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Top Stories From the ACLU of Southern California
L.A. Civil Rights Organizations Applaud Adoption of School Attendance Reform Recommendations by Education Coordinating Council
The ACLU of Southern California applauds the decision by the Los Angeles County Education Coordinating Council to endorse the findings and recommendations from the multi-agency Student Attendance Task Force (SATF). The recommendations, which were unanimously endorsed by the SATF’s members, are a step forward for Los Angeles County because they emphasize connecting students to resources to address the causes of attendance issues – rather than punitive approaches proven ineffective as the primary response to truancy or poor attendance. They call for significant reforms to every county agency that interacts with youth who struggle with attendance, including courts, police, and schools.
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Public Education Remains Free for All Children in California
The California ACLU affiliates won a major victory in Los Angeles Superior Court. Judge Carl West denied motions by the State and the State Board of Education, Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson, and California Department of Education to dismiss Doe v. State of California, which challenges the state’s failure to prevent school districts from charging fees that are prohibited by the California Constitution.
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ACLU/SC Sues to Guarantee Inmates’ Right to In-Person Parole Hearings
The ACLU/SC has filed suit on behalf of two federal inmates to force the United States State Parole Commission to comply with federal law. The Parole Act, passed in 1976, guarantees inmates the right to attend their parole hearings in person, but the commission has required inmates to have hearings by video conference. The suit was filed in federal court in the Central District of California.
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ACLU Lawsuit Charges LA County Sheriff Baca and Top Department Brass with Condoning Pattern of Savage Deputy-on-Inmate Violence
The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Southern California (ACLU/SC) and attorneys from Paul Hastings, LLP filed a federal class action lawsuit charging Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca and his top command staff with condoning a long-standing, widespread pattern of violence by deputies against inmates in the Los Angeles County Jails.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of two named plaintiffs, Alex Rosas and Jonathan Goodwin, who were savagely beaten and threatened with violence by deputies of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (L.A.S.D.) while they were pretrial detainees in the jail. As detailed in the complaint, the treatment of Rosas and Goodwin is not isolated – there are dozens of reports of similar brutality in the jails. The lawsuit seeks both injunctive and declaratory relief on behalf of all present and future inmates of the jails.
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Do the Rights Thing.
Olivia Wilde recounts decades of cutting-edge civil rights advocacy by the ACLU of Southern California.
L.A. Juvenile Courts Will Dismiss Curfew Tickets for Students on Their Way to School
Students with tickets for being late to school faced hundreds of dollars in fines and were forced to miss more school time to appear in court. Now Los Angeles’ top judge for juvenile courts, Juvenile Court Presiding Judge Michael Nash, has released new guidelines to eliminate fines and unnecessary court time for students who were late to school and for other minor offenses.
Federal Court Grants Class-Action Status to Unrepresented Immigration Detainees With Mental Disabilities
A federal court in California has granted class-action status to a group of unrepresented immigration detainees with mental disabilities, an important step in helping ensure they get access to legal counsel.
The ruling comes in response to a lawsuit filed last year on behalf of a group of detainees, including José Antonio Franco Gonzales, a Mexican immigrant with moderate mental retardation who was detained in federal immigration facilities for over four years without a hearing. Judge Dolly Gee of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California found that the problems identified in the lawsuit are systemic, and there is no mechanism for evaluating whether immigration detainees with mental disabilities are able to represent themselves.
Ahilan Arulanantham, deputy legal director for the ACLU of Southern California, said: "The sad fact is that the government refuses to systematically track the many detainees with mental disabilities who are lost in immigration detention centers, unable to represent themselves or even to understand why they're there. Today's ruling will allow us to shed light on this most vulnerable population within our broken immigration detention system."
U.S. Citizens Illegally Detained by Los Angeles Authorities Due to Secure Communities Program Errors
United States citizens have been illegally detained, sometimes for many days, due to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “holds” placed on them after these men and women were erroneously flagged as deportable. The U.S. citizens were detained due to Los Angeles County participation in the Department of Homeland Security’s Secure Communities (“S-Comm”), a fingerprint-sharing federal detention and deportation program. Read more...
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ACLU/SC Sues ICE Over Failure to Grant Fee Waiver for FOIA Request
The ACLU of Southern California has filed suit against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) in federal court to enforce its right to a waiver of fees associated with its request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for government records related to ICE’s worksite enforcement policies and practices.
In a dramatic departure from well-established FOIA law and practice that grants non-profit organizations fee waivers for FOIA requests made in the public interest, ICE denied the ACLU/SC a fee waiver for its request.
TAKE ACTION: Support the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth
Take action to support California's Fair Sentencing for Youth Campaign now!
Read "They'll Send Me Home When I Die," a blog post by Director of Policy Advocacy Clarissa Woo.
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Criminal Justice
Sentencing Reform: Balance Our Priorities
Disability Rights
Veterans’ Attorneys Respond to VA Master Plan
Educational Equality
Revised LAPD Protocol to Reduce Curfew Tickets
Freedom of Speech
VA Violated Free Speech Rights of Veteran
Immigrant Rights
ACLU/SC Sues ICE Over Failure to Grant Fee Waiver for FOIA Request
Jails Project
LGBT Equality
Seth Walsh Student Rights Project Home
Privacy Rights
Court Affirms Right to Privacy for HIV-Positive Adult Film Performer
Religious Liberty
FBI Targets American Muslims Solely for Practicing Religion
