How Activist Raquel Willis Found Her Voice and Power

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — At a time when the freedom of the press is in growing peril, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit heard arguments about Puerto Rico’s “fake news” law, which was struck down by a federal district judge in 2023 for violating the First Amendment. Two journalists challenged the law, saying it chilled their reporting and could endanger any journalism during an emergency that may reflect poorly on the government. “If recent attacks on the freedom of the press have taught us anything, it is that the government cannot be allowed to make themselves the arbiter of public debate,” said Brian Hauss, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. “Prohibiting ‘fake news’ during an emergency gives the government far too much power to chill and criminalize reporting that they don’t like, and it threatens the foundational principle of our Constitution: a free people requires a free press.” The 2020 Puerto Rico law made it a crime to knowingly raise a “false alarm” about impending catastrophes or knowingly convey false information on any topic when doing so results in an imminent risk to safety, health, property; those found in violation of the law could face up to three years in jail and a fine of up to $5,000. “This is a law created to try to control speech and eliminate any dissent, under the threat of criminally prosecuting people who say something the government disagrees with,” said Fermín Arraiza-Navas, legal director of the ACLU of Puerto Rico. “With this law, the government of Puerto Rico endangers the right to freedom of expression and freedom of the press, especially at a time when we know that freedom of expression is being attacked from multiple angles. This is also an attempt to discourage fair and necessary oversight of the government—precisely during times of emergency. Puerto Rico has plenty of examples showing how, in moments of crisis, the government has failed to provide the public with truthful information, and instead, it has been thanks to journalists and the public that the correct information about these matters has come to light.” Originally filed during the COVID-19 public health crisis, the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Puerto Rico filed the lawsuit on behalf of two journalists, Sandra Rodríguez Cotto and Rafelli González Cotto, who feared that the laws would be used to punish them for their reporting on public emergencies, especially reporting that reflects negatively on the government. On March 31, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico permanently enjoined the law, holding that it violates the First Amendment because it imposes a content-based restriction on protected speech without adequate justification. The court observed that the statute’s exceedingly broad sweep risked politicized prosecutions and chilling protected speech on matters of public concern. As the court put it, “[t]he watchdog function of speech is never more vital than during a large-scale crisis.” For more information about the case, see here.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — In a victory for free speech, the Department of Defense (DOD) must stop censoring classroom and library materials pertaining to race and gender in DOD-run schools, a judge ruled today. On behalf of six military families with students enrolled in Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) schools, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Kentucky, and the ACLU of Virginia filed a motion for preliminary injunction in May seeking to declare DoDEA’s enforcement of executive orders resulting in classroom censorship unconstitutional. DoDEA, whose students lead the United States in math and reading proficiency scores, operates 161 schools across 11 countries, seven states, Guam, and Puerto Rico. “This is an important victory for students in DoDEA schools and anyone who values full libraries and vibrant classrooms,” said Emerson Sykes, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. “The censorship taking place in DoDEA schools as a result of these executive orders was astonishing in its scope and scale, and we couldn’t be more pleased that the court has vindicated the First Amendment rights of the students this has impacted.” The demand for an injunction was filed on behalf of 12 students and their families, ranging from pre-K to 11th grade, who attend DoDEA schools as children of active duty servicemembers stationed in Virginia, Kentucky, Italy, and Japan. Since January, the plaintiffs’ schools have removed books, altered curricula, and canceled events that the Trump administration has accused of promoting “gender ideology” or “divisive equity ideology.” Censored items include materials about slavery, Native American history, women’s history, LGBTQ identities and history, and preventing sexual harassment and abuse, as well as portions of the Advanced Placement (AP) Psychology curriculum. The judge recently ordered the full list of 596 censored book titles to be filed publicly, and it can be viewed here. “We are pleased to see the court agrees with our clients,” said Corey Shapiro, legal director for the ACLU of Kentucky. “Removing books from school libraries just because this administration doesn’t like the content is censorship, plain and simple. The materials removed are clearly age-appropriate and are only offensive to those who are afraid of a free-thinking population.” The injunction is limited to the five schools attended by plaintiffs, but the message is clear: DoDEA’s censorship of books and curriculum materials is unconstitutional. “By quarantining library books and whitewashing curricula in its civilian schools, the Department of Defense Education Activity violated students’ First Amendment rights,” said Matt Callahan, senior supervising attorney at the ACLU of Virginia. “Today’s ruling affirms that government can’t scrub references to race and gender from public school libraries and classrooms just because the Trump administration doesn’t like certain viewpoints on those topics.” The ACLU, the ACLU of Kentucky, and the ACLU of Virginia filed suit in April, arguing that DoDEA enforcement of three executive orders signed by President Donald Trump in January 2025 led to widespread violations of students’ First Amendment rights. The suit, and the motion for preliminary injunction, were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

