News & Commentary

Measure DD would allow noncitizen residents in Santa Ana to vote in municipal elections for the first time.

Following the violent destruction of the Palestine Solidarity Encampment on the UCLA campus, students and faculty members speak out.

The ACLU SoCal’s history on the freedom to protest.

In response to acts of mob violence on UCLA’s campus last night, the ACLU Foundation of Southern California sent a letter to UCLA Chancellor Gene Block denouncing efforts to suppress the peaceful right to free expression and dissent. 

Upton Sinclair knew — and we must remember — that no civil liberties victory stays won.

I was told by the Greenfield Unified School District that I could not wear a t-shirt with the words “Phenomenally Black” because they said it was the same thing as wearing a “Make America Great Again” shirt. A Black colleague then later told me the administration asked if I was trying to push a Black agenda on campus. And yet when I wore a “Phenomenally Woman” shirt, there was no issue.

As the coronavirus continues to spread, California’s elected officials must take swift action to protect the November elections.

For centuries, people in this country have assembled to demand change and protest abuse of power. Protests have been central to nearly every major political advancement since the founding of the United States. The right to protest is enshrined in the First Amendment, which prohibits the government from “abridging the freedom of speech” or “the right of the people peaceably to assemble.” California’s Constitution likewise guarantees the right of the people to “instruct their representatives, petition government for redress of grievances, and assemble freely to consult for the common good.” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said “the greatness of America is the right to protest for right.”

After a parole board granted Richard Mireles his freedom earlier this year, he was shocked to learn that he still couldn't cast a vote in California, the state he had lived in since he was born. Just three months shy of his 21st birthday, a court gave Richard a life sentence on his first felony case. In the two decades of his incarceration, Richard worked hard to change his life. He got sober, worked to heal past traumas, earned his college degree and numerous commendations, and was even found suitable for release at his first parole hearing. It didn't seem right that California would continue punishing him after his release by denying him one his most fundamental rights of citizenship.