Highlights of 2006
The ACLU of Southern California has faced many challenges during 2006, but with the support of our member activists we were able to celebrate victories in our effort to safeguard fundamental civil rights and civil liberties. One of this year’s highlights was the myriad of advocacy done by our Orange County office. This advocacy ranged from challenging the sheriff on immigration issues to examining health-care access for non-English speakers to protecting the First Amendment right of residents to address their public officials. Due to your support, we have been able to bring our resources directly to the community.
January
· ACLU/SC is the first affiliate to formally oppose the nomination of Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court. National follows our lead a few weeks later. Throughout his career, Alito has promoted an expansive view of executive authority and a limited view of the judicial role in curbing abuses of that authority. In 2004, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, whom Alito was nominated to replace, expressed what is at stake when she wrote: “A state of war is not a blank check for the president when it comes to the rights of the nation’s citizens.” Despite a vigorous fight, Alito is ultimately confirmed to the court.
· In filing papers against the latest assault on integration efforts with LAUSD, Catherine Lhamon, racial justice director for the ACLU/SC says: “We will not go back to the bad old days of school segregation.” We file motions in Los Angeles Superior Court seeking to intervene in two lawsuits filed in October 2005 by the Pacific Legal Foundation. One suit challenges the use of race in student admission to magnet schools and in a voluntary busing program. The other suit challenges the use of race when assigning teachers to district schools after being hired. The judges in both cases grant our intervention.
· Documents from California officials reveal a growing concern about the impact and hefty cost of implementing REAL ID, federal legislation mandating control over the design, distribution and management of drivers licenses, turning them into de facto federal identity papers. In their responses to a statewide survey, California’s motor vehicle officials expressed profound concern over everything including not having the equipment or databases needed to process millions of records, the real-world impact on senior citizens and the unknown total cost of the program. The ACLU continues it advocacy against the REAL ID Act.
February
· Our First Amendment lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security, filed in 2005 on behalf of Frank Terreri, a federal air marshal, is cleared to move to trial. By April 2006 we reach an agreement with the federal agency protecting whistleblower rights.
· When Southern California resident Rob Anders firms up travel to visit his mother at a family reunion in Florida, he planned to use a pair of round-trip tickets he won at a holiday party. But when Northwest Airlines refuses to allow Anders and his registered domestic partner, Pat, to redeem the tickets, ACLU/SC staff attorney Christine P. Sun intervenes with a stern letter informing the airline that California law mandates equity in service regardless of sexual orientation. The airline claimed that only spouses, children or another airline employee qualifies as a traveling companion. “Because same-sex couples who wish to marry cannot currently do so under California law, using marriage as a criterion discriminates on the basis of sexual orientation,” Sun says. “Northwest’s policy also discriminates on the basis of marital status because it does not permit unmarried heterosexual individuals to bring the companion of their choice.” As a result, Northwest Airlines honors the tickets.
· The LAPD Police Commission decides to redact from its summary reports the names of officers involved in shootings, ending a 25-year practice. We speak out in favor of police accountability. The commission’s decision does little more than diminish public confidence in their police department, bringing immeasurable damage in a city infamous for decades of police scandal and failed attempts to bring about reform. We are considering our options in challenging this policy change.
March
· Our clients Saluja Thangaraja and Ahilan Nadarajah, victims of torture and persecution in Sri Lanka who sought asylum in the United States only to be thrown in custody for more than four years, are ordered free after years of unlawful detention. Our work on behalf of Nadarajah, whom government officials kept in custody despite his twice being granted asylum by a judge, resulted in a critical decision from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. In it, the court stated that those in immigration proceedings can be detained only “for a reasonable period and only if there is a significant likelihood of removal in the reasonably foreseeable future” and that “general immigration detention statutes do not authorize the attorney general to incarcerate detainees for an indefinite period.”
· We file a lawsuit on behalf of community activist Benito Acosta against the city of Costa Mesa after his arrest and beating when attempting to speak during the public comments section of a council meeting.
· Through Katie A. v. Bonta, a class action lawsuit, California is ordered to provide improved home- and community-based mental health services to foster children. In the suit, the ACLU/SC and five other public interest and pro bono firms represented a statewide class of more than 50,00 foster children throughout California with mental health needs. We helped challenge the state’s longstanding practice of confining abused and neglected children in costly hospitals and large group homes instead of providing mental health services that would enable them to stay in their own homes and communities. The order is handed down by a federal district judge in Los Angeles.
April
· As Congress wrestles with immigration reform, we add our voice to the call for compassionate solutions. For more than three decades the ACLU/SC has advocated for humane immigration law that provides a path to legalization and recognizes the valued contributions immigrants have made, and continue to make, to our society. Protecting family unity and ensuring equity for immigrants within our judicial system should be priorities of immigration reform, and efforts to criminalize immigrants violate the spirit of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
· “The Eighth Amendment prohibits the City from punishing involuntary sitting, lying, or sleeping on public sidewalks that is an unavoidable consequence of being human and homeless without shelter in the City of Los Angeles.” – Excerpt from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision in Jones v. Los Angeles, our effort to end the criminalization of homelessness in the city.
