Janna Farley

Legislature To Consider At Least 13 Election Bills After Committee Adds 6 More A Wyoming legislative committee on Monday voted to sponsor six election-integrity-oriented bills. That’s in addition to the three it adopted in August and…

Wyoming elections have proven to be safe and secure. These unnecessary bills would inject chaos and confusion into Wyoming elections and our counties would pay the cost.

Calling all college students! We're hiring a communications intern to spend the spring semester with us. Details and application info here: www.aclu.org/careers/inte...

Ask Sioux Falls city leaders to fight for truth, transparency, and our constitutional rights Sioux Falls city councilors and the mayor have said their hands are tied when it comes to interfering with the governor’s orders when it comes to Operation Prairie Thunder. The city lacks the legal au...

Sioux Falls friends: Please join me in asking our city leaders to fight for truth, transparency and our constitutional rights regarding Operation Prairie Thunder.

The Uinta County sheriff decided to raise deputy pay by holding ICE detainees. The arrangement is raising questions. - WyoFile The county is holding immigrants — some without criminal records — for longer than anticipated, immigration lawyers say.

Using a local jail to detain people for ICE, some who have no criminal record, and expecting to use it as a funding solution is inhumane, cruel and short-sighted. Sheriff Kopp, get your money elsewhere, because tearing families apart is not in the best interest of Wyoming or your budget.

Dark blue background with a blue-tinted photo of a person in a jail cell. White and red text on the graphic reads "By 2030, as much as 1/3 of the U.S. prison population will be over 50 years old if current trends continue."

Keeping an aging population of this size in prison is expensive, inhumane, and unsustainable. It does nothing to make our communities safer.

Read more in our new report, Trapped in Time, at aclu.org/trapped-in-time

Lawmaker highlights transgender inmate policies prior to prison vote In a letter, Rep. Jon Hansen said the South Dakota Department of Corrections is hiding its transgender policy from the public. To the ACLU, the timing of the letter is no mistake.

Hours before the South Dakota Legislature voted to approve the new prison, Speaker of the House Jon Hansen attempted to use transgender South Dakotans as pawns to grow opposition for the project by “uncovering” that inmates have a right to gender-affirming care while in custody of the DOC.

City updates rules on public assembly, after ACLU reaches out with ‘grave concerns about the First Amendment rights of Spearfish citizens’ SPEARFISH — On Oct. 9, an amendment to Spearfish’s ordinance on assemblies, parades, and processions is expected to go into effect, carving out new exceptions for protests and gatherings that

VICTORY: We recently became aware that Spearfish's ordinances violated First Amendment freedoms by requiring a permit to protest in public spaces. After we reached out to the city council, they have amended the ordinance and although there is still work to be done, this is a victory for free speech!

S.D. Highway Patrol conflated arrests made in Rhoden's Prairie Thunder saturation The Dakota Scout identifies erroneous crime stats used to tout governor's public safety campaign

An investigation by The Dakota Scout revealed that the number of drug arrests reported during the first deployment of Operation Prairie Thunder was egregiously inflated.

When resources are being diverted to fund a so-called "public safety" campaign, South Dakotans are entitled to full transparency.

Letter: Defend the right to speak out and protest In March, 2025, the First Amendment was put on trial in Mandan, North Dakota and the results could affect every American’s rights.

"The United States was built on the right to speak out against wrongdoing," Sarah Vogel wrote. "Silencing people by attempting to sue them into oblivion is as un-American as it gets" – which is exactly what happened earlier this year in North Dakota.
bismarcktribune.com/opinion/lett...

Just us reminiscing on last week's Pints and Politics event in Rapid City! 🎉

Thank you for joining us for craft brews and conversations surrounding threats to free speech. We were truly inspired by the passion in the room, and we will continue to defend all South Dakotans from government overreach.

South Dakota troops join Trump’s law and order push in Washington, D.C. Gov. Rhoden deploys Rapid City guard unit to nation's capital

The President has demonstrated his willingness to use our military against our country’s own people. Gov. Rhoden is empowering this extraordinary abuse of power instead of keeping our troops at home where they’re needed.

Wyoming Senators Cheer Trump’s Order Against Flag-Burners, But Is It Legal? President Trump’s new order calls for stricter prosecution for people who burn American flags while committing other crimes. It drew praise from Wyoming’s…

While Sens. Barrasso and Lummis applaud Trump's executive order instructing prosecutors to go after protestors who desecrate the American flag, we need to remind them that the Supreme Court has been clear: Desecrating the flag, including by burning it, is protected by the First Amendment.

