News & Commentary

Shortly after Sam arrived in this country, seeking asylum to escape threats to his life in India, he was robbed, beaten and left unconscious on the side of the road. He suffered severe head trauma, including a fracture and a concussion. He immediately reported the crime, and a Kern County Sheriff’s deputy visited him in the hospital. He answered the deputy’s questions and cooperated fully. Although Sam met the legal requirements for a U-visa certification, Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood refused his request. That certification is needed to apply for a U-visa from the federal government.

By Dennis Parker

Today is a huge opportunity for Californians to reach out, directly, to our state's senators and assembly members – and urge them to support the ACLU's legislative priorities, especially on digital privacy, police reform and education equity.

This post originally appeared in the Voice of OC.

Thanks to the prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment in our Constitution, we have some simple and basic legal rules when it comes to prison health care. Prisons must provide the people in their custody adequate health care. Prisons can’t ignore people’s serious health needs. Decisions about what treatments people need must be made by health care professionals with the necessary expertise, not prison bureaucrats. Prisons can’t have blanket policies that say no one can ever get a certain form of health care, even if doctors say they really, really need it.Yesterday a federal court invoked these very uncontroversial legal principles to rule that California prison officials must provide Michelle-Lael Norsworthy, a transgender woman incarcerated at a men’s prison, with gender confirming surgery her doctors and medical experts say she desperately needs.

California created the nation's first paid family leave (PFL) program for workers more than a decade ago. The groundbreaking legislation has since helped many people meet their family caregiving obligations and bond with their children. But the system is flawed and needs a tune-up.California's system is unique because it allows workers to get paid time off to bond with a newborn or adopted child or care for sick family members (a child, spouse, parent, parent-in-law, sibling, grandparent or grandchild). Only two other states have PFL programs. In the rest of the nation parental and family leaves don't come with pay -– thanks in part to our country's sad distinction as the only developed nation without a national pai

San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department officers shoot members of the public with Tasers hundreds of times each year, with nearly half of those electric shocks resulting in injuries. And on four separate occasions since 2008, individuals have died after sheriff’s deputies tased them multiple times – even though federal guidelines on Taser use warn that “repeated or multiple applications may increase risk of death.”

By Lenora M. Lapidus, @LenoraLapidus