This year showed us that we are still at a critical juncture in this country, as we continue to face unprecedented attacks on our rights and our values. With your support, the ACLU is still holding the line and working towards a better tomorrow.
In Vermont in 2021, that meant expanding access to the ballot, holding police accountable, investing in people over prisons, and laying the groundwork to enshrine reproductive liberty in our state constitution in 2022.
Here are just a few of our biggest wins in 2021:
Policing
- We filed a police accountability lawsuit on behalf of a motorist subjected to an unconstitutional, retaliatory arrest.
- We supported local communities' efforts to remove armed police from Vermont schools, and worked to end schools' practice of funding school cops via Medicaid.
Criminal legal reform
- Due to Smart Justice reforms that we have long championed, Vermont's prison population dropped by 30% to a twenty-year low.
- Through our clients’ class action lawsuit, we compelled the state to provide Hepatitis C treatment to hundreds of incarcerated Vermonters denied lifesaving care.
Privacy & immigrants' rights
- In a landmark win for Vermonters' constitutional rights, the VermontSupreme Court ruled in favor of our clients that police and prosecutors can't use Border Patrol to do an end run around the state constitution.
- After we opposed Border Patrol's plan to build surveillance towers in Vermont communities, Vermont's Congressional delegation called on Department of Homeland Security to reconsider.
Voting rights
- Working in coalition, we helped to pass model voting rights legislation, making universal mail-in ballots a permanent feature of Vermont's electoral landscape.
...and more
- In partnership with racial justice allies, we filed a complaint against the Bennington Select Board for retaliating against our clients after they complained about racially motivated policing.
- We joined in multiple successful lawsuits to expand access to public records, shedding light on the EB-5 scandal and establishing that Vermont's private prison healthcare provider can't avoid state transparency laws.
We are deeply grateful to you – our friends, supporters, and members – for investing in our work, advancing an alternative vision for our state and country, and striving to create a more perfect union.
