ACSBlog: The Blog of the American Constitution Society

The United States, Russia and Sudan have been accused of being the biggest violators of housing rights in 2004. The Geneva-based Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions cites the US because of its high homelessness rates. Other countries are named because of forced evictions. The organization's director, Scott Leckie, says the right to a home is universal, and abusing it is a key source of conflict.

A federal judge has ordered the Boston Police Department to end its affirmative action hiring plan 30 years after it was put in place, ruling that minority hiring goals have been met.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed suit yesterday against a Missouri high school that twice admonished a gay student for wearing T-shirts bearing gay pride messages. The suit charges that the school violated the youth's constitutional right to free expression.

A state appeals court struck down Florida's 1999 school voucher law, marking the third court decision finding the voucher program unconstitutional. The full 1st District Court of Appeals rules that the voucher law violates Florida's constitution by allowing public funds to be spent on religious schools. "This is a big win for the people of Florida who believe in separation of church and state," said Ron Meyer, the lead attorney for the opponents of the voucher program, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

The nation's largest association of law enforcement executives sharply criticized the Department of Justice, saying the Bush Administration's cuts in federal aid to local police agencies have left the nation more vulnerable to public safety threats. The International Association of Chiefs of Police issued their criticisms a day after Ashcroft told the group that the administration had made the nation more secure from terrorist attacks and violent crime.

Drivers for a Pizza Hut in Sunbury, Ohio voted 9-3 against unionization on Tuesday. The National Labor Relations Board supervised the vote. "It didn't quite go the way we had hoped it would go," said Matt Howard, 25, of Delaware, who spearheaded the effort in the city about 20 miles northeast of Columbus.