· Once contacted by the ACLU/SC, the California Department of Corrections realizes excluding HIV-positive inmates from its spousal visitation program is a blatant act of discrimination and ends the practice. Our action is on behalf of a woman who is forbidden from spousal visits with her husband, even though she signed paperwork affirming she was aware of his HIV status.
· After four months of talks, we reach an agreement with the Fullerton School District that allows families a say in the “Laptops for Learning” program. In this pilot program designed to bring technology into Fullerton schools, parents who did not meet the strict requirements for financial aid were forced to either transfer their children to alternate schools or buy the computers whether they could afford them or not. Worried that the fee for computers violated the state constitutional guarantee of a free public education, several parents came to us for help. Under the compromise we reach with the district, a majority of parents in a school now must agree to participate, and families are given a choice between purchasing the $1,500 computers or borrowing one from the district.
May
· We file a Freedom of Information Act request on behalf of area Muslim organizations to obtain answers from the FBI about its suspected monitoring of local mosques. The government has so far refused to explain repeated news reports describing FBI surveillance of mosques and numerous personal accounts from worshipers who were questioned about their faith at home and at work. “People are being scared away from worship because of reports that mosques and those who pray at them are being monitored. People are afraid that practicing their religion or even visiting a mosque will make them a suspect of the government,” says Shakeel Syed, executive director of the Islamic Shura Council.
· U.S. District Judge Dean D. Pregerson, after touring Men’s Central Jail in April at our request, says jail conditions are “simply not consistent with basic values.” He directs the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and the sheriff’s department to work with the ACLU/SC to develop a plan to improve conditions and overcrowding within 60 days. The county then redirects the overflow to the Inmate Reception Center, forcing 30-40 inmates at a time to share a single cell without beds, blankets, adequate food or medical care. In October, Pregerson will issue a temporary restraining order prohibiting these inhumane conditions.
· The Rev. James M. Lawson, Jr., an ACLU/SC board member, scholar and longtime civil rights activist who was adviser to Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., is named as chair of the ACLU National Advisory Council.
· As the National ACLU office continues its fight against threats to civil liberties under various Patriot Act-related actions, the ACLU/SC continues with its lawsuit against Verizon and AT&T to stop their illegal and unconstitutional sharing of private customer data with the National Security Agency.
June
· Through Barakat v. Arellano, Aiad Barakat, a Palestinian man denied citizenship for 20 years due to engaging in his First Amendment rights to political speech, is finally granted citizenship by federal court order. He is the first of the “LA 8” to win this historic fight. The “LA 8” are a group of seven Palestinian men and one woman from Kenya whom the government had been trying to deport for 15 years. Using a law from the Cold War era, the group was accused of being associated with an organization that advocates communism. Their crime was speaking out in favor of a Palestinian state. Officials have admitted that no one in the group ever committed a criminal act, and that if they had been born in the United States the government wouldn’t have been able to prosecute.
July
· California’s ACLU affiliates file a
· The Voting Rights Act, critical legislation signed into law in 1965 by President Lyndon B. Johnson, is renewed, allowing it to continue protecting today’s voters. The ACLU’s national office played a critical role in lobbying and education efforts on this initiative.
· Buena Park resident Abdel Jabbar Hamdan is finally released by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal. At the 11th hour, the Department of Justice had attempted to dodge the court order to release him by asking a federal judge to reconsider. The judge nevertheless released him. A graduate of USC, Hamdan is the father of six U.S.-born children. In 2004, immigration agents arrested him in the middle of the night for technical visa violations. He was later ordered deported to Jordan, where he grew up, but an immigration judge found he would be tortured if he returned to Jordan. Hamdan was never charged with a crime, yet federal officials kept him unjustly detained for more than two years despite three court decisions ordering his release. Hamdan was an independent contractor for the Holy Land Foundation, a charitable organization that provided humanitarian relief in the Middle East and throughout the world. Though the U.S. government admits funds raised went to legitimate charitable causes, in 2001 it still shut down the organization.
August
· “It was important to me to serve my country, but now I want to do more and without citizenship I cannot contribute my fullest to our society. I am part of this lawsuit because I hope the government will mend its broken system so this does not happen to anyone else.” – Mustafa Aziz, an Air Force veteran, speaking on why he joined our class-action lawsuit challenging excessive citizenship delays for legal permanent residents.
· A groundbreaking law requiring that privacy and security protections be built into Radio Frequency Identification tags (RFIDs), which are used as part of identification documents issued by the state of California, passes the Legislature with strong bipartisan support. However, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will ultimately fail to sign the bill into law.
