As an added bonus to our 10th episode, we recorded an audience Q & A with Mary Meg McCarthy, Executive Director of the National Immigrant Justice Center.

TALKING LIBERTIES celebrates its 10th episode with a live taping at the brand new Hoxton Hotel in Chicago. In front of a live audience, we welcome our guest Mary Meg McCarthy - Executive Director of the National Immigrant Justice Center, one of the nation’s foremost immigrant and human rights advocacy organizations - to discuss the long road to immigration reform and the White House's cruel policies along the Southern border.

Then-State Senator Barack Obama championed a law in 2004 to collect data about traffic and pedestrian stops conducted by police in Illinois. Proposed legislation in Springfield - House Bill 1613 - looks to ensure Obama's legacy and make this data collection permanent. Bill sponsor Rep. Justin Slaughter joins TALKING LIBERTIES to discuss this legislation and we speak with Richard Jackson, a Navy veteran subjected to a bad traffic stop in Chicago. Additionally, a new report from the ACLU of Illinois confirms that racial disparities persist in Illinois traffic stops - Police Practices Staff Attorney Rachel Murphy also joins the show to discuss the results of this report.

The State of Illinois' negligent treatment of prisoners is a problem that has been years in the making. ACLU of Illinois Senior Staff Attorney Camille Bennett joins us to discuss the stories of prisoners who have been harmed - and died - from the state's neglectful care, as well as the ACLU's recent victory in securing a consent decree and monitor to overhaul the inadequate health care system in Illinois.

During the holiday season, it's important to remember those who need help - and their right to ask for it. ACLU of Illinois Senior Staff Attorney Rebecca Glenberg joins us to discuss two topics recently in the news: our coalition work to repeal unconstitutional panhandling laws here in Illinois and fighting back against the Trump Administration's cruel proposed changes to "public charge" policies in our country.

Voter suppression efforts in Georgia, North Dakota and many more states have been in the headlines recently. We speak with Sophia Lakin (Staff Attorney, Voting Rights Project) about the ACLU’s current response, including challenges to discriminatory voter identification and registration requirements (“voter suppression by typo”), cutbacks to early voting and same-day registration, and fighting the dilution of minority votes in local elections. Remember: in Illinois, you can register to vote even on election day!

Throughout its almost 100 year history, the ACLU has only opposed four nominees to the Supreme Court. Brett Kavanaugh is one of them. ACLU of Illinois Executive Director Colleen Connell joins us to discuss why the ACLU National Board took this extraordinary step and how it fits into the Trump Administration's larger disregard for the rule of law.

Ahead of the 2018 midterm elections, the ACLU of Illinois speaks with Congressman Mike Quigley (5th District - IL) on election security, Russian cyber-attacks and the state of our electoral system. We also talk with Ami Gandhi (Director of Voting Rights and Civic Empowerment at Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights) about reducing barriers to voting and improving civic participation in Illinois - and whether you can take that "ballot selfie."

This week, the ACLU of Illinois released its public comments on the consent decree draft aimed at reforming the Chicago Police Department. We speak with our Police Practices Director Karen Sheley on the next steps in the decades-long process towards creating a police department that truly serves and protects all Chicagoans. We also need your help in supporting these reforms! Go to: https://action.aclu.org/send-message/il-cpd-reform

After several major decisions coming from the Supreme Court and the surprise retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy, the ACLU of Illinois speaks about the future of our civil rights with Sufyan Sohel (Deputy Director & Counsel for CAIR-Chicago)and Professor Geoffrey R. Stone (former Dean of the University of Chicago Law School).