Dear Friends of Civil Liberties,

In times of challenge, our collective commitment to justice becomes even more vital.

Just months into this new administration, we’ve seen more than 40 Executive Orders targeting the rights of immigrants, LGBTQ+ people, schools, and children—with no regard for constitutional protections or respect for the democratic process. Have no doubt – the ACLU is prepared for this moment!

With your support, we’ve taken over 110 legal actions against the administration. Within hours of Trump’s inauguration, we filed our first case, challenging his effort to dismantle the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of birthright citizenship. We won multiple orders blocking Trump’s invocation of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, defended immigrants targeted for detention and deportation and protected the First Amendment free speech of students in school and on college campuses.

We are grounded in racial justice and guided by our belief in the dignity of every person. We are fighting these dangerous orders in court, in our communities, in coalition – and we will not back down.

This moment demands more than resistance. It calls for imagination, care, and resolve. We will defend police accountability, uphold immigrant rights, challenge discriminatory election systems, protect the rights of the incarcerated, and ensure that the voices of the marginalized are heard and respected. You’ll find highlights of that work in the stories and updates throughout this newsletter.

From the start, this administration has tested the limits of our democracy—but the ACLU didn’t flinch. No matter who is in office, we will continue to hold the line. Any administration that seeks to remove constitutional rights and freedoms from you, will have to go through us.

Thank you for being with us. Your commitment makes this work possible. With gratitude and solidarity,

Dana Vickers Shelley
Executive Director, ACLU of Maryland

Corey Stottlemyer
Board President, ACLU of Maryland

Language Access

Expanding Language Access for Maryland Voters

As part of the landmark Maryland Voting Rights Act, we worked with advocacy partners to win new language access requirements that ensure more voters can understand the voting process. The new provisions expand on existing federal laws requiring translation of election materials, lowering the population threshold required for coverage and increasing the number of languages covered. These changes ensure that election materials are more accessible for historically excluded communities and are part of a broader package of protections designed to defend and expand voting rights statewide.

Sensitive Locations Act

Keeping ICE Out of Schools, Hospitals and Other Safe Spaces

After the federal government rolled back longstanding protections against immigration enforcement in spaces like schools, hospitals, courthouses, and places of worship, we joined immigrant rights advocates on emergency legislation to stop ICE from targeting Marylanders. The Protecting Sensitive Locations Act requires the Attorney General (AG) to develop policy guidelines for locations that provide essential state-funded services to the public and prohibits federal immigration law enforcement from entering the location unless it presents a valid warrant issued by a federal or state court. Sensitive locations named in the legislation include public schools, public libraries, courthouses, facilities operated by the Comptroller, state-funded healthcare and mental health facilities, shelter care, and other locations determined by the AG.

Medical Parole Fix

Fixing Medical Parole to Protect Human Dignity

When lawmakers removed the Governor from life-sentence parole decisions in 2021, they accidentally left out medical parole—trapping seriously ill people in a dangerous and unnecessary delay. For four years, we’ve advocated for a critical fix so that people with terminal illnesses aren’t forced to die behind bars while waiting six months for the Governor to act. This legislative session, lawmakers passed SB 181/ HB 1123, making the Parole Commission the final decision-maker for all parole cases.

Second Look Act

Fairer Sentencing Starts with Reevaluating Extreme Punishment

Thanks to the powerful advocacy of formerly incarcerated people and their families—alongside our support and that of community partners—the Maryland Second Look Act is now law. It allows certain people who committed crimes between the ages of 18 and 25 and have served at least 20 years of an extreme sentence to petition the court for resentencing. In a state with some of the worst racial disparities in incarceration, this law offers a path to redemption and healing by giving judges the chance to recognize growth, accountability, and readiness to return home.