News & Commentary

By Mark Rosenbaum, Chief Counsel Five times a day, Princess Jasmine escapes the pressures of the royal palace to walk through the city streets under the cover of a modest headscarf. Or at least that’s what happens in Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular, the live show that performs five times every day in front of hundreds in Disney’s California Adventure theme park in Anaheim. Aladdin’s broad humor and characters are geared toward young children, but everybody enjoys the show.

At 10:30 this morning, the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California and the law offices of Hadsell Stormer Richardson & Renick are scheduled to announce “a lawsuit against a major media and entertainment company on behalf of a Muslim former employee, fired for wearing the hijab headscarf at work.”

KTLA: A Muslim woman who worked as a hostess at a Disneyland restaurant is suing Disney, claiming the company wouldn’t let her appear in front of guests while wearing her headscarf.

Los Angeles Times: By George Skelton Legislation and an ACLU lawsuit tackle the increasing use of fees at public schools, a trend that is unfair to low-income students and increases disparities. SACRAMENTO — Not every proposed law is historic or sweeping. Some merely are pretty good ideas — perhaps even important for a low-income kid.

By Hector Villagra, Executive Director Say my five-year-old decides she needs to grab something from a high cupboard. So she rolls the computer desk chair up to the counter, stands on the chair, and stretches every nerve to reach as high and far as she possibly can — and falls, scared but unhurt, in a heap on the kitchen floor. She says she knows she messed up, but doesn’t want to talk about what happened. I smile at her cleverness, but I say no, we need to talk about it. That’s because I want to understand her thought process and make sure she truly understands her missteps, in the hopes that she won’t repeat them.

Anaheim community leaders appealed on Tuesday to the City Council to address the issue of Latino representation on the council in the wake of two fatal police shootings that have sparked protests and clashes with police that have caught national attention.

Concerned Anaheim residents gathered Tuesday outside of City Hall to call on their city leaders for more representation in City Hall. Anaheim residents, represented by the ACLU, filed a lawsuit against the city of Anaheim on June 28 and this meeting was held to shed more light on it.

Los Angeles Times: Community members Tuesday called on the Anaheim City Council  to  address the lack of elected Latino representation by moving to a district-style election system instead of the current at-large process.

By Nusrat Choudhury, Staff Attorney, ACLU National Security Project Last week, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ruled that the ACLU’s lawsuit challenging the U.S. government’s secretive No Fly List should go forward. This decision is a true victory for our clients and all Americans.