ACLU of Texas Podcasts
There is always more to the story. ACLU of Texas podcasts are intended to delve deeper into the civil liberties issues in the state.

More podcasts will be added here periodically. You can also subscribe to have podcasts downloaded automatically through iTunes.

Latest Download

Defending A.A.'s Freedoms. Again. Listen to ACLU of Texas staff attorney Fleming Terrell argue A.A's case before the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. The ACLU of Texas has been engaged in a yearlong battle for the child's right to wear his hair long, in accordance with his and his parents religious beliefs. A federal judge earlier this year ruled in favor of A.A. and his parents, but the school district appealed the ruling. |MP3|

More from the ACLU and the ACLU of Texas

In his own words: TCC's so-called "Free Speech Zone" Listen to Clayton Smith discuss his experience as he attempted to express his point of view on the TCC campus earlier this year but was censored by administrators using the school's "Free Speech Zone." | MP3 |

Give Me Liberty: Banned Books Week 2009 The ACLU of Texas' Cody Safford talks with Deborah Hall of the Department of Library Services for the Houston Independent School District, one of the largest districts in the country. Plus, an interview with Deborah Caldwell-Stone of the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom. | MP3 |

Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, a Dream Noted author and journalist H.G. Bissinger talks about his book Friday Night Lights, and recounts his reaction to it being challenged in the Beaumont Independent School District for racism, sexual content, and profanity. The district responded to the challenge by not just banning the book in a single school, as is most often the case, but by banning the book in every one of the districts' 30 school libraries. A ban of such magnitude is rare, and the ACLU of Texas believes it was the most egregious instance of censorship reported last year. | MP3 |

Richard Esguerra: Technology, the digital world, and your rights "Give Me Liberty", a project of the Houston Chapter of the ACLU of Texas, examines civil liberties and freedoms in the digital age. Amy Lanteigne talks with Richard Esguerra of the San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation, an organization that works to defend free speech, privacy, innovation, and consumer rights. | MP3 |

Sonia Sotomayor: What her appointment means to the Supreme Court "Give Me Liberty", a project of the Houston Chapter of the ACLU of Texas, examines the appointment of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court. Evan Mintz hosts. Guests include Kristalee Leija of the Hispanic Bar Association of Houston and David Dow of the Texas Innocence Project. | MP3 |

Jeremy Gunn on Odessa Victory On March 5, 2008, the Ector County School Board agreed to stop teaching a course in its public schools that unconstitutionally promotes a particular interpretation of the Bible that is not shared by Jews, Catholics, Orthodox Christians, and most Protestants. Jeremy Gunn, Director of the ACLU's Freedom of Religion and Belief Program, talks about the victory. | MP3 |

Lisa Graybill, Dennis Parker and Nsombi Lambright Discuss Racial Inequality Dennis Parker, Director of the ACLU's Racial Justice Program, discusses juvenile justice, voting rights, the death penalty and other issues addressed in the new ACLU report, Race & Ethnicity in America, with ACLU of Mississippi Executive Director Nsombi Lambright (center) and ACLU of Texas Legal Director Lisa Graybill. | MP3 |

Former Inmate Garrett Cunningham Describes His Ordeal in a Texas Prison On September 28, 2007, Garrett Cunningham testified at a congressional briefing hosted by the ACLU and SAVE Coalition to discuss the unintended consequences of the 1996 Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA). Because of the PLRA's complex rules, Cunningham, who was raped by a guard while incarcerated at a Texas prison, was unable to bring formal charges against the officer, who went on to sexually assault more prisoners. | MP3 |