News & Commentary

The ACLU of Southern California today announced the filing of a legal action to prevent the City of Los Angeles, including officers from the Los Angeles Police Department and Recreation and Parks Department, from interfering with the activities of Food Not Bombs, a group dedicated to raising public awareness of homelessness, hunger, and poverty in Los Angeles by providing food to some of the city's most needy residents.

Today the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied a petition to rehear arguments in a pivotal case involving the alleged policies of Los Angeles Police Department and Santa Monica Police Department officers to interrogate suspects 'outside Miranda' despite the suspects' invocation of their right to remain silent and their requests for an attorney. The case is California Attorneys for Criminal Justice v. Butts (U.S. District Court for the Central District, Case No. 97- 56499). The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, along with Boalt Hall professor Charles Weisselberg, had argued successfully that police officers were not free to ignore a suspect's assertion of Miranda rights whenever they chose.

The ACLU of Southern California applauds the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for today's vote in opposition to Proposition 22, known as the Knight Initiative. The measure, which will come before California voters in March of 2000, would require the state of California to discriminate against same gender couples legally married in other states, should such marriages ever become legal. The ACLU, which has long opposed the measure as 'mean-spirited, divisive and unfair,' was represented before the board by Reverend James M. Lawson.

The ACLU of Southern California, Asian Pacific American Legal Center, Japanese American Citizens League and NAACP Legal Defense Fund are urging the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and Sheriff Lee Baca to retain crucial information regarding officer misconduct. At issue is how long the County will retain data tracking employee performance on its 'Personnel Performance Index' (PPI). This agenda item is scheduled to be discussed at 11:00 am Tuesday, December 21 before the Board of Supervisors.

At a press conference in front of the Los Angeles Police Department's Parker Center, civil rights leaders today announced the formation of the Coalition for Police Accountability.

The ACLU of Southern California today condemned the Board of Education of the Orange Unified School District for refusing to allow the creation of a Gay-Straight Alliance Club at El Modena High School.

The ACLU of Southern California claimed victory today after the Val Verde Unified School District dropped plans to post copies of the Ten Commandments on the walls of the school's offices. The school board's retreat came in the wake of the filing of a lawsuit last week by the ACLU, along with the law firm of Morrison and Foerster, on behalf of two families whose children attend school in Val Verde.

The ACLU of Southern California, along with the law firm of Morrison & Foerster, has filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of homeless individuals who have been the victims of a campaign of lawlessness on the streets at the hands of private security guards in downtown Los Angeles.

The ACLU Foundation of Southern California today filed a federal lawsuit challenging the posting of the Ten Commandments on the walls of school offices in the Val Verde School District. Along with the law firm of Morrison and Foerster, the ACLU has brought this suit on behalf of two families whose children attend school in Val Verde. The Supreme Court held in Stone v.Graham (1980) that the posting of the Ten Commandments on public school property violates the religious freedoms of students guaranteed by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.