the american civil liberties union said stiffer drug sentencing laws led to this surge in women inmates. >> women don't commit very many violent offenses p. their numbers in prison were small. when the drug war expanded all of a sudden there was a whole new potential for rounding women up and sending them to prison. >> same rue at the lockup in d.c. there are fewer inmates each year but a higher and higher percentage of women inmates. more and more with substance buys problems. eventually, they immediate substance abuse therapy. >> d.c. launched a program called adjusting our attitudes. former marine leading drills to instill discipline. we asked, all but three of this group of inmates say they have a history of substance abuse. d.c. and montgomery county changed the looks of their women's jails, too. you see the murals on the walls. and the staff has programs to help young mom to prepare go home. others are getting counseling and not just for drugs. >> 9 a% of the women that go to the d.c. jail have been abused. >> self-report they have been abused at some point in their life. physical

the usual suspects, the beckett fund and freedom groups and then on the other side the american civil liberties union, and old fashion church state-separation groups that are lined up as well as planned parenthood and the abortion rights groups. it's shaping up as a standard culture war battle. and i think it's not going to be--this isn't going to be the final word on this mandate. you're going to get a lot of cases coming out of this. >> have earlier attempts by the department of health and human services meet some of these objections have the yays and the nays been lying up, or have the religious organizations for whom these exceptions have been offered been satisfied with what the government offered? >> that's where the division has come internally. especially in the catholic world you've seen some groups, for example, the catholic hospitals around the country have said they're okay with the accommodation. some universities, some others, you know, the places, the religious institutions that are most affected by this mandate >> welcome back to inside story. i'm ray suarez: we're talking about the h

according to the american civil liberties union, in 29 states, it's illegal to fire or not hire someone based on their sexual oshtation. in 43 states, transgender people can be denied employment. mike joins us from washington, and mike, how likely is it that this bill is going to pass this time? >> it's increasingly likely, but as days go by, approaching the vote, in the senate floor, 45 minutes, a 60 vote threshold that the senate has to meet in order for the legislation to make it more than likely that it will clear that hurdle. and then later this afternoon, the final passage, the senate majority required. if it gets 60, 50, it's likely to pass, and it would be an historic vote. the speaker said he was against it, and it would cause too much litigation for small businesses. it's already illegal in this country, banning discrimination on the basis of sex or orientation. but the indication of the changing public acceptance of the lgbt community over the last years, accelerating recently around concerns of that community, gay marriage being foremost among them, more acceptance, and that

according to the american civil liberties union, in 29 states it is now legal to fire or even not hire someone based on their sexual orientation. in 33 states trance gender people can be fired, or even denied employment. a bent 11 poll finding the 73 pest of likely voters support protection for gays, lesbians and transgendered people. joining us now life from washington, mike, the democrats seem to be rather happy today? >> well, they are, and so are members of the lgbt community. there is no question about it. you know, federal law prohibits the discrimination on the basis of faith, gender,th in additionty, race, age, disability. but not on the basis of sexual orientation, and today a big hushedle appears to be cleared going towards that day where lgbt discrimination can no longer happen as a matter of federal law. however, there is one big hurdle to clear, that is the united states house and it is looking quite daunting indeed. but today, all 55 democratic senators joined by ten rems including some surprising faces. conservativing voting to go along with this. reflected in the changi

against anyone not just radical islamists genteel jap for the deputy legal director of the american civil liberties union says people should be concerned about how the dad that the nsa collects on virtually all us citizens will be used even though the nsa says this personal information will be of use but these documents show that the nsa probably defined to be is very narrowly. anyone house foundation held its annual ball to raise money for the charity. it's been two years since the singer died of alcohol poisoning after a very battle with tights. her father says despite christmas hanukkah and rush the sun coming up everyday is difficult without tv. she may be gone but she certainly not forgotten. i visit her iconic in each one up for auction at the second annual amy winehouse foundation hall in london. back to black singer died two years go from alcohol poisoning after the witnessed her struggle with big contracts. father nick says there isn't a day that goes by when he doesn't think of his daughter. christmas will be shown on the amount that the results last week sold stocks. the city called sleeping p

