News Updates

ACLU Urges Justice Department To Investigate Militarized Response at Standing Rock Protest

ACLU and Leadership Conference call for an end to law enforcement response to peaceful protesters with weapons of war.

November 4, 2016

Crossing the Fossil Fuel Industry Could Now Get You Locked Up – For Decades

In the United States, people have the right to protest, and the press has the right to write about it. But over the past month, multiple journalists, documentary filmmakers, and activists have been arrested in three different states for engaging in and reporting on protests against fossil fuel infrastructure projects.

October 24, 2016

ACLU of North Dakota Files Open Record Requests Regarding Policing Practices at the Site of DAPL Protests

The use of highway roadblocks and checkpoints, and militarized equipment by law enforcement in response to DAPL protests and the numerous reports of unwarranted stops by police sent to our office from individuals prompted the records requests.

October 13, 2016

The Surveillance State Descends on the Dakota Access Pipeline Spirit Camp

Our country has a long way to go in our relations with indigenous nations. We can start now in North Dakota by demilitarizing, ending the surveillance of the camp and water protectors, and starting to listen to the prayers of those who are protecting the water for us all.

October 10, 2016

ACLU of North Dakota's Statement of Solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe

Help us stand with Standing Rock. Sign our petition and tell Governor Dalrymple to demilitarize North Dakota’s response to peaceful protesters and protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline.

September 21, 2016

North Dakota’s Governor Declared a State of Emergency to Deal With Peaceful Oil Pipeline Protesters. We Call It a State of Emergency for Civil Rights.

Several thousand indigenous people from across the county have journeyed to a little-known pasture on the prairie just miles from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s reservation to protect the land the tribes consider sacred and culturally significant as well as the water necessary for life. In response to the pipeline protests, North Dakota’s government suppressed free speech and militarized its policing by declaring a state of emergency and calling out the National Guard.

September 13, 2016