News & Commentary

The following statement is from Ramona Ripston, executive director of the ACLU of Southern California:

The ACLU National office annually recognizes the efforts of graduating seniors who have demonstrated a strong commitment to civil liberties throughout their high school experience. This year, 15 high school students will each be awarded a $7,000 college scholarship through the program. These scholar-activists will also be invited to participate in the Youth Activist Institute at the National ACLU office in New York City, to be held over several days in the summer of 2010. There, the scholarship recipients will learn more about the work of the ACLU and receive hands-on training on how to be grassroots activists and leaders on their campuses.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – A judge in the United Arab Emirates sentenced U.S. citizen Naji Hamdan to 18 months after finding him guilty of unspecified terrorism-related charges that stem from an apparent U.S.- orchestrated arrest and a coerced confession obtained under torture.

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court heard arguments today in an American Civil Liberties Union case addressing whether Congress - transfer to private owners of a small parcel of land with a Latin cross on it in the Mojave National Preserve remedies the Establishment Clause violation found by the lower courts. The ACLU argued that transferring the land – with a cross on it designated by Congress as a national memorial -- to the Veterans of Foreign Wars does not cure the government's unconstitutional endorsement of one religion over another.

Peter Eliasberg will appear before the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to argue Salazar v. Buono, an important First Amendment case concerning a cross erected by private citizens in California's Mojave National Preserve. Here are some of his thoughts on the eve of arguing the case before the nation's highest court.

An op-ed opinion piece, mistakenly identified as a Sacramento Bee editorial, rehashed misleading statements and made many more about our Mojave cross case, which will be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 7. Ramona Ripston, ACLU/SC Executive Director, responds.

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SANTA ANA, Calif. – The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California filed a class-action lawsuit today against Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas and the City of Orange Police Department for illegally placing dozens of residents under a gang injunction after first deliberately preventing them from arguing in court that they don’t belong to a gang.

by Peter Eliasberg, ACLU/SC managing attorney and Manheim Family Attorney for First Amendment Rights