a coalition of groups, including the american civil liberties union of new mexico and planned parenthood, called the results a huge victory for albuquerque women and families. >> coming up we will have gabe slate with the tech report. i love watching tv outside. and why can you move the tv out here? the wireless receiver. i got that when i switched to u-verse. but why? because it's so much better than cable. it's got more hd channels, more dvr space. yeah, but i mean, how did you know? i researched. no, i-i told you. no. yeah! no. the important part is that you're happy now. and i got you this visor. you made a visor! yes! that i'll never wear. ohh. [ male announcer ] get u-verse tv for just $19 a month for two years with qualifying bundles. rethink possible. >> welcome back. it is time for the tech report with gabe slate. i have something really cool to show you. they're only four of these right now in the united states. here is a sneak peek. this is the world's first flexible smart phone. it is there l g flex. >> this is about change. that hand said makers are working on flexible scree

and federal law enforcement agencies solve all day and future crying was however the american civil liberties union says the process is a violation of individuals' privacy is marilyn to the courts to and the precedents in california as the aclu group filed a lawsuit back in two thousand i not be half of the elite high school the woman you are looking at. she was arrested while attending a peace rally in san francisco. she was really counting starts but her dna is now in california's system that currently they can still be taken up by the ninth us circuit court of appeals in december. meanwhile the pennsylvania is on its way to becoming the twenty ninth state to allow dna collection up on our next stop more in depth about this case and the broader implications of dna collection. i'm joined now by david kay professor of law at hand that state. david and thank you so much for joining me now what are your thoughts on this aclu in northern california as the peel the california case reason is fairly narrow questions because just this summer the u s supreme court decided the case in maryland. i made a cou

help local and federal law enforcement agencies solve old and future crimes however the american civil liberties union says the process is a violation of an individual's privacy and they're willing to go to court to end the practice northern california a.c.l.u. group filed a lawsuit back in two thousand and nine on behalf of lily haskell the woman you are looking at who was arrested while attending a peace rally in san francisco she was released without being charged but her d.n.a. is now in california's system permanently the case will be taken up by the once u.s. circuit court of appeals in december meanwhile pennsylvania is on its way to becoming the twenty ninth state to allow d.n.a. collection upon arrest to talk more in-depth about this case and the broader implications of d.n.a. collection i was joined earlier by tracy macklin a professor of law at boston university and he first weighed in on the a.c.l.u. says case in california well i wish the a.c.l.u. look i think they have a. tough road to hoe in the sense that this supreme court decision which you referenced earlier versus today is going to

local and federal law enforcement agencies or solve ols and future crimes however the american civil liberties union says the process is a violation of an individual's privacy and they are willing to go to court to end the practice northern california's a.c.l.u. group filed a lawsuit back in two thousand and nine on behalf of lily haskell the woman you're looking at who was arrested while attending a peace rally in san francisco she was released without being charged but her d.n.a. is now in california's system up permanently the case will be taken up by the ninth u.s. circuit court of appeals in december meanwhile pennsylvania is on its way to becoming the twenty ninth state to allow d.n.a. collection upon arrest to talk more in depth about the case and the broader implications of d.n.a. collection i'm joined now by tracy macklin a professor of law at boston university tracy thank you so much for joining me what are your thoughts on the a.c.l.u. the pill case in california well i wish you know you look at the. a tough road to hoe in the sense that this supreme court decision which you referenced ma

help local and federal law enforcement agencies solve old and future crimes however the american civil liberties union says the process is a violation of individual's privacies and they are willing to go to courts to end the practice here in california as a.c.l.u. group filed a lawsuit back in two thousand and nine on behalf of lilly haskell the woman that you're looking at she was arrested while attending a peace rally in san francisco she was released without being charged but her d.n.a. is now in california's system currently the case will be taken up by the ninth u.s. circuit court of appeals in december meanwhile from pennsylvania is on its way to becoming the twenty ninth state to allow d.n.a. collection upon arrest to talk more in-depth about this case and the broader implications of d.n.a. collection i'm joined now by david kay a professor of law at penn state david thank you so much for joining me now what are your thoughts on this a.c.l.u. in northern california appeal the killer for new kill reason is a fairly narrow question because just this summer the u.s. supreme court decided the case

