News & Commentary

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Less than a month after U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced the nation’s plan to scale back federal prison sentences for low-level drug crimes, the California Assembly today passed an historic drug sentencing reform bill that will allow counties to significantly reduce incarceration costs by giving local prosecutors the flexibility to charge low-level, non-violent drug offenses as misdemeanors instead of felonies.

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Following is a reflection by Dennis Parker, Director of our ACLU Racial Justice Program.
The Fierce Urgency of Now
For me, few anniversaries inspire as much ambivalence as the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington. Billed as the "March for Jobs and Freedom," the event stands as both a shining example of the promise of the civil rights era and a reminder of how we as a nation have, in many ways, betrayed the ideals and vision expressed by the scores of speakers and musicians who addressed the crowd of a quarter of a million people on August 28, 1963.

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luthe

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The Board of the ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties recognizes esteemed board member Jim McElroy, for receiving one of the American Association for Justice’s top honors, the Leonard Weinglass in Defense of Civil Liberties Award this week. The Weinglass award is presented to the person “who has made a notable contribution to the defense of civil liberties by bringing, trying, or resolving a suit, or by otherwise protecting or advancing civil liberties, in a way that has had a significant impact in the past year or over the course of his/her career,” according to a statement by the AAJ, formerly known as the American Trial Lawyers Association.

(Los Angeles)—A broad coalition of education and civil rights organizations, including the ACLU of California, are sending a letter today to all California county and district superintendents and charter school administrators urging immediate action to direct additional resources to the state’s neediest children.

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2005 to 2013: Accomplishments Led or Co-Led by the ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties during Keenan’s Tenure

Successfully challenged the City of Escondido’s rental ban ordinance, which required landlords to screen the immigration status of prospective tenants, with the leadership of legal director David Loy in 2006, as well as led adoption of a state law in 2007 to prohibit any other California cities from passing such an ordinance;
Rapid response to mistreatment of immigrants and people of color during the 2007 wildfire recovery, including a report issued ten days after the fires, a state law to limit public employees’ screening for immigration status during a natural disaster, and a guidebook and training on the rights of immigrants during and after a natural disaster;
Successful challenge to inhumane overcrowding conditions and denial of medical care to immigration detainees at the San Diego Correctional Facility, run by the for-profit Corrections Corporation of America;
Challenged in court the government’s warrantless NSA spying and lobbied San Diego federal representatives against extension of the PATRIOT Act and FISA Amendments; conducted extensive public education about these and other abuses of power; unearthed domestic spying emanating from an intelligence “fusion center” at Camp Pendleton, including the use of informants to spy on the annual banquet of the Council on American Islamic Relations;
Published a 75-page report with Mexico’s National Commission of Human Rights on the humanitarian crisis of migrant deaths along the U.S.-Mexico border, finding that more than 5,000 people have died because of the deadly practices and policies of both governments;
Challenged rampant Border Patrol abuse of power and urged for reform of lethal force policies, especially the fatal shooting of rock throwers;
Under the direction of now associate director Norma Chavez Peterson, led a “get out the vote” campaign to mobilize Escondido's Latino vote in the 2012 Election and then establishing a long-term ACLU satellite office in Escondido staffed by a full-time community organizer to continue to respond to residents’ enduring civil liberties violations;
Helped mobilize a powerful, broad community response against Arizona’s racial profiling law, SB 1070; seconded a San Diego staff member to Arizona to assist its ACLU affiliate develop litigation challenging the law; and helped organize a strong community response to the Supreme Court’s decision overturning three parts of the law but upholding the “show me your papers” provision;
In conjunction with fellow border affiliates, and the generous support of the Price Family Charitable Fund and Central America and Mexico Migration Alliance, launched the Border Litigation Project staffed by two new attorneys in San Diego and Tucson, charged with pursuing legal strategies to combat persistent human right abuses at the U.S.- Mexico border;
Won a historic ruling in a class-action lawsuit in which the federal government is now required to provide legal counsel to mentally ill immigrant detainees;
Led the effort to secure passage of SB 35, dramatically increasing opportunities for voter registration in t