News & Commentary

LOS ANGELES - In a reversal of position in response to an ACLU of Southern California lawsuit, Beltran v. UC Regents, the University of California late yesterday announced that it will admit students who qualify academically but whose schools failed to fill out the paperwork for the ELC ("Eligibility in a Local Context") admissions program, which guarantees admission to UC for the top 4% of each graduating class. The ACLU of Southern California filed suit in California State Superior Court on December 20, 2000, challenging the University's violation of the students' due process rights.

LOS ANGELES - In the aftermath of an unprecedented election contest, ultimately decided by a U.S. Supreme Court that openly questioned whether individuals have the right to vote for President, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California Ramona Ripston called for a Constitutional Amendment to guarantee U.S. citizens the right to elect their President.

LOS ANGELES - Advocates and social service providers are distributing today to Los Angeles downtown's homeless population copies of the final order issued in federal court yesterday in the case Justin, et al., v. City of Los Angeles. The case deals with LAPD harassment of homeless people in the downtown area frequently referred to as "Skid Row." Twenty-three homeless individuals said that police had engaged in a widespread practice of harassment.

LOS ANGELES - A U.S. District Court judge today issued a temporary restraining order to stop the Los Angeles Police Department from continuing its pattern of harassment and intimidation of homeless people in downtown's "Skid Row" area. The campaign of harassment and intimidation included:

LOS ANGELES - We are pleased that several of the recommendations made by the Police Commission's Independent Review Panel closely track the ACLU's calls for reform repeatedly made over the years, but are disappointed in some of the details -- or lack of details -- in the Report. We agree with many of the findings of serious problems, but there is a disjunction between the Panel's findings of grave problems going to heart of the functioning of the police department and the Police Commission, and the Panel's mostly tepid recommendations for change.

When we and other civil rights groups filed a lawsuit, Williams v. California, against the State of California in May, we brought to light the fact that many students in California lack the basic tools they need to learn, such as books, trained teachers, adequate space, and clean, well-maintained buildings. We hoped that this administration would recognize the failure of previous administrations to carry out these duties and would seek to remedy these failures.

The Rampart scandal hammered home the serious problem of police officers failing to come forward to report crimes committed by their fellow officers. Police officers seldom come forward because they fear retaliation from their co-workers; other officers fear retaliation from the top command. This makes the 'code of silence' possible.

LOS ANGELES 'The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California has received notice from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that it succeeded in challenging the retroactive application of a Prison Litigation Reform Act provision in Chappell v. Dickerson, a civil rights case brought by an inmate at the notorious Corcoran State Prison. The prisoner, Rex Chappell, sued for violation of his constitutional rights and psychological injury after he was deliberately placed in danger by a Corcoran prison guard. The Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), which became law in 1997, restricts prisoners' civil rights lawsuits for psychological injury to those in which a prisoner can show physical injury.

LOS ANGELES - The effect of California's welfare reform policies will be less punitive and capricious as a result of a settlement approved by the court yesterday in Nickols v. Saenz, a lawsuit filed by civil rights groups on behalf of poor women and children statewide. The lawsuit challenged the state's application of a "family cap" policy, called the Maximum Family Grant rule, to welfare families without giving them proper advance notice.