American Civil Liberties Union

LAPD License Plate Readers Know What You Did Last Summer; ACLU Sues

The LAPD, the L.A. County Sheriff's Department and other law enforcement agencies in Southern California routinely scan millions of license plates via patrol-car-based devices that can track your whereabouts. What do they do with the info? It's not entirely clear, but the record shows that cops ha ... More >>

Homeless Rights Act Says Homeless Can Sleep Outdoors Without Arrest

Do homeless people have the right to sleep in their cars overnight, take up space on a sidewalk for extended periods of time, or access public restrooms? In many cases, police have said no. Cops in L.A. have rousted the homeless for sleeping overnight on sidewalks, for example, leading to legal ac ... More >>

Feds Back Off Controversial Threat To Deport Barking Dog Owner Ruth Montano

There are some bad immigrants out there, from ecstasy dealers to robbers to murderers, and deporting them is probably the least we could do. But being booted out of the country for barking dogs? That's what faced Southern California resident Ruth Montano. At least until the ACLU stepped in:

St. Petersburg's Anti-Gay Attacks On Gaga, Madonna Could End L.A. Sister City Status

The ACLU wants L.A. City Hall to cut its ties with St. Pertersburg, Russia, an official sister city. Why? The Russian metropolis hasn't exactly been gay-friendly. After passing a law last year making pro-gay "propagandizing" around youth a crime, St. Pertersburg targeted Lady Gaga with an investiga ... More >>

Proposition 35's Demand For Sex Convicts' Online IDs Blocked By Judge

Looks like the ACLU was successful in its move to block parts of the California sex trafficking law that passed Tuesday with 81 percent support. The organization was unhappy with provisions that required even minor sex deviants (folks convicted of having sex in view of the public, say) to give up t ... More >>

Proposition 35's Demands For Sex Offenders' Online Info Draws ACLU Lawsuit

Proposition 35 was a big hit with California voters Tuesday, passing with 81 percent approval. But some of its provisions, including requiring the email addresses and user names of sex offenders convicted of such things as misdemeanor indecent exposure (which can involve, for example, having consen ... More >>

Immigrant Inmates Kept in L.A. County Jail For Days For No Legal Reason, Says ACLU

Updated at the bottom with strong allegations from an ACLU attorney. For some inmates L.A. County Jail is like the "Hotel California" -- You can check-out any time you like / But you can never leave. At least that's what the ACLU of Southern California claims in a lawsuit announced today. The grou ... More >>

Teflon Sheriff Lee Baca: Go to Jail, Get Your Face Broken? PHOTOS

No surprise here. L.A. County Jail deputies sometimes stomp on, bash in, and literally break inmates' heads: That according to an ACLU report issued today, 48 hours ahead of the much-anticipated final findings of a separate Citizens' Commission on Jail Violence. The ACLU says in a summary that the ... More >>

Lil' Marijuana, Coke, Heroin in Your Pocket? Californians Support Making it a Misdemeanor

If you get caught with a little dope in your pocket you could see up to three years behind bars. While that kind of time is rare these days, you'd still be strip searched and treated like the worst kind of criminal by the cops. The thing is, we the people, who are supposed to run this world we live ... More >>

ACLU Sues Sheriff Lee Baca & Undersheriff Paul Tanaka Over Long-Standing Deputy Violence Against Inmates

On July 22, LA County jail inmate Jonathan Goodwin says he witnessed several deputies beat and kick a fellow inmate whose hands were bound in shackles. Nearly three long weeks later, says Goodwin, one of the deputies involved in the beating walked into Goodwin's cell to show him who was boss -- t ... More >>

Teen Cellphone Photos, Texts, Contacts Being Searched at School: ACLU of SoCal Says It's Illegal

ACLU​Those pesky bleeding-heart liberals at the ACLU actually want teachers and school administrators to keep out of your kids' cellphones. A report issued by the ACLU of Southern California lists some anecdotal evidence that school authorities are searching the contents of students' phones w ... More >>

Photography is Not a Crime: ACLU Suing L.A. Sheriff's Department For Detaining Photogs Simply Because They Took Pictures

Jonathan CastilloStop or we'll shoot.​Updated at the bottom with juicy details about how this anti-photog movement in policing actually grew out of an LAPD policy. First posted at 1:29 a.m. We got a lot of attention when we scolded Long Beach police Chief Jim McDonnell for declaring that deta ... More >>

Lee Baca Bends, Says He'll Meet With ACLU Over Accusations of Deputies Beating Jailhouse Inmates

