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Jan. 19, 1948: The U.S. Supreme Court dealt a blow to a 1920 California law aimed at preventing land ownership by Asian immigrants.

The Alien Land Law prevented Asian immigrants from owning land in their own name. ACLU plaintiff and U.S. citizen Fred Oyama, then 16, sued after the state attempted to take eight acres his family farmed in present-day Chula Vista. Like other Japanese Americans, the Oyama family was forced into federal camps in 1942. In 1944, while the family was still interned, the state moved to seize the land.

Future Secretary of State Dean Acheson joined ACLU/SC counsel Abraham Wirin in arguing Oyama's case before the Supreme Court, which upheld his ownership rights on Jan. 19, 1948. "The State has discriminated against Fred Oyama," the court wrote. "The discrimination is based solely on his parents' country of origin." Justice Hugo Black forcefully added, "by this Alien Land Law California puts all Japanese aliens within its boundaries on the lowest possible economic level."

The Alien Land Law stayed in effect until 1952, when the California Supreme Court struck it down. It was repealed by voters in 1956.

Photo: Farmer Richard Kobayashi with cabbages at the Manzanar Relocation Center in 1943, photographed by Ansel Adams (National Archives)

Police secrecy is risking the future of reform, the ACLU/SC said in a statement to Los Angeles leaders. On Jan. 8, a review panel issued a report exonerating the officer who shot 13-year-old Devin Brown in 2005. The report was initially squelched because of a state Supreme Court case the ACLU/SC opposed.

"American justice is done in the open, but the conduct of LAPD officers is now judged in secrecy," said the statement. The ACLU/SC called for the Police Commission, L.A.'s elected leaders, and its police chief to strongly support state legislation to reopen the discipline process, and local measures to strengthen the Police Commission, which is responsible for L.A. police policies.

The California Supreme Court ruled last year that details of police conduct were now off-limits to civilian review boards, newspapers, and the public. Across the state, reform efforts in place for 30 years have been hobbled. Oakland and San Francisco police commissions no longer hold public disciplinary hearings or identify officers facing termination or lengthy suspensions for misconduct.

In L.A., the shooting of Brown as he backed a car toward police officers prompted a change in L.A.'s use-of-force policy to prevent firing at moving cars. The Police Commission and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa called the shooting "out of policy" and recommended discipline for the officer involved.

But the closed-door ruling reversing that recommendation raises doubts about the city's commitment to reform.

"Transparency could have helped heal the grief and outrage sparked by this tragic shooting," said ACLU/SC executive director Ramona Ripston. "Reform is built on trust between the community and police. That trust is in jeopardy."

Text of ACLU/SC statement delivered at Jan. 16 L.A. Police Commission meeting:

This city has had two years to explain the tragedy of the Devin Brown shooting and ensure it will not happen again, and many more years to learn the lessons of the Christopher Commission, the Rampart Commission, and the federal consent decree. As things now stand, we have failed.

American justice is done in the open, but the conduct of LAPD officers is now judged in secrecy. Secrecy communicates dishonesty, and the product of secrecy is distrust that undermines the efforts of good and conscientious officers to do their jobs. Improvement of the LAPD requires trust as a starting point, built on transparency and openness.

The Supreme Court's recent decision in Copley Press surprised the state by pulling police governance out of public view. But today, a chorus that includes this Commission, Chief Bratton, the Mayor, City Council members, state legislators, and community groups is calling for a return to transparent discipline as a basic foundation of sound policing, a foundation for the crucial trust between community and police.

But words alone are not enough. We cannot call for action and leave it to others to act.

First, today, in a public resolution or open letter to the Senate and Assembly leaders, this Commission must demand that Sacramento undo the damage Copley has done.

The Commission and the Chief must also follow through by publicly and vigorously pursuing legislation, formally requesting that the Mayor and City Council make this measure the highest priority of the city's legislative liaison, and working with both community members and officers to ensure that transparency becomes a reality.

Support for restoring transparency is strong and must not be derailed by forces of inertia. The drive to stifle outside criticism and protect the Department from scrutiny has been cited by report after report as a cultural failing in the LAPD. This is the time to address that failing. Abandoning this legislative action would admit that real reform of the LAPD has not yet been and never will be achieved. This Commission has the responsibility to make sure the city's interest in sound police policy and the chance to place real trust in its Police Department are not so lightly cast aside.