talk more about the case and its consequences is bred max kaufman legal fellow with the american civil liberties union national security project welcome to the show thanks for having me so break it down for us what's at the core of what the a.c.l.u. will be arguing in court tomorrow. so we're in court tomorrow challenging the section to fifteen bulk phone record collection program as you just described it was the first revelation by edward snowden he revealed the secret court order from the foreign intelligence surveillance court. ordered the collection of all of the to lessen the meadow data as you said call detail records of all the verizon business network services customers for a ninety day period and we very quickly learned that that was not the only such order and it had not been in fact the program had been going on for about seven years before that disclosure by mr snowden and so it's really quite remarkable where we're at right now we've gone seven years where a program has been reauthorized in reauthorized in a secret court on secret applications by the government without anyone making any a

attorneys for the american civil liberties union tried to argue the boston bombing suspect was beingnfairly injail. a judge threw out that argument. so the aclu will not be allowed to attend today's hearing. >>> now we turn to the troubling results of an abc news investigation. u.s. government contracts awarded to companies with alleged ties to terror groups. the very same groups that target our troops. here's abc's chief investigative correspondent brian ross. >> reporter: with americans still being attacked every week in afghanistan, sglirks ed, ied! >> the u.s. government worked hard to find out who has paid for the continued and deadly insurgent strikes. only to discover that among those connected to the terrorists were companies also working as contractors for the u.s. government. according to these two lists, produced by the military and the commerce department. u.s. officials say the companies have already received about $150 million in u.s. taxpayer money over the years. >> it's like the united states government subsidizing the taliban, al qaeda, the haqqani network. those gr

the american civil liberties union is petitioning the president to review the cases of some 2,000 people serving life sentences for nonviolent crimes who as "the huffington post" notes, unlike overweight turkeys will most likely be around next thanksgiving. >>> an online questionnaire for a court in georgia caught one potential juror's attention. intending to list his occupation as sales, he clipped the letter s and saw slave. the software company that designed the program said the county entered the information in the drop-down menu. officials reportedly removed the word slave from the site within an hour of its discovery. it's unclear how long the word was actually on the list. >>> and finally, proof that two wrongs still don't make a right. an oregon man's child was elbowed in the face while playing football in a local park. the father demanded to know who hit his son. one kid spoke up. the man struck him in the temple and knocked him unconscious. it turns out it was not the child responsible for the incident. the man was arrested and charged with second-degree assault and held on $25

the american civil liberties union say he's being maltreated in prison.criminal defense attorney and an attorney and co-host of "the five" so why is this thug complaining? what's the problem? >> he's saying that these restrictions are excessive and interfering with his right to represent himself. the fact that he's kept in sol te solitary. the person that put the restrictions in place is our own attorney general, eric holder. he did that on august 27th. so the problem is they're saying and aclu is joining in on this with mr. tsarnaev's lawyer saying these are undue restrictions. >> he's isolated from the other prisoners. >> solitary confinement. >> number two, all of his communications are monitored because he's a terrorist. he's a terrorist. is there anything else? >> the other one that's important is attorneys are forbidden from releasing information to outside sources. these are common measures put in place in terrorist cases. >> not a gag order on the attorney. >> it happens in many cases. it's not out of the question. >> in this case, i don't. what t

then on and freedom groups and then on the other side the american the other side the american civil liberties union, and old civil liberties union, and old fashion church state-separation fashion church state-separation groups that are lined up as well groups that are lined up as well as planned parenthood and the as planned parenthood and the abortion rights groups. abortion rights groups. it's shaping up as a standard it's shaping up as a standard culture war battle. culture war battle. and i think it's not going to and i think it's not going to be--this isn't going to be the be--this isn't going to be the final word on this mandate. final word on this mandate. you're going to get a lot of you're going to get a lot of cases coming out of this. cases coming out of this. >> have earlier attempts by the >> have earlier attempts by the department of health and human department of health and human services meet some of these services meet some of these objections have the yays and the objections have the yays and the nays been lying up, or have the nays been lying up, or have the religious organizatio

