News & Commentary

Today the California Court of Appeal unanimously ruled that the District Attorney's office and the Los Angeles Police Department wrongly withheld evidence which denied Elmer "Geronimo" Pratt the right to a fair trial.

The California Department of Education, the Compton Unified School District and the plaintiffs represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, Robert Myers of Newman. Aaronson & Vanaman and attorney Karl Manheim, today announced an agreement on improvement of school facilities and educational services in the Compton Unified School District.

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 ACLU of Southern California today announced its intention to file an amended complaint in its federal class action lawsuit [Kaitlyn Baca vs City of Los Angeles 98-2865 R(RCx)] against the City of Los Angeles and its Department of Recreation and Parks to include all girls who wish to participate in City-sponsored softball and other athletic programs run by the City. The ACLU claims that the overwhelming majority of girls in Los Angeles do not have equal access to either City-sponsored softball leagues or to the many athletic programs paid for and run by the City currently available to boys.

The ACLU California and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) will seek a Temporary Restraining Order from U.S. District Court Judge Lourdes Baird this afternoon at a 2:00 p.m. hearing to stop the state's largest school district from implementing Prop. 227, passed by voters June 3, that would abolish bilingual education programs in public schools throughout California. Plaintiffs filed the federal class action lawsuit [Diana Doe vs LAUSD - 98-6154 LGB (RZx)] yesterday.

Toda

Assembly Speaker Antonio R. Villaraigosa has appointed Ramona Ripston, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, to the state Commission on Judicial Performance. The eleven-member commission is an independent state agency that handles complaints about California judges involving judicial misconduct or wrongdoing. The commission has authority over active judges and also over former judges for their conduct before retirement from the bench. Commissioners receive no salary but are reimbursed for the expense of serving on the commission.

Public interest advocacy groups including Multicultural Education, Training and Advocacy (META), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, the Asian Law Caucus, the Employment Law Center, and Public Advocates, announced today that they are filing a class action lawsuit in federal court to block implementation of Proposition 227.

The ACLU of Southern California today filed a long overdue class-action lawsuit in federal court against the city of Los Angeles and its Department of Recreation and Parks for discrimination against a girls' softball league in the San Fernando Valley [Kaitlyn Baca vs City of Los Angeles 98-2865 R(RCx)]. For 29 years, the West Valley Girls' Softball (WVGS) league, which includes more than 400 girls ages five to 18, has been denied equal access to the publicly-owned fields that are consistently made available to boys' baseball leagues.