News & Commentary

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - The ACLU of Southern California filed a lawsuit today against the city of Santa Barbara for intentionally violating the constitutional rights of disabled homeless people by criminalizing them through enforcement of its 'anti-sleeping ordinance,' while giving them no reasonable alternative to sleeping on the streets. The lawsuit - on behalf of certain homeless residents --was filed in federal district court in Los Angeles.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The ACLU of Southern California today applauded the Laguna Beach City Council for repealing an anti-sleeping ordinance that criminalized individuals for being chronically homeless. The City Council action came three months after the ACLU/SC, the law firm of Irell & Manella LLP, and Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the University of California, Irvine law school, sued the affluent city for its unconstitutional harassment and intimidation of disabled homeless residents.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California called today for an independent investigation into the Pasadena Police Department's fatal shooting of Leroy Barnes Jr. during a Feb. 19 traffic stop.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Finding that federal agents illegally detained and arrested dozens of people during a work site raid in Van Nuys last year, an immigration judge terminated orders to deport Gregorio Perez Cruz in a ruling this week. The ruling is likely to influence the outcome of dozens of the remaining cases arising out of the same raid.

The ACLU of Southern California has 3,000 square feet of office space available at its headquarters in downtown Los Angeles, convenient to downtown courthouses, Staples Center and LA Live, and the 110 freeway. The space is divisible to 250 square feet and is ideally set up for a small law practice, labor organization or nonprofit. On-duty guard service and security cameras, 24-hour building and elevator key-card access. For lease rate and contact information,

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has condemned the practice of racial profiling and agreed to promptly revise its anti-bias instruction to officers, expand diversity training and develop community outreach programs as part of a settlement with the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California and the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP.

The ACLU of Southern California has 3,000 square feet of office space available at its headquarters in downtown Los Angeles, convenient to downtown courthouses, Staples Center and LA Live, and the 110 freeway. The space is divisible to 250 square feet and is ideally set up for a small law practice, labor organization or nonprofit. On-duty guard service and security cameras, 24-hour building and elevator key-card access. For lease rate and contact information, please download a pdf of our flyer.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The ACLU of Southern California has strongly urged Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens to revise the department’s inadequate Taser policy in order to restrict and guide future use of these potentially lethal weapons.

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - Lawyers for a United States citizen who was illegally deported to Mexico are calling for the Obama administration to carefully review immigration procedures to ensure that no U.S. citizen is illegally deported again.