attorneys for the american civil liberties union tried to argue the boston bombing suspect was beingrly in jail. a judge threw out that argument. so the aclu will not be allowed to attend today's hearing. >>> now we turn to the troubling results of an abc news investigation. u.s. government contracts awarded to companies with alleged ties to terror groups. the very same groups that target our troops. here's abc's chief investigative correspondent brian ross. >> reporter: with americans still being attacked every week in afghanistan. >> ied, ied! >> reporter: the u.s. government has worked hard to find out who has paid for the continued and deadly insurgent strikes. only to discover that among those connected to the terrorists were companies also working as contractors for the u.s. government. according to these two lists, produced by the military and the commerce department. u.s. officials say the companies have already received about $150 million in u.s. taxpayer money over the years. >> it's like the united states government subsidizing the taliban, al qaeda, the haqqani network. t

a new study from the american civil liberties union has found over at 3200 people a sham white are servinglife terms without parole for nonviolent offenses people nationwide are serving life terms without parole for nonviolent offenses. of those prisoners, 80% are behind bars for drug-related convictions. the crimes that led to life sentences include stealing gas from a truck, shoplifting, possessing a crack pipe, facilitating $10 sale of marijuana, and attempted to cash a stolen check. 63% are in federal prisons and most were sentenced under mandatory minimum laws. the aclu says keeping nonviolent offenders behind bars for life is costing taxpayers an additional $1.8 billion. the aclu says -- and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. >> welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. wikileaks is back in the news after a published wednesday part of the secret text of a massive new trade called the transpacific partnership, or tpp. for the past several y

he's the lead lawyer for the american civil liberties union in what could be a landmark case against u.s. patent office. the case has the support of nearly the entire medical establishment that deals with genetics. >> all of those people are saying, "the patents in this case hurt women's health." >> hansen says that myriad's patents are unconstitutional and should be invalidated. >> there's a longstanding patent law doctrine that says you can't patent the laws of nature and products of nature and abstract ideas. and that's what happens when you patent genes. >> but what was the rationale of the patent office in approving this? >> that isolating and purifying the gene is so transformative that it makes it a different thing. >> but it's still not an invention? >> they would say that by taking it out of your body and stripping away some of the pieces, they--it's no longer a product of nature. it's now an invention. we think that's nonsense. if myriad develops a new drug, a new treatment, a new test, they can get a patent, and they should be able to get a patent. what they shouldn't be a

the case also includes a challenge from the american civil liberties union which says besides the elderly, minorities and students and low income voters are disproportionately impacted by this. the outcome could affect similar laws in half a dozen other states. lena, taylor, thanks stoch for your time. >> my chief of staff, you are his favorite msnbc host, so he made sure we make this happen. >> i'm speechless. thank you very much. but to this issue of this trial, some of the testimony of the daughter of 77-year-old betty jones, one of the plaintiffs, testified yesterday in her words, quote, i cannot express the amount of time, energy and frustration it required to get a license for her mother to vote. that is some of what we're hearing and what you've said all along as well the obstacles you believe are being put in front of people who want to vote. >> correct. the thing is my republican colleagues have seen errors in many ways of their actions. they are trying to fix the issue related to students. even the government accountability board had to backtrack on its position related to the e

. >> national organizations like the american civil liberties union, susan b., listed hundreds of thousands of dollars into campaign ads. let me play a clip from one of them. >> by 20 weeks, this baby "college football live" pa can feel pain. >> but in albuquerque many have been killed through abortion. >> one of the things i've had to do as a doctor is tell a family something has gone wrong with a pregnancy. vote no on this ordinance. >> new mexico has one of three clinics in the country where a woman can come for a third trimester abortion. colorado and maryland are the others. this is step one? do you plan to take this fight to other cities? >> this is a very common sense issue, one that americans who are pro-choice or pro-life agree with banning abortions after a baby who can feel pain. i think this is a very great strategy for the pro-life movement. we'll start in albuquerque and i think this will be the energizer for cities to step up themselves and take the lead. >> only about 1% of abortions are performed after 21 weeks and most are performed because of

>> reporter: the american civil liberties union says the encounter comes at an interesting time.enators just passed a bill-- >> in our own backyard, a couple doesn't feel welcome to shop in their hometown. on one hand, it says we've made a lot of progress, but also demonstrates we have a long way to go. >> reporter: wal-mart says it's investigating and will take appropriate action. the couple says the janitor's words changed them. >> i can't be myself because people will come up to me and start hating me for something that's not even involving them. >> a wal-mart spokesperson called the incident, quote, completely unacceptable and said the associate involved is no longer with the company. >>> well, across the country today in many airports, travelers saw scenes like this, tsa agents stopping for a moment of silence. this was the scene at lax. they were honoring their colleague killed a week ago by a gunman, the memory of geraldo hernandez. police say 23-year-old paul ciancia was the gunman. he was shot by police. he remains hospitalized. this was the moment of silence in hawaii.

