News & Commentary

Dear Lindsay,

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The California affiliates of the American Civil Liberties Union today announced their endorsement of Proposition 19, the initiative on the November 2010 ballot that would allow state regulation of marijuana.

California's governor has proposed closing the state's $20 billion budget gap with a drastic cuts-only approach, slashing funding for vital human services without working to increase revenue. Yet one state program seems to be immune from these cuts: the death penalty. We think the time has come to CUT THIS.

Last week, Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers arrested a suspect they believe is the elusive "Grim Sleeper" serial killer responsible for 11 murders across South Los Angeles, dating as far back as 1985. The arrest made national news, in part because the LAPD broke the case by using a controversial new technique known as "familial DNA" searching. Prosecutors are now using this success to argue that familial DNA should be used more widely.

Ahilan T. Arulanantham is director of immigrant rights and national security for the ACLU/SC.

Ramona Ripston is Executive Director of the ACLU of Southern California.

NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union today filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit on behalf of 10 U.S. citizens and lawful residents who are prohibited from flying to or from the United States or over U.S. airspace because they are on the government's "No Fly List." None of the individuals in the lawsuit, including a disabled U.S. Marine Corps veteran stranded in Egypt and a U.S. Army veteran stuck in Colombia, have been told why they are on the list or given a chance to clear their names.

For many immigrants in this country, the chance to take the oath of allegiance to the United States and become sworn in as a U.S. citizen is a moment they dream about and work years to achieve. But for Tarek Hamdi and many other Muslim immigrants around the country, the dream is tarnished by racial and religious discrimination in the naturalization process.