News & Commentary

LOS ANGELES - The ACLU of Southern California filed suit in federal court today against the Los Angeles Police Department for its attacks last Monday, August 14, on members of the media during their coverage of protests at the Democratic National Convention.

LOS ANGELES - The ACLU of Southern California intends to file suit�_ in federal court today against the Los Angeles Police Department for its attacks Monday night on members of the media. After shutting down the concert in the protest zone across from the Staples Center, police attacked the frightened crowd with batons, pepper spray, and nonlethal bullets. Members of the media reported that police officers singled them out for attack.

LOS ANGELES - The ACLU of Southern California won a temporary restraining order today to stop the Los Angeles Police Department from continuing its pattern of harassment and intimidation of protesters. Judge Dean Pregerson enjoined the LAPD from:

LOS ANGELES - The ACLU of Southern California entered into a landmark settlement yesterday with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority in Beauchamp v. MTA, a case filed in 1998 to guarantee access to MTA's bus lines for passengers who use wheelchairs or other assistive devices. Mobility-impaired passengers were frequently left to wait by the side of the road because wheelchair lifts were not in working order, or because drivers simply did not stop to pick them up. Even when a bus stopped and the lift worked, restraints inside the buses were frequently not in working order, thus endangering passengers' safety.

LOS ANGELES - The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California applauded the U.S. Supreme Court's dual affirmation of suspects' Miranda rights today. In Dickerson, Chief Justice Rehnquist wrote for the majority that law enforcement officers must warn criminal suspects of their rights under the landmark 1966 Miranda decision, including their right to remain silent. In California Attorneys for Criminal Justice (CACJ) v. Butts, a case filed by the ACLU of Southern California against the Los Angeles and Santa Monica Police Departments, the Supreme court refused to hear the appeal pressed by the cities, letting stand a ruling by a federal court in Los Angeles that police interrogation after a suspect has requested an attorney or invoked his or her right to remain silent violates a person's rights under Miranda.

LOS ANGELES - Civil rights groups that are part of the landmark Williams v. State of California education case announced that they have established a statewide toll-free hotline (1-877-53-CAL-ED or 1-877-532-2533) for parents, teachers, and students whose schools have failed to offer the bare minimum conditions for successful learning, conditions ranging from a lack of textbooks, to untrained teachers, to filthy, run-down buildings.

LOS ANGELES - Today, on the 46th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, civil rights groups and attorneys in California filed the most comprehensive lawsuit concerning the bare minimums required for education ever to be brought against a state. The historic class-action lawsuit was filed in California Superior Court on behalf of students in eighteen schools located throughout California. The lawsuit charges the state with having reneged on its constitutional obligation to provide at least the bare essentials necessary for education to all students. The suit also charges California with having violated state and federal requirements that equal access to public education be provided without regard to race, color, or national origin.

LOS ANGELES, CA - City Council Members were asked to vote today in support of the newly gutted racial profiling bill, but raised questions about the bill's efficacy and its lack of a data collection mandate. The Council referred the motion to committee.

LOS ANGELES, CA - "Governor Davis and Senator Murray have colluded in creating a truly empty piece of legislation," said Catherine Lhamon, staff attorney for the ACLU of Southern