News & Commentary

Since shortly after Naji Hamdan, an American citizen, was arrested and held incommunicado in the United Arab Emirates in 2008, the ACLU of Southern California has been working to obtain the truth about why the U.A.E. held, tortured, and charged Mr. Hamdan as part of the U.S.'s controversial "proxy detention" program.

It was President Abraham Lincoln’s greatest vision that whether you were the child of a free slave, the child of a Confederate soldier who would renounce this country, the child of a president — or even the child of a serial murderer — you should be judged on who you are, not on who your parents were. The Union was about was making sure that we all have equal opportunity to invent ourselves.

SAN FRANCISCO – In a landmark decision today, a federal judge ruled that Proposition 8, the California ballot initiative that excluded same-sex couples from marriage in the state, violates the United States Constitution. The American Civil Liberties Union, the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) and Lambda Legal filed two friend-of-the-court briefs in the case supporting the argument that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional.

LOS ANGELES – The nation’s first class action lawsuit on behalf of immigrant detainees with severe mental disabilities – detainees who are left defenseless in a system they cannot comprehend – was filed late Monday by a coalition of legal organizations led by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, Public Counsel, and Sullivan & Cromwell LLP.

John Horton was held in solitary confinement in the Los Angeles County Men's Central Jail following his arrest for drug possession. He committed suicide.

Dear Lindsay,

Dear Lindsay,