we're joined by georgia meal -- [inaudible] director of the center for democracy at the american civil liberties unionbert litt, matthew olsen, director of the national counterterrorism center and mark rotten berg, president and executive director of the electronic privacy information center. so it's an extraordinary group, and it's going to be a remarkable discussion. but before we turn to the panel, we're truly honored to have with us representative jim sensenbrenner who's been one of the most vocal and important voices in the united states house of representatives with regard to the foreign intelligence surveillance act and current proposals for its reform. congressman sensenbrenner represents the fifth congressional district of wisconsin which includes milwaukee, dodge and all of washington and jefferson counties. he was born in chicago and later moved to wisconsin with his family. he graduated from the pill waukee country day school and did his undergraduate work at stanford where he majored in political science. he then earned his law degree at the university of wisconsin, madison, 1968. after s

surveillanceyou served as president of the american civil liberty union.he's a professor of law at brooklyn law school as well. edward snowden in that parlor game hero or goat? >> guest: my usual response, peter, when people want to talk about snowden. my first response is to say instead of talking about the messager, should we talk about the problem? and i think snowden has done us a great favor. he said the reason he wanted to start releasing some of the documents so the american people could make the decision about whether they think we have gone too far. or whether they are too many costs? i think that's in fact discussion we're now having. i think his strategy worked. the american people are being informed. because one of the things we learn is not even just that the government was spying in ways i was already describing in my book, but that we had in the fisa court we had secret law. there was law that the court was making that the american people couldn't find out what the law was. to me, it really went too far. >> host: is there anything in the pat

on each of them but we are joined by the director of the center for democracy at the american civil liberties unionollitt director of national intelligence vacuoles matthew olson director of the national counterterrorism center and mark rotenberg executive drifter of the electronic privacy information center. .. >> he has been reelected since then, his current committee includes the committee on science and technology and the committee on the judiciary. and the chair of the crime as part of this oversight committee and subcommittee is on environment and oversight. he is the former chair of the judiciary committee at a long committee. he has established a strong record on crime and on intellectual property and nonconstitutional choices. congressman john sensenbrenner served as well where he solidified his reputation as an independent leader on science issues as well as oversight. throughout his public life, he has been on the forefront of efforts to preserve the sanctity of life and eliminate wasteful government spending and protect the interest of american taxpayers. he has been cited as one of the

. >>> the american civil liberties union wants to limit police from using license plate readers. accused of trying to bomb times square back in 2010. the aclu says it could lead to a privacy breach. the reader's store pictures of the license plates and those pictures can be accessed any time, even when the person isn't accused of doing anything. what do you think about that? >>> the man who exposed his own company for faking test results to get f.d.a. approval for drugs revealed even more about the scam. all the drugs need to be f.d.a. approved, of course, we know that. but it looks like the leading manufacturer often skipped those steps. it was their executive who uncovered the fake data used to get those drugs approveed. >> find that none of that exists in the first place. >> none of that data even existed. the investigation based -- it led them o plead guilty to seven felonies. the company was bought bay new owner in 2008. those are your headlines. >> i have an idea there will be a couple lawsuits. >> so many americans use generic drugs right now and they found those just don'

surveillanceyou served as president of the american civil liberty union.essor of law at brooklyn law school as well. edward snowden in that parlor game hero or goat? >> guest: my usual response, peter, when people want to talk about snowden. my first response is to say instead of talking about the messager, should we talk about the problem? and i think snowden has done us a great favor. he said the reason he wanted to start releasing some of the documents so the american people could make the decision about whether they think we have gone too far. or whether they are too many costs? i think that's in fact discussion we're now having. i think his strategy worked. the american people are being informed. because one of the things we learn is not even just that the government was spying in ways i was already describing in my book, but that we had in the fisa court we had secret law. there was law that the court was making that the american people couldn't find out what the law was. to me, it really went too far. >> host: is there anything in the patriot act yo