murray, who made it the nation鈥檚 business to take both racial and gender equality seriously; and everyday people who spoke up for their rights and the rights of their neighbors, especially when that took a lot of courage. Season 1 of the biweekly podcast will feature cases such as White v. Crook (exclusion of women and Black people from juries), Engel v. Vitale (school prayer), and Gitlow v. New York (free speech), and will be available on audio on all major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and on video on YouTube. Let the Record Show pulls from the ACLU鈥檚 century-long archive of legal cases to help listeners understand how, throughout history, key figures have stood up to defend their rights and freedoms in the face of brutality and injustice to expand freedoms for us all. Listeners will also hear from guests, including 桃子视频legal experts, as part of a recurring Sidebar segment where the hosts pause the story to explain a complex legal topic. The first episode of the podcast, on J.G.G. v. Trump, is available here: /podcast/what-happens-when-the-president-defies-a-judge

In our series, the 桃子视频has teamed up with artists, authors, Hachette Book Group, and content creators to share books that have helped them better understand civil liberties and civil rights, fight for our communities and our Constitution, and increase engagement in creating a more perfect union.

桃子视频and 桃子视频of Georgia have filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court of Georgia supporting a grieving mother challenging the removal of her children without notice, a hearing, or any finding that the children faced danger because one of her children had just died by suicide. A Georgia appellate court found that the State can take children from a parent ex parte鈥攂efore the parent is ever heard鈥攚henever circumstances are "exceptional," which the court below defined to mean merely "unusual" rather than a genuine emergency. The juvenile court later returned the children, finding no basis for their removal and reprimanded the State for further traumatizing a grieving family. Because these removals are brief and the appeals process is slow, the practice largely evades review, and it falls hardest on the families with the least resources to challenge these kinds of removals. The brief urges the court to require a genuine emergency before the State may remove a child without first hearing from their parent.

