Last month, voters in Shelby County, Tennessee, ousted an 11-year incumbent district attorney with a national reputation for being overly-punitive. Amy Weirich aggressively pursued the death penalty, fought against bail reform, sent more children to adult court than any other prosecutor in the state, and had been admonished in the past for prosecutorial misconduct. She also prosecuted Pamela Moses, a Black woman who registered to vote erroneously and ended up with a six-year sentence.

Voters in one of the largest counties in the South, with a population of nearly one million people, rejected Weirich by a vote of 56-44 percent, choosing Steve Mulroy, a candidate who ran on a criminal justice reform platform. But unless you live in Memphis or the surrounding areas, you likely missed the story. These days, there aren’t many headlines touting criminal justice reform in the national media. In contrast, you can find lots of stories on the backlash to reform.

But the national headlines don’t tell the full story: On the contrary, criminal legal reform continues to win in many parts of the country. The number of people incarcerated is down 22.4 percent (or 1,588,400 fewer persons) since 2010, much of it due to the hundreds of laws passed to reform the criminal legal system and the election of policymakers committed to smart reforms. On the local and state levels, voters and lawmakers have kept up this trend.

On the electoral side in 2022, voters chose reform prosecutor candidates from North Carolina to Tennessee, Iowa, and California. Voters continue to show strong support for district attorneys who work to reduce the footprint of the criminal legal system. In Durham, North Carolina, prosecutor Satana Deberry won her reelection primary in a landslide, despite negative attacks on her reform record, which include bail reform and clearing thousands of outstanding court fines and fees. On May 17, 79 percent of voters chose Deberry on the promise that she will continue her reform-oriented policies, such as her pledge to not criminalize people who seek abortions. She is running uncontested in November.

Meanwhile in Iowa, Kimberly Graham also won her primary election for Polk County prosecutor, promising to not prosecute marijuana possession and to not seek cash bail for low level arrests, among other reforms. She is expected to win in November.

In California, reform prosecutors representing jurisdictions larger than San Francisco won their primary elections. Diana Becton was reelected in Contra Costa on a platform of creating more fairness and equity. Former criminal defense attorney Pamela Price received the most votes in Alameda County, running on a platform of tackling racial disparities in the criminal legal system and not prosecuting children as adults.

In Vermont, Chittenden County (Burlington) prosecutor Sarah George won reelection on a platform of continuing her reform policies, including expanding restorative justice practices, opposing seeking cash bail, and not prosecuting arrests discovered through “non-public safety traffic stops” because they disproportionately impact people of color. She came under attack by police unions and challenger Ted Kenney but prevailed in Vermont’s largest county by a vote of 53-33 percent.

But it’s not just reform prosecutors who are winning. This year we also saw important victories in state legislatures, including removing barriers for formerly incarcerated people to reintegrate back into society, and advancing marijuana legalization with a racial justice focus.

Colorado became the seventh state to pass Clean Slate legislation, which would allow for the automatic sealing of arrest records that do not result in conviction, as well as sealing of many other records post-conviction. Similar laws have passed in Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Utah.

Connecticut passed a law providing anti-discrimination protections for people living with a criminal record. The new law prevents job licensure boards from instituting blanket bans against groups of people based on their record of arrest or conviction, and would instead require licensure boards to make individual assessments. Oklahoma also passed reforms that include an automatic expungement bill in certain cases, expected to impact more than 100,000 Oklahomans.

Marijuana legalization continues to have broad public support, and in November, voters in about half a dozen states may be able to vote on marijuana legalization. For example, in Maryland, voters will have the chance to enact a first-of-its kind Cannabis Repair and Reinvestment Fund, which will allocate millions on an annual basis to communities most impacted by the war on marijuana, and also creates automatic expungement for past simple possession convictions and more.

Rhode Island passed marijuana legalization legislation, and did so in a manner that advanced racial justice and criminal justice reform by including automatic expungement in its final bill language.

