News & Commentary

Today, the ACLU-VA received a letter from Prince William County Associate Superintendent for Communications & Technology Services Phil Kavits regarding its criticism of the County's Feb. 21 letter to students and parents. In the spirit of transparency, we're sharing this letter here:

Whatever you think about Kaepernick and the pledge, and however you choose to demonstrate your beliefs, we the people, united as a country, must fight the ongoing injustice - not only racist individuals, but subtly racist fundamental laws make minorities so disadvantaged.

We share the concern of those from Prince William County who reached out to us about the preemptive and somewhat threatening tone of the Superintendent’s letter regarding student participation in protests about "school gun violence" either on or off campus during school hours.

In light of widespread reports of planned student walkouts as protests at public schools across the country, including in Virginia, it is important for school officials and students alike to keep in mind these important legal considerations:

Lawmakers, opinion leaders, and some in the media have characterized several proposals making their way through the Virginia legislature this year as welcome “criminal justice reform.” They are anything but.

Today, the ACLU of Virginia sent a letter to Secretary of Public Safety Brian Moran to address some major concerns that we have regarding the so-called bipartisan compromise to raise the felony larceny threshold from $200 (the lowest in the nation) to $500 while putting those convicted on probabtion until they pay all of their restitutions. 

By David Smith Guest Writer

When politicians use social media to conduct public business, the First Amendment demands that critics not be silenced.

We will continue to work against each other on issues on which we don’t and can’t agree and will seek to bring others to those causes. We know others will do the same.