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A bill to reopen California police records and restore civilian oversight cleared a key hurdle in the state Senate. The bill would reverse a state Supreme Court decision that put police disciplinary records off-limits for the public and threatens 30 years of police reform in California.

Hundreds of ACLU/SC members sent letters and made calls to state legislators urging support of the measure.

In L.A., the court's decision meant the public was denied access to a police hearing that cleared the officer who shot unarmed 13-year-old Devin Brown in 2005. "American justice is done in the open, but the conduct of LAPD officers is now judged in secrecy," the ACLU/SC said at the time.

The bill passed the Senate committee 3-2, and a similar bill is pending in the Assembly. The bills are backed by California newspapers and First Amendment and civil-rights groups.

Date

Thursday, April 19, 2007 - 12:00am

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The Supreme Court's fractured 5-4 decision to ban an abortion procedure with no exception for a mother's health is "frightening," said ACLU/SC Executive Director Ramona Ripston. "The high court has made a ruling severely limiting a woman's right to choose and this is the most damaging attack on this fundamental right in 30 years," she stated.
The ACLU had filed an amicus brief on behalf of the National Abortion Federation and medical doctors who opposed the 2003 federal ban.
This was the first abortion decision since the retirement of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, which left only one woman on the Court. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg called the decision an "alarming" departure from the precedent set by the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion.
"For the first time since Roe, the Court blesses a prohibition with no exception safeguarding a woman's health," she wrote in a sharp dissent.

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Thursday, April 19, 2007 - 12:00am

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LOS ANGELES - Michael Tocher was a peaceful man with a megaphone and a message of protest when Santa Barbara police arrested him on Veteran's Day in 2004. Today the ACLU/SC announced a settlement of its lawsuit against the city over his wrongful arrest.

Tocher was handcuffed and searched on Nov. 11, 2004, as he read the names of U.S. soldiers who died in Iraq. According to court filings, he read 400 of the 1,200 names through a megaphone before police arrived and arrested him without explanation or a warning. He was later cited for disturbing the peace and spent several hours in police custody.

Under the terms of the settlement filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, the City of Santa Barbara will pay $17,000 in damages to Tocher and adopt a new policy and training to protect the free speech rights of its residents.

"The irony is that I was recognizing the sacrifices of American troops in a peaceful and respectful way," said Tocher, a father of two who has continued his Veteran's Day tradition. "I filed this case so my own kids won't have to face the tyranny of having someone else's will imposed on them.'"

"In this country you can't go to jail just because someone doesn't like what you say or how loudly you say it," said ACLU/SC staff attorney Peter Bibring. "This settlement will ensure that Santa Barbara residents aren't arrested when they voice their opinions about their government."

The ACLU/SC filed a claim for damages on Tocher's behalf in May 2005, and the city of Santa Barbara fought it for a year and a half before a judge ruled in November 2006 that his arrest was unlawful and a result of the city's failure to train its officers properly about its disturbing the peace ordinance.

The new police department policy states that "the Constitution guarantees the right to protest in a peaceful manner" and explains that "officers responding to disturbance complaints during demonstrations must be cognizant of demonstrators' rights." The policy creates new procedures to ensure protestors are not arrested without prior warning or legal justification.

Date

Friday, April 6, 2007 - 12:00am

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