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Here is the ACLU explainer on that suit: https://www.aclu-wa.org/pages/faq-does-v-washington-departme...

Privacy is also a civil liberty worth defending, and in this case, it appears the ACLU is defending that liberty where it is in conflict with transparency.

(Probably worth noting: the right to free speech is not the right to know things. On the contrary, it also includes the right to remain silent; compelled speech is also a violation of the basic freedom of speech. The ACLU is not in conflict with defense of free speech in challenging a FOIA request on privacy-violation grounds).

Why is this comment downvoted? Can someone explain the reasoning?

> This really blew my mind–I never thought I'd see the day when the ACLU filed suit to protect government secrecy against FOIA sunshine.

I think prisoners should, like everyone else, have a right to privacy. Them being under government care shouldn't give random people the right to learn private medical information, anymore than it should be acceptable for an FOIA request to determine how many medicare/medicade users are trans.

Agreed, and this is exactly what the ACLU is arguing [0].

> Such a disclosure would create a serious and unacceptable risk of harm to the people identified and violate their 8th and 14th Amendment rights. In addition, the requested information is exempt from disclosure under Washington’s Public Records Act.

[0] - https://www.aclu-wa.org/cases/does-v-washington-department-c...

Progressives are regressive, not progressive, when it comes to things like this. Their name is just a marketing label like any other political group. I am a staunch advocate of true free speech to the grave, and it's incredibly saddening to see Americans start attacking what I consider one of our greatest achievements.

Yes, they're using the same naming tactic as demonstrated by the Patriot Act and the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea. Old school liberals and progressives recognize that our labels are being usurped by illiberal regressives. Hence why ACLU has an identity crisis. There is a generational divide that's hollowing out liberalism and progressivism in service of political activism.

> If you only support free speech (or transparency) in cases where you agree with the actors, you don't really support free speech at all.

I agree.

Lately I've been seeing a lot of people arguing against free speech claiming that pro-free-speech people don't actually care about free speech, but rather they only want free speech for the views they care about. In other words, "we should get rid of free speech rights because people who appeal to them are insincere". Which is undoubtedly true for lots of people, and this isn't new to this cultural moment--hypocrites have been part of every movement forever.

But "some of those people are disingenuous!" doesn't seem like a good reason to deny someone their rights. Indeed, free speech has been a boon to left-wing groups in the past and it certainly will be again in the future (to the extent it survives the present moment, anyway), even though they are clearly insincere in their free speech convictions (seeking to explicitly destroy it and all that). Destroying free speech just because you happen to have the cultural power is incredibly short-sighted.

I will say that I'm happy the debate has moved beyond "but you free speech people don't get it--we're only talking about banning speech that I don't like" and "you can't support free speech and criticize my anti-free-speech advocacy" and so on.

It seems that you are using 'government secrecy' to include 'individual (prisoners') privacy'. You don't have a right to access the medical records of any federal prisoner, for example, but that doesn't mean the government is suppressing the information; rather that it's upholding the general right to medical privacy.

I suspect the reason it has received little attention is that the sponsoring organization, WoLF, is known for allying with rigorous Christian conservatives and seems to be motivated exclusively by dislike of trans people.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_Liberation_Front