These are just some examples of progress – there are many more (such as on juvenile justice reform) and they won’t be the last. These newly enacted laws will not end mass incarceration; much more is needed. But these successes show that voters on the right and left continue to choose criminal justice reform, and state lawmakers on the right and left continue to pass common sense legislation. And they are doing so despite the backlash on the national level. This is the full story of 2022.

I started working as a Flight Attendant for Alaska Airlines in July of 2014. I grew up by the airport in Anchorage, with Alaska Airlines planes constantly flying overhead. Every summer when visiting family, we flew on Alaska Airlines. I wanted to work for the airline for as long as I can remember and was ecstatic when I got the position. I always felt a sense of belonging — being part of a close-knit community with a huge impact on my home state.

For the past eight years, I’ve given a lot to the company. I participated in many community events and promotional activities and was hired to be a flight attendant instructor. Throughout this time, I felt a growing unease and discomfort with the company’s uniform policy, which required flight attendants to wear either “male” or “female” uniforms. After a tough period of self-discovery, I came out as non-binary — to overwhelming support from family, friends, coworkers, and supervisors.

Around the same time, Alaska Airlines began creating a new uniform policy for frontline employees. This was the perfect time to make much-needed updates, acknowledging the expansive reality of gender identity and gender expression. Instead, the airline published a policy reaffirming an outdated binary gender by requiring flight attendants to wear a “male” or “female” uniform. The airline’s binary uniform policy dictated every aspect of our dress and grooming — including whether we could wear neck scarves or ties, or dresses or skirts; whether we could wear facial hair or make-up; and even what color shoes or belts we could wear. I sent my first email stating the policy was discriminatory to executive management in the fall of 2019, not realizing the three-year battle that was about to take place.

The illegal and discriminatory uniform policy maintained by Alaska Airlines forces employees like me to dress and groom in a manner inconsistent with our gender identities and gender expressions. There is no reason for the airline to continue to enforce this illegal policy — other than to maintain an outdated and discriminatory idea of gender.

An important value at Alaska Airlines is “Do the Right Thing.” This value is advertised both on aircraft and in corporate facilities with the quote, “The time is always right to do what is right,” by Martin Luther King, Jr. Unfortunately, in this case, Alaska Airlines clearly will not do the right thing until they are forced to by the state of Washington, or by a lawsuit.

In September of 2022, the Washington State Human Rights Commission validated three years of my own advocacy against Alaska Airline’s policy and found the dress code likely violates state protections against discrimination based on gender identity and gender expression. I hope the decision by the commission will finally push Alaska Airlines to create a legal, non-discriminatory uniform policy. I look forward to the day when all employees can show up at work and be valued and accepted for their whole selves. It is time for executive management at Alaska Airlines to follow the law and stand behind their values.

Yet to this day, Alaska Airlines continues to purposefully misinterpret Washington state law. The relevant law has been explained to executive management by the ACLU and the state of Washington. The airline’s discriminatory actions are out of character for an airline claiming both to support the LGBTQ+ community and to foster an inclusive work environment where all employees feel valued and accepted.

While teaching new flight attendants, I am able to dress and groom in a manner befitting my gender identity and expression. Supervisors, coworkers, and students constantly share their happiness in seeing me show up as my full self. However, while working as a flight attendant, I am forced into an outdated ideal of masculinity and femininity. Alaska Airlines wants to portray stereotypical genders to the public, which actively harms employees and creates an exclusionary work environment.

It is time for Alaska Airlines to do the right thing.

With the midterms coming up, we are chatting with some of our great volunteers about what issues are most important to them, and how they motivate voters to cast their ballots. We hope these conversations inspire you to vote for your values and join us in this once-in-a-generation battle to protect our nation.

