DES MOINES, IA - A unanimous Iowa Supreme Court today ruled that the state could no longer bar same-sex couples from being able to marry. The American Civil Liberties Union, which supported the case through friend-of-the-court briefs, applauds this historic victory for fairness for lesbian and gay couples.

'The Iowa Supreme Court has given an incredibly well reasoned explanation for why our constitutional principals of fairness and equality simply will not permit us to continue to deny lesbian and gay couples the right to marry,' said Matt Coles, Director of the ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Project. 'This unanimous decision coupled with the recent movement by statehouses across the nation to advance pro-marriage bills shows that the tide has finally turned in support of the freedom to marry.'

In reaching its decision, the court said, 'Our responsibility '_ is to protect constitutional rights of individuals from legislative enactments that have denied those rights, even when the rights have not yet been broadly accepted, were at one time unimagined, or challenge a deeply ingrained practice or law viewed to be impervious to the passage of time.'

The case, Varnum, v. Brien, was brought by Lambda Legal on behalf of six same-sex couples and their children. Today's decision affirms a lower district-court decision ruling that it is unconstitutional for the state to deny same-sex couples from marrying in the state. The ACLU filed friend-of-the-court briefs both before the district court and the Iowa Supreme Court.

'Like the Iowa justices who courageously made Iowa a legal haven for desegregation and equality nearly a century before the federal government did so, and who issued pioneering decisions advancing the rights of women, the court today showed the world that Iowa is again among the leaders in America's quest for justice and fairness,' said Ben Stone, Executive Director of the ACLU of Iowa.

The Iowa decision follows similar high court decisions in Massachusetts, California and Connecticut finding that is unconstitutional to bar lesbian and gay couples the right to marry. In addition to the courts, a number of statehouses across the country during this legislative session have advanced bills granting same-sex couples the ability to marry. Both houses of the Vermont legislature have approved a bill giving same-sex couples there the ability to marry. In New Hampshire, the House has approved a marriage bill, which is now pending in the state Senate. Marriage bills are also expected to be introduced soon in New Jersey and New York, were a bill passed the Assembly in 2008. In addition, there is a comprehensive civil union bill pending in the Illinois legislature and a domestic partner bill pending in Wisconsin. The Washington legislature is considering expanding its domestic partner bill to include nearly all of the legal protections that it provides to married couples.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – A team of legal organizations announced today that it is suing the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in federal district court for detaining immigrants in egregious, unsanitary conditions in a downtown Los Angeles facility without soap, drinking water, toothpaste, toothbrushes, sanitary napkins, changes of clothing or showers. The lawsuit – filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, the National Immigration Law Center, and the law firm of Paul, Hastings, Janofsky and Walker LLP – also charges that the unsanitary conditions have led ICE to deprive immigrants of due-process rights such as access to mail or attorneys while in detention.

The facility, known as “B-18,” was intended to temporarily house detainees for no more than 12 hours. But in a perverse distortion of its original purpose, immigration officials have kept detainees in this basement facility for weeks by shuttling them to local jails in the evening and on weekends, and returning them to the facility the next business day.

Under these intolerable conditions, immigration officials often fail to notify detainees that they have the right to obtain release on bond while their cases remain pending. Meanwhile, immigration officials deny detainees any mail correspondence, writing materials or access to other materials that would enable them to defend themselves – all of which are required by law.

“It’s shameful that immigration officers are treating detainees like animals, apparently because the immigration bureaucracy cannot seem to send detainees to the right place,” said Ahilan Arulanantham, ACLU/SC director of immigrant rights and national security. “Officers routinely crowd detainees into dirty cells under grossly unsanitary conditions. They then deny them access to basic constitutional necessities like the use of the mail, making it impossible for them to defend themselves.”

“There is no good reason why authorities cannot simply send the detainees to the right place and release those who are eligible for bond, rather than shuttling them back and forth for days or weeks on end. The B-18 fiasco is yet another example of how our immigration detention system has completely broken down,” Arulanantham added.

The lawsuit also contends that the conditions at issue violate an order from a federal court in Los Angeles in another case which involved similarly egregious abuses.

“The shell game officials are playing with human lives has left detainees without the ability to access basic services that any detention center must provide. Detainees at B-18 have no access to outdoor recreation and cannot send or receive mail, even for legal purposes,” said Karen Tumlin, a staff attorney with the National Immigration Law Center. “They cannot make private phone calls to attorneys and have no ability to learn their rights because officials deny them access to a law library and create barriers to their access to counsel.”

“The plain fact is that B-18 was never intended to be used as a detention facility,” Tumlin continued. “The facility fails on every level to house detainees in a way that comports with basic notions of dignity. B-18 does not provide soap or a change of clothes to detainees and routinely denies menstruating women sanitary napkins. Detention under such conditions is not only unlawful, but downright cruel.”

While in B-18, detainees are crowded into a cell with as many as 50 other people. In the cell, there is a single phone, a bench and one or two exposed toilets, but no soap or drinking water. Detainees are often forced to sleep on the floor. Menstruating women who ask for sanitary napkins are routinely ignored. And there is no access to medical attention. On some occasions, it has taken ICE officials more than a day to fix a clogged toilet.

Despite these heinous conditions, there is no mechanism for detainees to lodge a complaint.

According to Toliver Besson, a partner at Paul Hastings, the lawsuit gives the new administration of President Barack Obama a way to demonstrate its commitment to immigrants’ rights. "The Obama administration has indicated that it wants all immigrant detention facilities to be operated in a clean, safe and constitutional manner. B-18 fails miserably to meet this standard, but the administration's response to this lawsuit is an opportunity to rectify this injustice and show that it is moving in a new direction," Besson said.

The National ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project also serves as co-counsel in the case.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - The ACLU of Southern California supports the announcement today by Pasadena Police Chief Bernard Melekian that the county's Office of Independent Review will conduct an independent investigation into the fatal shooting of Leroy Barnes Jr. during a Feb. 19 traffic stop. The announcement accompanied the Pasadena Police Department's briefing to the community on the department's own investigation into the Barnes shooting, which concluded that the officers were justified in their actions.

"This tragic shooting has sparked substantial controversy in the community, and an independent investigation is a step in the right direction," said Michelle White, president of the ACLU/SC's Pasadena-Foothills Chapter. "We hope that the OIR will be able to answer concerns that have been raised by the community about this incident, and help bring resolution and healing to Leroy Barnes' family and the city of Pasadena.'

Added Peter Bibring, Staff Attorney for the ACLU/SC: "Conducting an outside review of a fatal police shooting is just good policy. Investigators from the same department may know the area, but they also may have worked for years alongside the officers they're investigating. An outside, independent investigation helps assure the community that the investigation is fair and thorough. We will pay close attention to the OIR's progress and results as it looks into this tragic incident.'