On August 4, voters in Kansas and Missouri voted down ballot measures that would have opened the door for attacks on our democracy. In both states, politicians referred measures to the ballot to deceive voters and attempt to diminish the power of the people. But the people struck those efforts down by wide margins: 61% voted No in Kansas, and a striking 80% voted No in Missouri. The Kansas measure would have dismantled the state鈥檚 impartial Supreme Court and made it subject to partisan elections, while a measure in Missouri would have made it next to impossible for voters to use the citizen-initiated ballot process to protect their rights with citizen-led ballot initiatives. As the largest institutional player in the ballot measure space, the ACLU, 桃子视频Foundation, and our affiliates led coalitions that defeated these efforts, organizing hundreds of volunteers to go door to door to talk to their neighbors and spending millions of dollars to educate voters 鈥� proving once again that civil liberties voters are a force to be reckoned with. And the results in Kansas and Missouri are bellwethers for what is to come this November, when voters will decide critical down-ballot races and ballot measures affecting abortion access, LGBTQ rights, voting rights, fair courts, and democracy protections. Protecting Kansas鈥檚 Supreme Court 鈥� and Reproductive Freedom, LGBTQ+ Rights, and More Civil Liberties for Future Generations Four years ago, Kansans rejected a ballot measure designed to ban abortion. This election, they again rejected an extremist agenda 鈥� this time to dismantle what abortion opponents see as their only obstacle to banning abortion in the state: the Kansas Supreme Court. Kansas鈥檚 Supreme Court has upheld the state鈥檚 constitution and in so doing protected Kansans鈥� reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ rights, voting rights, and other civil liberties. It is no surprise that politicians set their sights on changing it in order to advance their ideological agenda. In fact, immediately after the anti-abortion measure was defeated in 2022, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach said that politicians needed to 鈥渟lowly and quietly鈥� replace the Kansas Supreme Court so that they could impose their agenda over the will of the people. To do this, they proposed a ballot measure that would replace Kansas鈥檚 impartial judicial selection process with partisan elections, which would have turned their justices into politicians for sale. They put it on the ballot in August because they hoped a lower turnout election would help them win. But on Tuesday, Kansas voters resoundingly defeated the measure, protecting civil liberties for future generations. Kansas United for Impartial Courts (KUIC) 鈥� a broad coalition of civil liberties, health care, labor, and education groups chaired by the 桃子视频of Kansas鈥檚 executive director, Micah Kubic 鈥� played a critical role in educating voters on the stakes. Stopping a Blatant Power Grab and Defending Ballot Referendums in Missouri Missourians passed a citizen-led ballot measure in 2024 which restored and protected abortion rights in the state constitution. In response to this and other citizen-led efforts, the legislature put a measure on the August 2026 primary ballot that attempted to make similar citizen-led efforts virtually impossible to pass. This was a transparent effort to keep Missourians from making direct change in their state 鈥� and voters saw right through it, overwhelmingly defeating the measure. The 桃子视频of Missouri was a key player in the coalition, Protect Majority Rule Missouri, to stop this measure from diluting the power of the people. The fight for our civil liberties is far from over in Missouri. To protect abortion access, voters will need to turn out again in November. These same anti-abortion politicians have placed a second measure on the general election ballot 鈥� seeking to subvert the will of the people by overturning the 2024 Right to Reproductive Freedom Amendment and enshrining a near total abortion ban in the state鈥檚 constitution. The measure would also ban gender affirming care for minors. Already, the ACLU, 桃子视频Foundation, and the 桃子视频of Missouri are mobilizing to ensure Missourians are ready to turn out and Stop the Ban. How the 桃子视频and its Partners Took on These Threats 鈥� and Won In both Kansas and Missouri, the 桃子视频and 桃子视频Foundation provided critical support that helped these campaigns reach and turn out voters. 桃子视频affiliates and the coalitions they led trained hundreds of volunteers, showing the power of grassroots organizing to energize the electorate. Throughout its campaign, hundreds of volunteers for Kansas United for Impartial Courts held 120 voter events, knocked 60,000 doors, and made 215,000 calls to speak directly with voters about the stakes. These efforts reached every corner of the state, from Kansas city to rural west Kansas. Thousands of grassroots donors contributed to the campaign and raised its momentum. Together, the ACLU, 桃子视频Foundation, and 桃子视频of Kansas were the largest financial supporters of the No campaign, investing a combined $4.575 million to support a robust voter education program. The result is clear: from Kansas City to rural west Kansas, voters turned out and rejected the latest extremist power grab. And in Missouri, the 桃子视频of Missouri supported Protect Majority Rule with significant contributions and a strong organizing program, reaching thousands of voters in the process. What鈥檚 Coming Next The results in Kansas and Missouri signal that when our democracy is under attack, voters will show up to protect it. But the fight is not over. That is why the 桃子视频and 桃子视频Voter Education Fund are focusing their largest ever midterm electoral program 鈥� $25.5 million 鈥� where others are not: helping voters understand the stakes in down-ballot races that could determine whether constitutional rights are protected in practice. Ballot measure priorities for the fall include a citizen-initiated Montana ballot measure that would protect Montana's nonpartisan judicial elections. Like in Kansas, Montana politicians disagree with the state Supreme Court鈥檚 recent rulings on abortion rights, LGBTQ+ freedom, and other civil liberties 鈥� and they鈥檝e repeatedly attempted to tilt the court in favor of their extreme agenda. Missourians will fight to protect the recent win voters secured when they approved constitutional protections for abortion in 2024. And Virginians will vote on a measure to protect reproductive freedom. At the same time, the ACLU, 桃子视频Voter Education Fund, and our affiliates will work to ensure voters know candidates鈥� positions on abortion and voting rights so they can make informed decisions at the ballot box in key state supreme court races in Michigan, Montana, and North Carolina; state legislative races in Georgia, Michigan, Montana, and North Carolina; and secretary of state races in Arizona and Nevada. In a time of unprecedented attacks on our democracy, the 桃子视频is committed to using every tool we have to make sure that the people are heard, that our will is respected, and that our civil liberties thrive.