News & Commentary

LOS ANGELES - In a stinging rebuke to the California Department of Corrections today, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the release of Billy Soza Warsoldier, a Cahuilla Native American who had refused to cut his hair short on religious grounds, from the Adelanto Community Correctional Facility in Adelanto, California. The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, together with the law firm of Bingham McCutchen, had filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Mr. Warsoldier after learning that he was being penalized for practicing his religion, a central tenet of which is the prohibition of cutting his hair except upon the death of a loved one. Mr. Warsoldier was denied visitation rights and other privileges for refusing to comply with the Department of Corrections' grooming policy, which stipulates that male inmates must keep their hair no longer than three inches.

ADELANTO, CA - The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, together with the law firm of Bingham McCutchen, today filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of a Native American inmate who has faced serious disciplinary sanctions - including the loss of all visitation rights --for his refusal to comply with a California Department of Corrections grooming policy requiring all male inmates to maintain hair no longer than three inches in length. Billy Soza Warsoldier is a Cahuilla Native American whose religious beliefs prohibit him from cutting his hair except upon the death of a loved one.

Today the ACLU of Southern California filed suit in federal court against the Belridge School District, a public school district near Bakersfield, in Kern County, California, challenging the constitutionality of the use of textbooks that convey a particular religious perspective on a wide range of classroom subjects, and that are replete with verbatim biblical passages and prayers for students to read. The suit also challenges the display of a banner on the walls of the Belridge School cafeteria that sets forth a Psalm.

Today the United States House of Representatives passed a measure which would allow states to pass laws permitting public schools to place the Ten Commandments in classrooms across this country. The ACLU of Southern California is shocked by this clear and arrogant violation of our constitution.