Last week, the Trump Administration lost again in court. This time, the court rejected Trump’s attempt to withdraw federal funding from “sanctuary cities.” Sanctuary cities are those cities that do not require their local police departments to act as de facto federal immigration agents, but instead allow their police departments to focus on actual crime. […]
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Update from North Dakota Climate Trial
Greetings from Cavalier, North Dakota where we are currently defending the North Dakota Valve Turners, Michael Foster and Sam Jessup. It’s day 3 of trial today. We spent a day and a half picking a jury in this rural, conservative farming community on the outskirts of the Baaken oil fields and less than 30 miles […]
Take Yourselves Seriously: Document Retention and Destruction Policies
In light of the CLDC’s desire to educate activists and organizations regarding law-related topics, we will be presenting a series of informational primers that are particularly important in times of government repression and corporate attacks on dissent. This series, “Take Yourself Seriously” will provide best practices for nonprofits, activist groups and individuals in order to […]
Trump’s Climate Bullies
If you troll the internet these days, you might think that SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) and RICO (racketeering) cases may seem to be growing in regularity against environmental activists. In reality, if you compare the tiny number of SLAPP suits actually filed to the number of climate activists engaged in this movement around […]
More thoughts on Charlottesville
As a devout Jewish child who grew up attending synagogue and Hebrew School, from a very young age I was constantly surrounded by stories of the Holocaust – how Hitler took advantage of economic conditions, found an easy-to-identify “other” for a scapegoat, and rose to power by preying on people’s fear. Hitler started out with […]
Theater of Dissent Sponsorship Opportunities
2017 Theater of Dissent Sponsorship Levels Liberty Champion ($10,000+) 2 premium tables (16 tickets) Marquee logo placement on all table cards Organization logo prevalent on all outreach materials Recognition before event (social media & website), during event (projector slideshow, in program, from the stage) and after event (social media & annual report) Liberty Leader ($5,000-$9,999) 2 […]
Anti-Racist Statement
Adopted June 1, 2017 Civil Liberties Defense Center Anti-Racist Statement The Civil Liberties Defense Center affirms its commitment to recognizing, addressing, and eradicating all forms of racism and ethnic oppression. We focus on engaging and collaborating in organizing, educating, and providing legal support that challenges oppressive and unjust forces. We work to reduce racial injustices […]
Solidarity with Charlottesville
On Saturday, Heather D. Heyer was murdered by a neo-Nazi. 19 others were injured. The Nazi drove his car into a crowd of counter-protestors in Charlottesville, VA during, or just after, a mass neo-Nazi rally. I’m not interested in parsing out the nuances of their ideological nomenclature—white-nationalist, white-separatist, etc. It does not matter what they […]
How to defend against SLAPP and RICO: Coming Soon to a CLDC website near you!
By Maslyn Locke, CLDC Law Clerk CLDC’s motto is “assert your rights, we’ve got your back.” In order to ensure that activists and targeted community members know the law and how it might impact them and their political work, we continue to develop legal research, strategies and resources in the ever-changing minefield of State repression […]
CLDC victory for wildlife activists
Appeals court backs wildlife activist in free speech case By MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press A federal appeals court on Monday ruled in favor of a wildlife activist who said his free speech rights were violated when a sheriff’s deputy barred him from watching livestock agents herd wild bison into Yellowstone National Park. The case dates […]
What I learned at the first Next Generation Climate Justice Action Camp
By Kiran Oommen, CLDC Intern I attended the Next Generation Climate Justice Action Camp (NGCJAC) the first year it was put on. We were only out there a few days, not even a full week, but NGCJAC was easily one of the most important experiences of my teenage years. If my older self had told […]