This week, we spoke to Marci Iacobucci, a Brooklyn-based team leader with the ACLU People Power phone bank team since 2017. Marci is the senior vice president, executive creative director at DDB Worldwide, a marketing agency, serves on the board of Open Pride, and is co-chair of Omni Women. But even with her busy schedule, Marci still finds time to volunteer and to be active in her community. As she puts it, being involved is in her bones.

American Civil Liberties Union

Vote Your Values | American Civil Liberties Union

This election, join us by pledging to vote for your values, and fight for your rights by encouraging your friends and family to do the same.

ACLU: What motivated you to get involved with the ACLU as a volunteer?

MI: Civil rights and civil liberties have always been important to me, but we all know the day they became under threat. In looking to get involved, I went to the Women’s March. I also marched in Washington, but showing up is only the first step. I wanted to know what I could do next. I started looking into organizations that are effective in their advocacy efforts. I researched organizations, went to meetings, and joined different groups. My time is valuable, so I wanted to make sure that what I was doing was effective. I also knew that it couldn’t just be focused on one issue or only election focused. It became very apparent that the ACLU is organized, it’s doing big things and it wouldn’t peter out. A lot of these efforts start with a whole bunch of steam and people don’t realize how hard it is to sustain an organization. That’s why I chose the ACLU.

Image courtesy of Marci Iacobucci

ACLU: What experiences have informed your activism?

MI: I am the child my parents raised me to be. My parents were very active in our community. Being involved and making sure we fight for our freedom is in my bones. Even though we were an immigrant family, we came with skills and had a good middle class life. With this privilege came responsibility. The more we had, the more we were obligated to do. There’s no other option because that’s the only thing I know.

ACLU: Why is the right to vote so important to you?

MI: Your vote is your voice. If you want the country to move ahead a certain way and you want it to respect the freedoms you value, then you have to make sure that the people who are making those decisions are the people you trust. You want to put that power in the hands of somebody you trust and who believes the same thing that you do, because it’s the power of life and death. Your vote is the power of your freedom, and if you don’t vote, you can’t complain. If you don’t vote, you’re silent; you’ve just cut your vocal cords.

ACLU: What would you say to people now who are frustrated with the state of our politics?

MI: Powerlessness is exactly what they want you to feel. Whoever you disagree with, they want you to feel like you don’t matter, that you don’t have power and things aren’t going to change. They want you to give up. But the minute you do that, they win. They got in power because people voted them in. It doesn’t seem like a lot, but every journey begins with a single step. Every glass gets filled to overflowing, drop by drop. So, yes, your vote matters, because other people’s votes mattered.

ACLU: What has surprised you over the years in your activism?

MI: I’m surprised to see how much of volunteer grassroots work is done by women. When I look at the volume of people that are active, volunteering and leading these things, it’s mainly women. This includes women of color and women with disabilities. We are doing the hard work, making the phone calls, doing the unsung, unglamorous work. That to me was the biggest surprise.

ACLU: Why did you decide to share your story? And what else do you want people to know about your experience?

MI: I’m excited to share my story because I want other people to be excited about the future, and to know there’s hope. When there’s a problem, I always say, what are you going to do about it? This gives you a chance to do something. I’m hoping other people will see that they can actually have an impact on the world no matter who they are. Even if it’s sending one batch of texts a week, or jumping on phone calls for half an hour, or doing something on the event map, you can make a difference. You just have to see yourself as part of an aggregated effort. I took one of the bumper stickers that said “vote like your rights depend on it” and I stuck it on my suitcase. I just figured you just never know, even just a little action like that could have an effect, and I would get people to engage me in conversations. Literally, people would reach out and ask me about it. You just don’t even know how something as simple as that can make a difference.

Interested in working with people like Marci to defend our rights? Find out more about how to get involved here.

American Civil Liberties Union

Midterm Elections: How These Offices Impact Your Rights | News & Commentary | American Civil Liberties Union

Elected officials don’t have the final say when it comes to our rights — we do. Let the ACLU help you step into your power at the ballot box!