News & Commentary

Your Rights During and After a Disaster:

Constitution Day Council:
The Honorable H. Lee Sarokin, Retired, U.S. Court of Appeals, 3rd District, Constitution Day Council Chair
Founding Members
Mark Danis, Morrison & Foerster LLP
Eric Isaacson, Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP
Anthony Stiegler, Cooley LLP
The Honorable James Stiven, Retired, U.S. District Court, Southern District of California
and
Past Presidents of the San Diego County Bar Association:
– Candace Carroll, Sullivan Hill Lewin Rez & Engel
– Todd Stevens, Keeney, Waite & Stevens (also a 2016 sponsor!)
and 2016 Lead Sponsors

List of Participating Legal Organizations

American Bar Association Immigration Justice Project
Andersen Mann Hilbert & Parker
Appellate Defenders, Inc.
Office of the Attorney General – California
California Innocence Project
California Western School of Law
Cooley LLP
Consumer Law Group
Crowley Law Group
Office of the San Diego District Attorney
DLA Piper
Federal Defenders of San Diego, Inc.
Fish & Richardson
Fisher & Phillips
Morgan Foley, City Attorney, City of El Cajon
Higgs, Fletcher & Mack
Jones Day
Joseph Mediations
Kohn Law Office
Latham & Watkins
Laughlin Falbo Levi & Moresi
Law Office of Adam Van Susteren
Law Office of Alex Landon
Law Offices of Eric Morton
Law Offices of Gerald Blank
Law Office of Isaac Blumberg
Law Office of Jennifer L. Coon
Law Office of Jonathan L. Willis
Law Offices of Lance Rogers
Law Office of Lilia S. Velasquez
Law Office of Rebecca P. Jones
Law Office of Stephen D. Lemish
Law Office of Steven Schorr
Law Office of Suzie Mindlin
Legal Aid Society of San Diego
Lincoln Gustafson & Cercos
MacLeod & Catalano
Majors & Fox
McDougal Love Eckis Boehmer Foley & Lough
McKenna Long & Aldridge
Mitchell Gilleon Law Firm
Morrison & Foerster
Multiple Conflicts Office of San Diego County

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Low-level marijuana possession was reduced from a misdemeanor to an infraction in California in 2011, but marijuana law enforcement still results in thousands of arrests each year. In 2011-14, according to the California Department of Justice, law enforcement agencies made 60,000 marijuana arrests statewide. In 2014, young people under the age of 20 accounted for 73 percent of all misdemeanor marijuana arrests in the state. Nearly 70 percent of all marijuana arrests were of people of color. A recent analysis of infraction data from Fresno and Los Angeles Police Departments found racial disparities in marijuana enforcement remain even at the lowest level.
“The disastrous war on marijuana in California continues to ensnare thousands of people – particularly young people of color – in the criminal justice system every year,” said Margaret Dooley-Sammuli, criminal justice and drug policy director with the ACLU of California. “It is time to move from prohibition to regulation. AUMA will establish a controlled and regulated market for adults, sig

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Read a blog by our legal director, David Loy.

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