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Remember "vote-swapping"? That was a free-speech experiment launched by a number of websites during the 2000 presidential campaign between George W. Bush and Al Gore. The websites allowed third-party supporters of Ralph Nader in swing states to strategize with major-party voters in "safe" states about "trading" their votes.

A threat of criminal prosecution by the California secretary of state shut the websites down. Nearly seven years later, a federal court decided the Constitution protects vote swaps — just in time for 2008.

"Technology changes the way politics work, but it doesn't alter the basic principles of democracy," said the ACLU/SC's Peter Eliasberg, who argued the case.

The decision will be an important precedent protecting the right of website operators and voters to maintain and use such sites in future presidential elections.

In a nationwide review of legal rights for immigrants in federal detention, a federal judge has found serious violations of the government's own standards relating to detention conditions.

U.S. District Court Judge Margaret M. Morrow examined never-before-released reports regarding conditions at more than 200 immigration detention facilities and found widespread problems, including lack of access to telephones, attorneys, and legal materials, faced by thousands of immigrants seeking asylum or pursuing legitimate claims to legal residency.

"What's happening to immigrants in detention should disturb all of us," said ACLU/SC staff attorney Ranjana Natarajan. "People seeking America's protection from torture and persecution deserve a fair hearing and respect for their basic rights."

Read the judge's decision (pdf)

LOS ANGELES - In a nationwide review of legal rights for immigrants in federal detention, a federal judge has found serious violations of the government's own standards relating to detention conditions.

U.S. District Court Judge Margaret M. Morrow examined never-before-released reports regarding conditions at more than 200 immigration detention facilities and found widespread problems, including lack of access to telephones, attorneys, and legal materials, faced by thousands of immigrants seeking asylum or pursuing legitimate claims to legal residency. The court reviewed thousands of pages of government reports assessing conditions at facilities nationwide, as well as similar reports by a United Nations office and the American Bar Association. These reports showed that detained immigrants from all nations faced similar problems.

"The government's treatment of immigrants betrays its promise of fairness and due process," said Linton Joaquin of the National Immigration Law Center, who served as lead counsel in the case. "The government should not deprive immigrants in detention of basic due process rights, such as meeting with lawyers, reading law books, and making phone calls to family members."

The judge's findings came in a ruling, finalized on July 26, that upheld a nationwide injunction to protect Salvadoran immigrants seeking asylum in the U.S. The National Immigration Law Center, ACLU of Southern California, and ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project had opposed the government's request to end the court-ordered injunction, which requires the government to treat people in immigration detention fairly.

Judge Morrow ruled that substantial evidence showed "a significant number of violations of critical provisions of the injunction dealing with detainees' access to legal materials, telephone use and attorney visits." The court also found that despite the end of the civil war in that country, immigrants from El Salvador continue to have legitimate asylum claims, and that they, like all immigrants, must be provided basic due process.

The ruling follows recent reports by the DHS inspector general and the Government Accountability Office showing similar problems in immigration detention.

"What's happening to immigrants in detention should disturb all of us," said ACLU/SC staff attorney Ranjana Natarajan. "People seeking America's protection from torture and persecution deserve a fair hearing and respect for their basic rights."