News & Commentary

LOS ANGELES - Today, at 11:00 A.M., the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California announced the filing of a class-action lawsuit to end discriminatory treatment of girls' softball players in the City of La Puente. The legal complaint, filed by the ACLU/SC in federal court today, claims that the girls are "being denied equal and adequate access to City-owned resources made available to the local boys' baseball league, on the basis of their gender."

We are disappointed by the Ninth Circuit's en banc decision. We remain firmly convinced that using voting equipment officially declared by the state to be obsolete, in a number of counties with a high concentration of minority voters, violates the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and the Voting Rights Act. Indeed, we continue to believe that the geographical and racial disparities at issue in this case are far more troubling than the legal claims presented in Bush v. Gore. As a result, we remain deeply concerned over the fairness and accuracy of California's October 7th election. We can only hope, along with all Californians, that it will not turn into another Florida debacle.

LOS ANGELES - The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit today issued a decision in the case of Southwest Voter Registration Education Project v. Shelley, also known as the 'punch card' voting machines case. In victory for California voters, the court ordered the postponement of the California recall election until all California counties complete the transition away from faulty and decertified 'punch card' voting machines. The plaintiffs, including the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Los Angeles, the NAACP, California State Conference of Branches, and the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project had filed suit against California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley over the continued use of decertified 'punch card' voting machines in the upcoming recall election.

LOS ANGELES - The ACLU of Southern California has filed an appeal with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of Southwest Voter Registration Education Project v. Shelley. Earlier this month, the ACLU/SC brought suit on behalf of the SVREP, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Los Angeles, and the NAACP California State Conference of Branches, alleging that the use of 'punch card' voting machines in the upcoming election would lead to widespread disenfranchisement of voters residing in counties that are still using those machines.

LOS ANGELES - The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California filed a federal lawsuit today charging that the use of outdated and obsolete 'punch card' voting machines, the same machines at the center of the controversy surrounding the contested 2000 presidential election in Florida, will needlessly and unlawfully disenfranchise African-American, Latino, and Asian-American voters in counties where such machines are still in use.

Download the Complaint

LOS ANGELES - The ACLU of Southern California applauds the California Supreme Court's decision affirming the validity of second-parent adoption, a process that allows unmarried couples, including lesbian and gay couples, to establish a legal relationship with the couples' children. The ACLU and other civil rights submitted amicus briefs in the case, which was decided in an opinion announced today.

SANTA ANA, CA - The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California filed suit today to enjoin the City of Santa Ana from implementing a count of mail-in ballots for a neighborhood traffic plan which residents of the French Court section of the city feel unfairly disenfranchises them on the basis of property ownership. In addition, residents of the Logan section, many of whom are directly affected by the traffic plan, which includes a barrier across Washington Avenue at Poinsettia, are also being disenfranchised.

LOS ANGELES - In an historic decision with wide ranging implications, the U.S. Supreme Court today struck down a Texas law that makes some kinds of sexual intimacy a crime, but only for gay people. The decision overrules the court's 1986 decision in Bowers v. Hardwick, which was widely condemned for treating gay people as second-class citizens. It was hailed by the American Civil Liberties Union as a major milestone in the fight for constitutional rights.