News & Commentary

LOS ANGELES - The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California today announced a suit on behalf of Los Angeles mural artist Mike McNeilly against the City of Los Angeles demanding that the city allow the artist's patriotic murals to remain on display. The ACLU/SC suit on behalf of the artist cites his First Amendment right to engage in non-commercial political speech.

LOS ANGELES - The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California clarified to Los Angeles City Council today its stance on the collection of racial profiling data by the LAPD, which is a requirement under the federal consent decree.

LOS ANGELES - The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California hailed yesterday's expansion of domestic partners' rights, as Governor Gray Davis signed into law AB 25, Assemblymember Carole Migden's proposal to build the rights and responsibilities the state confers on those who register as domestic partners.

LOS ANGELES - Today, the National Coalition Against Censorship, the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, The First Amendment Project of Oakland, CA and a large number of local and national artists announced that they are protesting the removal of Alex Donis' exhibit, "WAR," from the Watts Towers Art Center.

LOS ANGELES - In response to concerns voiced by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, the Claremont Unified High School District has agreed not to pat- down students and conduct "breath searches" at school graduation ceremonies without reasonable suspicion that a particular student has violated applicable law or school rules.

LOS ANGELES -- A California Supreme Court has granted the motion for class certification in the Williams vs. California suit. The decision allows thousands of California public school students to be represented as a whole in a suit against the state of California.

LOS ANGELES - The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California announced today that broad, diverse coalitions at the national and local levels are emerging to advocate for a careful, balanced, and deliberative approach to questions of security and civil liberties and civil rights.

LOS ANGELES - Historic talks concluded yesterday between Presidents George Bush and Vicente Fox on the vital importance of establishing humane treatment of immigrants in the United States. The urgency of the problem was underscored last week when LAPD officers, responding to a noise complaint in a Hollywood apartment building, conducted a nightmarish raid on 36 immigrants.

SAN FRANCISCO - Today in the California Supreme Court, the ACLU of Northern California, the ACLU of Southern California, the ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties, the League of Women Voters of California, the California Teachers Association (CTA), the Children's Advocacy Institute, Coleman Advocates For Children And Youth, and the Pacific Juvenile Defender Center filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case Manduley v. Superior Court, in which the San Diego District Attorney is prosecuting eight teenagers as adults, an act made possible by the passage of Proposition 21, the "Gang Violence and Juvenile Crime Prevention Act," in March 2000.In the brief, the organizations argue that Proposition 21 is unconstitutional because it violates the single-subject rule of the California Constitution. The Court is expected to address this claim, along with constitutional challenges to the individual provision within Proposition 21 that enabled the minor defendants to be tried as adults in criminal court.