We have a responsibility to learn from our nation’s history, reject discriminatory attacks by prioritizing inclusive policy change, and protect the fundamental right to free speech.

We have a free drink for the first 50 who RSVP to our Pints & Politics event in Rapid City! Let’s talk about threats to free speech, get to know each other, and build the collective power we need to protect our rights in South Dakota. 🍻
aclusd.org/pints

“The fear among immigrants and their loved ones across Wyoming is palpable,” the @acluwyoming.bsky.social said. "Heightening this fear by mobilizing the National Guard will continue to drain resources and contribute to even more devastation in our communities.”

There are real people affected by every policy passed by our legislators. I just wish more of them remembered that. This is why I do the work that I do.

Wyoming Highway Patrol chief describes limited rollout of ICE agreement. Advocate warns it could undermine public safety. - WyoFile State troopers will tighten the net for undocumented immigrants in five counties, though chief says the number of participating officers will start out small.

“Wyoming is just becoming more and more anti-immigrant and that idea is just being reinforced by these policies," the ACLU told @wyofile.com. "When a significant chunk of the community is afraid to call law enforcement because they feel targeted by them, it’s not good for anybody in the community.”

Protecting the Declaration of Independence in our 250th year Government overreach challenges America's founding principles of equality and freedom, echoing concerns from the Declaration of Independence that inspired civil rights leaders.

Nearly 250 years after the Declaration of Independence was signed, repeated overreach from the federal government threatens the fundamental freedoms that our country was founded upon.

We the People: Sarah Parkin Legal documents and legislation can be boring, right? Well, not for Sarah Parkin. The ACLU’s new digital communications associate loves breaking down complex issues and making people aware of the

Up next on the We the People blog series is Sarah Parkin, our new Digital Communications Associate! Read what Sarah had to say about her experiences and how they shaped her passion for human rights and civil liberties.

Welcome, Sarah!

Sarah's skills in multimedia production combined with her background in journalism and nonprofit communications made her a natural fit for the digital communications associate role at the ACLU of North Dakota, and we couldn't be happier to have her on our team!

Port: This is what makes America great Our nation is a diverse tapestry of humanity, and that is what has made us strong.

"We're kidding ourselves if we think the national convulsion is merely opposition to unlawful immigration. We're seeing a seething sort of hostility to immigration in general."

Criminal Justice Reform Better Than Building New Prison We need to dramatically reduce our reliance on incarceration and invest instead in alternatives to prison, including approaches better designed to break the cycle of crime and recidivism by helping

Our state's "tough on crime" policies have led to more arrests and increased costs while disregarding real people’s lives. It's time to embrace a smart justice vision of our criminal legal system. Prioritize people, not prisons.

Graphic with an image of Sonia Sotomayor that reads:"By retreating from meaningful judicial review exactly where it matters most, the Court abandons transgender children and their families to political whims. In sadness, I dissent."

Today’s ruling is a devastating loss for transgender people and our families, and an affront to the Constitution.

We'll continue to fight alongside trans youth in Tennessee and across the nation for the health care they deserve.

South Dakota, we love ya. #605Day

What is Habeas Corpus? Why Does It Matter? Omar Jadwat, Director, Immigrants’ Rights Project, ACLU The Trump administration floated an idea in recent weeks: suspending habeas corpus.Why? Because over and over again—including in the American

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem couldn't define habeas corpus - but you can.

Join the ACLU of South Dakota's Volunteer Legal Observer Team Help protect the civil rights of immigrants in South Dakota and become a legal observer with the ACLU.

Getting trained as a legal observer is simple – and one of the best ways you can help uphold the constitutional rights of immigrants in South Dakota. Join us for our virtual training on June 4. Details and registration info 👇

Parents ask Grand Forks Public Schools to reconsider graduation beadwork ban Indigenous parents are asking Grand Forks Public Schools to allow beadwork on graduation caps. Students wore them before, but now the district says it's against policy.

North Dakota law protects public school students’ right to wear an eagle feather or eagle plume at graduation. While this law doesn't speak directly to wearing other items of tribal regalia at graduation, allowing them would be well within the spirit of the law’s intent.

“We encourage local control and support the right of local law enforcement to put the needs of their communities first by declining to participate in unnecessary, voluntary immigration enforcement.”

The First Amendment was upheld in 2025 session, but the debate continues • North Dakota Monitor Just because the 2025 legislative session is over doesn’t mean the fight for our First Amendment rights in North Dakota is over.

Good intentions don’t always mean good legislation, as we saw during the 2025 legislative session with bill after bill that pushed ideological principles, imposed Christian doctrines, and would have done little more than chip away at our First Amendment rights.