NEW YORK - Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, a lifelong organizer and activist for the safety and dignity of transgender people, sex workers, and the incarcerated, passed away yesterday, as confirmed by House of GG. The following is a statement from Chase Strangio, Co-Director of the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project: “Miss Major mothered the entire trans community through decades that spanned the Stonewall rebellion, the AIDS crisis, the ongoing criminalization of sex work, and the backlash to LGBTQ equality waged on the bodies of trans people over the last five years. She showed up in the streets, in state legislatures and city councils, and in court. But above all else, she provided the type of shelter that so many long for and lack in a world of familial, societal, and community rejection. “When Arkansas became the first state in the country to ban gender affirming medical care for trans adolescents in 2021, Miss Major, having moved to Little Rock to serve her southern trans family after Donald Trump was elected President in 2016, consistently came to court to mobilize in solidarity with the trans young people whose health care was being threatened. She ensured that we never lost touch with our history and that we believed in our power regardless of the outcome of any election, any legislative debate, or any court case. In her honor, we will continue the fight for trans justice, not just in the legal battles we fight but through the love and care we bring to our communities and to this work. Thank you, Miss Major.”

BOSTON – Attorneys representing transgender, nonbinary, and intersex Americans asked the Supreme Court today to reject a request from the Trump administration to stay a preliminary injunction in Orr v. Trump, a challenge to the Trump administration’s policy requiring that passports bear only a person’s sex designation assigned at birth. “The lower courts have made abundantly clear how discriminatory and baseless the State Department’s new policy is and the harm it poses for hundreds of thousands of people like our clients,” said Li Nowlin-Sohl, Staff Attorney for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project. “People across the country depend on identity documents that accurately reflect their identity–who they are in their workplaces, their schools, and their communities. The administration’s attempts to deny that right to transgender, nonbinary, and intersex people has no basis in law or policy, and we’ll continue to fight this policy until it is permanently defeated.” "The Trump administration's attempt to deny accurate passports to hundreds of thousands of Americans would cause immediate, irreparable harm if allowed to take effect," said Jessie Rossman, legal director at the ACLU of Massachusetts. "Transgender, nonbinary, and intersex Americans rely on accurate identity documents to travel with safety, privacy, and dignity. We are asking the Supreme Court to reject this request for a stay and preserve the injunction issued below so our clients will be spared profound disruption and distress while their case proceeds." On his first day in office in January 2025, Trump signed an executive order attempting to mandate discrimination against transgender people across the federal government and government programs. This included a directive to the Departments of State and Homeland Security “to require that government-issued identification documents, including passports, visas, and Global Entry cards” reflect a person’s sex “at conception.” Within 48 hours, the State Department paused the processing of some passport applications submitted by transgender, intersex, and nonbinary people and returned others with a newly-issued passport marked with their sex assigned at birth. Over 214,000 public comments in opposition to the State Department’s new policy were collected by the ACLU and Advocates for Transgender Equality. In February 2025, Orr v. Trump was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Massachusetts, and Covington and Burling LLP, on behalf of seven people who had not been able to obtain passports that match who they are because of the State Department’s new Passport Policy or were likely to be impacted by the new policy upon their next renewal. The complaint was filed in the federal District Court for the District of Massachusetts. The complaint was subsequently amended to add five additional transgender, nonbinary, and intersex plaintiffs and to seek to represent a class of transgender, nonbinary, and intersex passport holders. All twelve individual plaintiffs were appointed as class representatives. In April, the court granted a preliminary injunction requiring the State Department to allow six transgender and nonbinary plaintiffs in Orr v. Trump to obtain passports with sex designations consistent with their gender identity or with an “X” sex designation while the lawsuit proceeds. In June, the court granted a class certification request expanding the preliminary injunction to cover all individuals who are currently or will be impacted by the policy in the future. After the First Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that injunction, the Trump administration filed a stay request to the Supreme Court of the United States. Under the preliminary injunction, a US passport with a sex designation that aligns with one’s gender identity or with an “X” sex designation should be made available by the State Department to anyone applying to: Obtain a new passport, Change the sex designation or update their name on their current passport Replace a lost, stolen, or damaged passport, or Renew their passport within one year of its expiration. This includes those who, under the Trump administration’s policy, were previously sent a passport with a sex designation listing their sex assigned at birth after applying for a new, renewed, or replaced passport, and/or a changed name or gender marker. Today’s filing can be found here.