Thousands of ACLU members withstood an early summer Washington heat wave to urge Congress to stop the executive abuse of power. "This is a group of patriots. You are patriots," Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut told a crowd gathered in front of a banner that read "Restore Law and Justice."

Another leading senator spoke about Congress' vote last year to "recklessly undermine" civil liberties. "Congress last year commited a historic mistake by suspending the great writ of habeas corpus, not just for those confined at Guantanamo, but for millions of legal residents here in the United States," said Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont. "For those who say we have to do this to make America safer, 'Shame on you.' "

ACLU/SC staff and members stormed Capitol Hill to deliver a message to Southern California members of Congress: Support fundamental civil rights by restoring habeas corpus rights and overturning the Military Commission Act's un-American standards of justice.

More than 140,000 people signed petitions of support, including thousands from Southern California. If you haven't signed, it's not too late: Add your name to the call for the rule of law. And learn more about the rights we're fighting for.

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Caught a professional women's basketball game lately? Watched a woman biochemist talk about her work on TV? You're seeing some of the effects of Title IX, the federal law passed 35 years ago on June 23, 1972, to give female students equal access to education and athletic opportunities. Today, 2.95 million women athletes play competitive sports, compared to fewer than 300,000 in 1972.

The ACLU of Southern California has helped expand the promise of gender equity. In 2004, we supported a state bill to apply Title IX standards to city athletic programs. We also represented a teen mother who was removed from regular classes because of her child care needs and placed in low-quality "study hall." And we sued on behalf of a girls' softball league that played on substandard fields, while the boys' Little Leagues enjoyed top-notch fields nearby.

LOS ANGELES - The ACLU of Southern California and law firm Munger, Tolles and Olson LLP filed a federal class action lawsuit today to stop the government's policy of forcibly drugging people facing deportation. The suit was brought on behalf of two immigrants who were drugged against their will by U.S. officials and seeks an immediate end to the practice as well as damages for the two men.

'Our Constitution does not allow the government to treat immigrants like animals. Injecting people who are not mentally ill with psychotropic drugs is illegal, immoral, and medically inappropriate,' said ACLU/SC staff attorney Ahilan Arulanantham.

Federal officials have publicly admitted to forcibly injecting immigrants with powerful drugs in order to render them less 'agitated' for deportation. Yet detention standards from the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) state that detainees may not be forcibly medicated if they are not mentally ill, simply for 'staff convenience.' Neither of the plaintiffs had any history of mental illness.

Raymond Soeoth, an Indonesian citizen and ordained Christian minister who came to the United States in 1999, is seeking political asylum. In December 2004, immigration officials planning to deport him from the San Pedro Detention Center brought him to a cell, held him down, and injected him with Haldol, an anti-psychotic drug that can be lethal to some patients. The drug was prescribed by a physician working for ICE who had not examined Soeoth.

Amadou Diouf, a native of Senegal who entered the U.S. in 1996 to study at the California State University at Northridge, is married to a U.S. citizen. Despite a federal court order barring his deportation, immigration officials scheduled him for deportation in February 2006. On board an airplane bound for Senegal at Los Angeles International Airport, officials pushed him to the ground and injected him with an unidentified psychotropic drug after he attempted to speak with the captain of the flight.

Both Diouf and Soeoth were released in February after approximately two years in an immigration jail, as the result of a separate ACLU/SC lawsuit challenging their prolonged detention. They remain in the U.S.

The lawsuit names the ICE personnel who conducted the druggings, as well as Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and other senior officials. The ACLU/SC's action also includes a Freedom of Information Act request to reveal how often such forcible druggings occur and under what circumstances.