News & Commentary

For more than 50 years, the American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma has worked in the courts, the legislature, and through public education to protect individuals’ civil rights and liberties. As part of our organization’s nationwide effort to cut the nation’s prison population in half while combating racial disparities in the criminal justice system, the ACLU of Oklahoma is launching a public education campaign around prosecutorial discretion. Our goal is to educate voters, including members of the ACLU of Oklahoma and those directly impacted by incarceration, about the role the district attorneys play in mass incarceration.

The Oklahoma chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-OK) and the American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma (ACLU of OK) today announced the filing of a lawsuit in federal court on behalf of a Tulsa Muslim woman refused entry to the Tulsa County Courthouse because of her hijab, or religious head covering. The lawsuit alleges that the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office violated Suha Elqutt’s rights under the First Amendment and under Oklahoma’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

We are disappointed, though frankly unsurprised, that the Governor chose today to continue the Legislature’s game of using children and LGBT Oklahomans as pawns in cruel political games. SB 1140 is discriminatory, anti-family, anti-children, and anti-First Amendment. Rather than stand up…

At the outset of this legislative session, it felt as if the political moment for criminal justice reform had finally arrived. Representative Scott Biggs, the former waterboy for the District Attorneys lobbying group, had just resigned. His resignation marked the end of his reign as a House Committe

The ACLU of Oklahoma called today upon the Oklahoma Legislature to immediately reject SB 1221 as amended. Originally the bill was written to require training for members of the Pardon and Parole Board, however at the request of the District Attorney’s Council it was amended at the last minute to create a problematic process whereby children can be sentenced to life without parole. The following statement is attributable to ACLU of Oklahoma Executive Director, Ryan Kiesel: “It has been clear for too long that the legislature is playing puppet to the District Attorneys’ puppet master. The District Attorneys Council has used its unchecked power to push back against popular, meaningful reforms and now in a classic bait and switch, the DAC undermined another reform measure through an amendment targeting one of our most at-risk populations: children in the justice system.

Today, members of the Oklahoma Legislature moved forward with their effort to pass watered down criminal justice reform bills that fail to adequately address Oklahoma’s mass incarceration crisis. Despite efforts of legislative leadership to claim any affirmative step toward reform as a victory, these weak bills barely move Oklahoma’s criminal justice system beyond the abysmal status quo.

The ACLU of Oklahoma has received reports from education advocates at the Capitol of instances in which people have been denied access to public hallways outside legislative offices. To be absolutely clear, this is unconstitutional and we have demanded that such orders be immediately rescinded.

The ACLU of Oklahoma’s Campaign for Smart Justice released an Oklahoma public opinion poll of voters’ views of the role of prosecutors. The new data shows overwhelming support for prosecutorial reform and that voters will take their reform-minded positions to the ballot box with them this June and November.The poll, conducted by EMC Research, between February 13 and 18, included 500 telephone interviews Oklahomans likely to vote in November 2018. Fifty-four percent of participants identified as Republican, 40 percent as Democrat, and 6 percent as Independent.