By March 1, 2013 all public schools in California, including charter schools and alternative schools, must have a process in place for students and parents to file a complaint if they believe their school is charging fees as a condition of participating in educational activities. Such fees violate the California Constitution, which has guaranteed children free schools for well over a hundred years, and create a pay-to-learn system that discriminates against children from lower-income families. 

Under an agreement just reached by the ACLU of Southern California (ACLU/SC) and the County of Orange, the county will no longer require observant Muslim women in Orange County Sheriff’s Department custody to remove religious head coverings in full view of male officers, and will provide temporary headscarves for them to wear while they are in custody.

The ACLU of Southern California and the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center are urging Los Angeles city leaders to sever sister city ties with St. Petersburg, Russia, following the passage there of increasingly repressive laws directed at the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. 

The ACLU Foundation of Southern California and the law firm Traber & Voorhees today announced settlement agreements that will protect students in Glendale Unified School District (GUSD) from discrimination as well as arbitrary detentions and searches by police officers on campus.

In response to President Obama's speech today outlining his immigration reform plan, Michael Kaufman, staff attorney for the ACLU of Southern California, issued the following statement: "President Obama has laid out a blueprint for immigration reform that offers a number of significant improvements for our broken system.

On the 40th Anniversary of the landmark decision Roe v. Wade, state leaders, women’s health and rights groups, announced the introduction of a bill that would improve abortion access. The bill, AB 154, authored by Assemblymember Toni Atkins (D-San Diego), improves access by expanding the types of health professionals who can provide early abortions.

In response to an announcement by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) clarifying how agents should issue "detainers," or holds for potential deportation proceedings placed on an immigrant arrested by local law enforcement, Staff Attorney Jennie Pasquarella of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California issued the following statement:

The U.S. Supreme Court announced today that it will grant review in Hollingsworth v. Perry, the challenge to California’s Proposition 8, and in Windsor v. United States, the ACLU’s challenge to the so-called Defense of Marriage Act.

Leaders in the fields of entertainment, law and civil liberties activism headlined the list of honorees at the ACLU of Southern California’s 2012 Bill of Rights Dinner. Director and producer Jay Roach, actor and activist Jane Lynch and talent manager “Scooter” Braun each received the Bill of Rights Award for furthering the cause of civil liberties;