News & Commentary

The behavior engaged in by many overzealous photographers who make their living capturing celebrity navbar cannot be condoned. On this we all agree. But not only does the legislation recently proposed by Senators Feinstein and Hatch not offer any real solution to this problem, it gravely threatens First Amendment rights and improperly federalizes areas of traditional state concern. It would create a new federal crime and a new federal tort, both specifically targeting the press.

The American Civil Liberties Union joins with the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights and other concerned individuals and organizations during this the "National Week of Action Against Immigration Raids" in calling for an end to abusive immigration raids. The abuses documented in various media accounts and in numerous court cases cannot be ignored. There is no excuse for physical and verbal abuses by INS officials, and there is no room for ethnic stereotyping in immigration enforcement or, for that matter, in other law enforcement activities.

The ACLU of Southern California today sent a letter to the San Bernardino County Coroner's Office protesting the release of more than 50 fetuses to church groups in Chino, Chino Hills and Montclair for the purpose of holding religious memorial and burial services this evening and tomorrow. The ACLU has threatened to sue the County for violating the First Amendment's requirement of the separation of church and state if the fetuses are released to the church groups for the express purpose of holding religious services.

Important legislation to measure discrimination in traffic stops was vetoed by Governor Wilson. The "California Traffic Stops Statistics Act," also known as the "Driving While Black or Brown" (DWB) bill, would have made it possible to keep tabs on racial bias, by requiring law enforcement to collect and report statistical information for a three-year period on the race of motorists pulled over by police.

The ACLU of Southern California, on Sept. 29, sent the City of Banning a letter threatening to enter a lawsuit on behalf of petitioners who exercised their First Amendment rights to petition the city after the Banning City Council sued them for gathering signatures opposing a merger of the Banning Fire Department with the Riverside County California Department of Forestry.

Today, the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari in Anderson vs Roe, California's challenge to the January 28 Ninth Circuit Court decision upholding the June 4, 1997 District Court ruling blocking California from reducing the public benefits of eligible new state residents. The January Ninth Circuit ruling was the first Circuit Court decision stopping a state from using the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act to cut the benefits of new residents.

Calling the ruling a major victory for disabled and elderly bus riders who rely on lifts and equipment to let them travel on MTA buses, the ACLU of Southern California hailed the ruling received today from U.S. District Court Judge Consuelo Marshall granting a preliminary injunction in Beauchamp vs Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority [98-0402 CBM (BQRx)].

Today plaintiffs in Valley VOTE vs City of Los Angeles announced settlement of the lawsuit filed against the City of Los Angeles for violation of the First Amendment rights of signature gatherers by city employees at the city-run Van Nuys Airport last June.

The ACLU of Southern California today filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the City of Pasadena on behalf of several community activists challenging a new ordinance restricting the distribution of handbills, leaflets, fliers and other written material to businesses and residences.