In a blow to women's access to contraception, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that Hobby Lobby, and similar closely held corporations with religious objections to birth control, can refuse to include birth control in their employee's healthcare plans. Analysts are still interpreting the impact of the decision.
The Justice Department has dropped its criminal prosecution of Sami Al-Arian, a Palestinian professor and activist, in a case that followed an initial trial that began in 2003. Watch our 2007 exclusive interview with Al-Arian, who spoke to Democracy Now! from prison while he was on hunger-strike. The Palestinian professor and activist’s case has been one of the most closely watched — and controversial — post-9/11 prosecutions in the United States.
In one of the most significant press freedom cases in decades, the Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal from James Risen of The New York Times. Risen is refusing to testify in the trial of an ex-CIA analyst accused of being his confidential source. He has vowed to continue his fight and face imprisonment rather than reveal his source's identity. Tune in to Democracy Now! on Tuesday when we get reaction to the latest developments from Trevor Timm of the Freedom of the Press Foundation.
Democracy Now! has learned that civil rights activist Yuri Kochiyama has died at the age of 93. Learn more about her in the interview above that we aired in 2008. Kochiyama describes how her activism began after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, when she and her family were held in a Japanese American internment camp.
Journalists Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras and Ewen MacAskill hold a press conference in New York after winning a Polk Award for their reporting on Edward Snowden and the NSA. Greenwald and Poitras arrived in New York earlier today. It is their first time in the United States since breaking the Snowden story.
See all of Democracy Now!'s coverage of the national security state.
Ten months ago, Laura Poitras and Glenn Greenwald flew to Hong Kong to meet National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden. They soon began exposing a trove of secrets about the NSA and the national surveillance state. They didn't enter the United States again—until today.
Democracy Now! was there when a group of fast-food workers rallied in front of a New York City McDonald's Tuesday in support of lawsuits accusing the company of wage theft. Employees have filed suit in three states, claiming McDonald's and its franchises have stolen their wages through a range of illegal practices. Workers' accusations include being forced to work while off the clock, having hours deleted from their time cards and being denied meal and rest breaks. McDonald's worker Franklin La Paz said he's been consistently overworked and underpaid.
Part two of our special looking at violence and discrimination faced by transgender women of color. We speak to African-American transgender activist CeCe McDonald, who was released last month after 19 months in prison. She was arrested in 2011 after using deadly force to protect herself from a group of people who attacked her on the streets of Minneapolis. Her case helped turn a national spotlight on the violence and discrimination faced by transgender women of color.
Two freed members of the Russian group Pussy Riot made their first public appearance in the United States Tuesday after being released from prison in December. Nadia Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina served nearly all of their two-year sentences for protesting Russian leader Vladimir Putin inside an Orthodox cathedral. Shortly after they arrived in New York, the two Pussy Riot members spoke at a news conference organized by Amnesty International.
Across the United States on Monday, protesters took to the streets in hundreds of rallies urging President Obama to reject the Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline. The actions in at least 44 states followed a State Department report claiming the pipeline's northern leg would have a minimal impact on the local environment and climate change. Environmentalists disagree, saying plans to pipe 830,000 barrels of oil per day from Alberta's tar sands to the U.S. Gulf Coast would accelerate global warming and threaten communities along the pipeline's route.
