The New York Civil Liberties Union today filed a federal lawsuit challenging New York prison officials' system-wide policies and practices governing solitary confinement that are responsible for the arbitrary and unjustified use of extreme isolation on thousands of individuals incarcerated in New York’s prisons every year.

College students who registered to vote but had their applications denied by Republican Commissioner Erik Haight will be able to vote in tomorrow's presidential election, a federal district court judge ruled from the bench late Monday afternoon.

The New York Civil Liberties Union and Common Cause/NY today announced joint measures to protect New Yorkers’ voting rights in polling districts in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Poughkeepsie, Albany and Long Island. The NYCLU and Common Cause/NY have learned that True the Vote, a Houston-based organization with a history of using voter intimidation tactics in minority and low-income voting precincts, is recruiting and training poll watchers to challenge voters on Election Day at polling places in where U.S. Congressional races are tight.

Four college students have filed a federal class action lawsuit against the Dutchess County Board of Elections to protect the fundamental right to vote in next week's presidential election. The students -- who attend the Culinary Institute of America, Marist College and Bard College -- registered to vote and provided both street and mailing addresses, but had their applications denied by Republican Commissioner Erik Haight because they either did not provide the technical name of their dormitory buildings or their room numbers on their applications.

The New York Civil Liberties Union and the Brennan Center for Justice today urged Dutchess County Board of Elections Commissioner Erik Haight to stop requiring Bard College and Culinary Institute of America students to identify the names of their dormitories on voter registration forms.

The New York Civil Liberties Union today released an investigative report documenting in unprecedented detail how the use of solitary confinement in New York State prisons is arbitrary and unjustified; harms prisoners and prison staff; and decreases prison and community safety.

The New York Civil Liberties Union today launched Let Me Vote – an all-inclusive guide on the right to vote in New York State. The toolkit provides everything New Yorkers need to register to vote and cast their ballots on Election Day. “The right to vote is a fundamental pillar of our democracy,” NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman said. “At a time when this sacred right is under assault in states across the nation, our new voting rights guide will help empower all New Yorkers to protect their right to vote.”

The New York Civil Liberties Union this week asked law enforcement officials in the Lower Hudson Valley, Suffolk County, Nassau County and Western New York, as well as the state Division of Criminal Justice Services, to turn over records about how they use automatic license plate readers (ALPR) to track and record New Yorkers’ movements. The request was filed as part of a nationally coordinated public records request with 34 other American Civil Liberties Union state affiliates.

The New York Civil Liberties Union has called on the Village of New Paltz to drop trespassing charges against four Occupy New Paltz protesters who were arrested at Hasbrouck Park after the Village Board of Trustees and Mayor Jason West imposed a series of conflicting, unwritten and unconstitutional requirements on them. Those requirements ultimately led to the protesters’ arrests after Mayor West purported to revoke permission that the board had given them to encamp in the public park 24 hours a day.

In response to reports that an apparent link between a DNA sample taken at an Occupy Wall Street action and the 2004 unsolved murder of a Julliard student may be the result of a crime lab error, the New York Civil Liberties Union today issued the following statement, which is attributable to NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman: