The First Amendment guarantees the public and the press the right to witness certain government proceedings – including public executions. On August 25, 2014, the ACLU and the ACLU of Oklahoma filed a lawsuit arguing that this right was violated during the botched execution of Clayton Lockett in Oklahoma. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of The Guardian and The Oklahoma Observer, whose journalists were deprived the right to view and fully report on the execution.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a petition with the Organization of American States’ Inter-American Commission on Human Rights showing that the upcoming executions by lethal injection in Missouri and Oklahoma will violate international law against cruel and unusual punishment, should they go forward. The ACLU asks that the executions be stopped until the IACHR can conduct independent investigations of the two cases.

Last year, state legislators in Oklahoma placed an unprecedented, discriminatory proposal to amend the Oklahoma Constitution to target the religious practices of Muslims on the November ballot. That measure strictly prohibits state courts from using or even considering “Sharia” or “international” law in their decision making. Although sponsors freely admit that there have been absolutely no instances of so-called “Sharia” threats in Oklahoma, they officially labeled the proposal the “Save Our State Amendment,” and it ultimately passed with over 70 percent of the vote.

The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Oklahoma and the Center for Reproductive Rights have filed a lawsuit on behalf of six Oklahoma voters — including women’s health providers — against an Oklahoma ballot initiative that would ban vital health services by granting fertilized eggs and embryos the same constitutional rights as people.