News & Commentary

CHICAGO - Congress and the Bush White House overstepped their constitutional authority and violated the rights of millions of customers when they passed and approved legislation granting sweeping immunity to telecoms that collaborated in illegal spying. That assertion is contained in a court filing today by three California affiliates and the Illinois affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, along with other interested parties in cases consolidated in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The ACLU lawsuits filed on behalf of dozens of plaintiffs - including renowned Chicago journalist Studs Terkel, former California Congressman Tom Campbell, journalist Robert Scheer and actor Richard Belzer -- challenge the unlawful collaboration of major telecommunications' companies - including AT&T - with the Bush administration's warrantless dragnet surveillance of electronic communications and records.

The ACLU/SC has launched a public education campaign to fight misinformation about the rights people with felony convictions have to vote. Get the facts and know your rights: California residents who have finished their sentences and parole do have the right to vote. Individuals on probation also can vote. All you have to do to restore your rights and take back your voting power is to register to vote by Oct. 20th at the post office or DMV.

The ACLU/SC has launched a public education campaign to fight misinformation about the rights people with felony convictions have to vote. Get the facts and know your rights: California residents who have finished their sentences and parole do have the right to vote. Individuals on probation also can vote. All you have to do to restore your rights and take back your voting power is to register to vote by Oct. 20th at the post office or DMV. Click here to download a quick guide, and click here to download a complete toolkit. For more information, visit Every Vote Counts.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - The ACLU of Southern California today announced an immigration victory for Ahilan Nadarajah, an ethnic Tamil farmer who, after being tortured in his native Sri Lanka, sought asylum in the United States. He then suffered through a nearly seven-year ordeal as Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials held him first in immigration jail and later under electronic monitoring because of secret, fake evidence accusing him of being a terrorist.

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LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Certain laws meant to fight terrorism have actually hijacked the war on terror, says Ahilan Arulanantham, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California who will speak at a public forum on government repression Wednesday evening.

The three California affiliates of the ACLU have filed a joint request for detailed information on the focus and methods of two little-known government centers in the state that gather broad data about American citizens in the name of fighting terrorism.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The ACLU of Southern California today applauded Calabasas Mayor Mary Sue Maurer and the other members of the Calabasas City Council for approving a new resolution on grant funding for community groups that eliminated language from an earlier version that violated First Amendment protections.

SAN DIEGO, Calif. - The continued incarceration of a transgender refugee from Mexico who was tortured in her home country and has been granted asylum by a U.S. immigration judge is 'unconstitutional,' the ACLU and two legal partners argued in a petition filed today.