ACLU challenges Michigan ID policy on behalf of transgender individuals News
ACLU challenges Michigan ID policy on behalf of transgender individuals

[JURIST] The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and ACLU of Michigan [advocacy websites] on Thursday filed a federal lawsuit [complaint, PDF; press release] on behalf of six Michigan transgender individuals against Secretary of State Ruth Johnson [official website] challenging a state policy that they claim makes it nearly impossible for transgender individuals to change the gender recorded on their driver licenses and other forms of identification. The lawsuit states that the policy represents a refusal by the state to accept such situations of gender identity, and seeks a court order declaring the policy unconstitutional. The policy says that the state cannot change a person’s gender on their driver’s license or state identification unless that person produces an amended birth certificate showing the correct gender. However, the process of obtaining such an amended birth certificate can be very difficult or sometimes impossible for some individuals. Jay Kaplan, staff attorney for the ACLU of Michigan LGBT Project [official website] stated, “By refusing to provide transgender people with identity documents that match their correct gender identity, the state makes it unimaginably difficult for them to navigate their everyday lives.”

Transgender rights are currently hotly contested legal issue. In April US District Judge Jon Tigar for the Northern District of California ordered [JURIST report] the California Department of Corrections to grant a transgender inmate’s sex reassignment surgery. In March a transgender inmate from Massachusetts filed a petition [JURIST report] for certiorari to the Supreme Court, asking to overturn a ruling that denied her sex reassignment surgery.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Justice Department brings anit-trust action against AT&T

On November 20, 1974, the Department of Justice filed its final anti-trust suit against AT&T. United States v. AT&T was ultimately settled out of court with an agreement that the corporation would break up its monopoly on phone service throughout the country.

Nuremberg war crimes trials began

On November 20, 1945, the war crimes trials of Nazi World War II leaders began in the German city of Nuremberg. Review the Nuremberg Tribunal's Charter and the verdicts and sentences handed down on major war figures.

Winston Churchill born

On November 20, 1874, Sir Winston Churchill was born in Woodstock, England. He would go on to lead the United Kingdom as Prime Minister through World War II. Toward the end of the war, Churchill worked with US President Franklin D. Roosevelt to craft the treaties and accords that have defined the world since WWII. A 2002 poll by the BBC declared Churchill the Greatest Briton of all time.

New Jersey ratifies Bill of Rights

New Jersey ratified the Bill of Rights, a set of 10 fundamental amendments to the US Constitution, on November 20, 1789, becoming the first state to do so. The state also ratified an amendment on federal representation which ultimately failed. Additionally, New Jersey rejected an amendment on congressional salaries, which would eventually become the 27th Amendment more than 200 years later. Read the articles ratified by New Jersey.