· “The mere ‘consideration’ or ‘taking into account’ of racial/ethnic composition does not necessarily seem to ‘discriminate’ or grant ‘preferences’ based on race.” – Orange County Superior Court Judge Gail Andler, in her ruling rejecting attempts to block integration efforts in Capistrano schools. Our lawsuit was on behalf of parents in the district. This case is similar to our effort in January to counter an attempt by the Pacific Legal Foundation to end an integration program within the LAUSD.
September
· In the latest victory associated with our historic Williams v. California settlement in 2004, Gov. Schwarzenegger signs into law a bill turning the $800 million Emergency Repair Fund Program into a grant program, allowing school districts dealing with budget crises to tap into those funds without risk of getting stuck with the bill. News outlets throughout the state have reported on how Williams is already bringing real results – more books, facilities improvements – into poor classrooms.
· The ACLU/SC is given clearance by the courts to represent domestic violence groups and day laborer groups in a lawsuit defending a Los Angeles Police Department policy that is a cornerstone of community policing. Special Order 40, an LAPD policy for more than 25 years, prevents officers from initiating contact in order to determine residents’ immigration status. This policy helps local law enforcement work with communities as victims and witnesses of crime are more willing to interact with local police if they know their immigration status doesn’t matter when reporting a crime. Law enforcement officials credit policies like this with improving relations between the police and vulnerable populations and increasing public safety.
October
· Though the Military Commissions Act was signed into law over the strong protest of ACLU’s national office, we continue education efforts against this egregious alteration of the law.
· With the help of the ACLU/SC, a Vietnamese Buddhist temple fighting for the right to construct a new temple on its property is granted the right to hold religious services at the medical building currently on the site. The decision handed down by U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney is effective immediately, allowing Quan Am Temple and Abbot Thich Dao Quang to use the space for religious and non-religious purposes. In his decision, Judge Carney writes “to protect the First Amendment rights of the Abbot and his congregation to freely practice their religion, the court must preliminarily enjoin the city from enforcing the zoning ordinance against them.” He adds that the temple has shown that it has suffered extreme hardship under the city’s code, to the point where it is likely unconstitutional. Our lawsuit targets the city council and planning commission for violating the congregation’s First Amendment rights to free religious exercise, their rights under the California Constitution and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000. We are seeking a permanent order allowing the construction of a new temple at the site.
November
· Seven of our 10 clients in the class-action lawsuit, Aziz v. Gonzales demanding that immigration officials end the practice of delaying citizenship applications by more than seven times the legal limit, are sworn in as U.S. citizens. We continue to our efforts on behalf of the remaining clients in that lawsuit.
· In 1999, Roger Sutton, a 17- year veteran of the Riverside Police Department, approached the ACLU/SC for help. A campaign of racial harassment had been unleashed upon him by the department — a situation that eventually resulted in a six-year lawsuit. In 2005, a jury awarded him $1.5 million for emotional distress, along with $140,000 for lost wages and medical bills. In November 2006 the police department finally agrees to settle and pay the judgment rather than appeal the verdict.
· Student journalists at East Bakersfield High School, whose series about gay students was censored by school administrators in 2005, win a court order ensuring free speech rights within the district. Though the articles are eventually printed, students pursue the action through the courts to ensure free speech rights for all. “From day one the students knew they had been wrongly censored and vowed to make sure this didn’t happen to the next generation of Kern students,” said ACLU/SC staff attorney Christine P. Sun. “Under this policy, the students would not have been censored in the first place.”
December
· Testimony begins in the trial of Charlene Nguon, a 2006 graduate of Santiago High School in Garden Grove. We filed suit on her behalf after she was singled out by school administrators for showing affection to her significant other, something students at her high school did every day. But unlike those other students, Charlene’s significant other was another young woman. That didn’t sit well with her principal or other school administrators who unleashed a campaign of harassment against her that included twice suspending her from school and outing her to her mother. All the while, heterosexual students on campus were not punished for doing the exact same thing. The case garnered wide media attention, including national coverage in The New York Times, MTV, ABC’s “World News Tonight,” and CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360.” A federal judge ruled that she could sue her principal and other officials in the Garden Grove Unified School District for violating her privacy. The lawsuit had sought to create a district-wide policy ensuring equal treatment of lesbian and gay students. The trial is expected to conclude in federal court in Santa Ana as Open Forum goes to press.
· We continue to demand answers over disturbing videos of LAPD brutality caught on video. In one posted to the popular website YouTube, a man is punched in the face by one officer as the other sits on his chest. In another, a man is sprayed with pepper spray while handcuffed in a police car. “Californians are entitled to more transparency than a chance video. YouTube is not an acceptable substitute for accountability,” said Ramona Ripston, ACLU/SC chief executive officer.
DECEMBER 2006
Fighting Cruelties Against L.A.'s Homeless
Californians Again Put Teen Health and Safety First
Upholding the Rule of Law for Immigrants in Illegal Detention
Judge Orders L.A. County to Fix Jail Intake Center Overcrowding
ACLU/SC Deplores Latest Incidents of Police Brutality
O.C. Sheriff's Revised Plan Still Wrong Approach for Community Safety