Lee Baca.​Strange days when L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca does an about face and starts mumbling about cooperating with the ACLU. On KCRW (89.9 FM) show "Which Way L.A." last night Baca said he would meet with the ACLU regarding allegations that his deputies have regularly beaten inmates over ... More >>

Lee Baca is The Only Person in Town Who Hasn't Seen Deputies Beat Inmates, Apparently

Turns out pretty much the only person in town who hasn't witnessed deputies beating inmates at L.A. County Jail is Sheriff Lee Baca, who has his attention focused on a cop who smuggled a cellphone into the lockup for FBI agents investigating said beat-downs. Maybe he should spend some time there. ... More >>

ACLU Asks D.A. Steve Cooley Not to Prosecute Man Allegedly Stomped by Deputies

L.A. County's Twin Towers jail and medical services building​The ACLU today officially asked District Attorney Steve Cooley to leash his hounds and halt the prosecution of a man who was allegedly beaten by sheriff's deputies in plain view of the ACLU jail monitor. On January 24, Esther Lim of the ... More >>

U.S. Veterans Affairs Sued for Leasing Giant Parcel in West L.A. to Enterprise Rent-a-Car, UCLA Baseball Team -- Not Homeless Vets

veteranstoday.com"Locked Out of West LA VA"​You can often hear West L.A. residents, and those on the nearby Santa Monica border, whining about the rampant homeless-veteran population in their area (which is trying desperately to gentrify -- to polish itself into the next Brentwood or Beverly H ... More >>

Men's County Jail Visitor Viciously Beaten by Guards

Sheriff Lee Baca says jail is unsupervisable and should be shut down

L.A. Teachers Union Loses Historic Lawsuit to ACLU: No More 'Last Hired, First Fired'

Better luck next time, Duffy​Updated after the jump: UTLA plans to appeal the ruling. Update: L.A. Mayor, Board of Education Prez and Superintendent-to-be join the victory lap. This one's for the kids. An L.A. Superior Court judge ruled just a few hours ago, in Reed v. State of California, ... More >>

Hector Villagra Appointed As First Latino To Head ACLU Of Southern California: Will He Take On The TSA?

ACLUHector Villagra will take over as the chief of the ACLU.​Updated after the jump with the ACLU stating the group has been against the x-ray scanners. The ACLU of Southern California announced Monday that it has appointed its first Latino executive director. The liberal group's legal dire ... More >>

ACLU Suing California Over School Fees

​Just what California's ailing schools need....The ACLU filed a lawsuit in L.A Superior Court suing California for allowing school districts to charge for books and other educational supplies. The ACLU says these practices violate the clause of the California Constitution guaranteeing a free e ... More >>

ACLU: Sheriff's Heat-Beam Gun Is 'Tantamount To Torture'

​ The American Civil Liberties Union this week denounced the sheriff's plan use of a heat-beam device to control violent inmates at Los Angeles County Jail. In a letter to Sheriff Lee Back the organization employing the weapon would be "tantamount to torture." The weapon known as the Assault ... More >>

ACLU Seeks Answers From FBI on the Issue of 'Muslim Mapping'

​The ACLU requested FBI records today related to the bureau's use of mapping and data collection technologies to create ethnic maps, according to the Los Angeles Daily News. Based on the agency's domestic intelligence guidelines, the FBI is authorized to collect data and map areas where ther ... More >>

ACLU Backs Prop. 19, The Pot Initiative

​ California's three ACLU affiliates announced today they are backing Prop 19, the statewide initiative to legalize pot for those 21 and older. The measure will be on the ballot in November. "Enforcement of marijuana prohibition consumes a great deal of California's law enforcement and cour ... More >>

On the Backs of Children

How UTLA's teacher-layoff rules are devastating inner-city L.A. schools

Arizona You Too, Buddy!

Layoffs Blocked At Trio Of L.A. Schools

​A day after Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa decried layoffs at a trio of struggling area public schools as discriminatory, a judge blocked the teacher cuts at the campuses, siding with an ACLU lawsuit's claims. The Wednesday ruling by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William Highberg ... More >>

Federal Lock-Up In Downtown L.A. Erupts In Violence

​Four staffers of the federal Metropolitan Detention Center downtown were injured after a fight broke out among 10 inmates Wednesday night, authorities reported. Two of the victims were hospitalized for non-life-threatening injuries. Violence broke out about 7:10 p.m. in a housing unit at the ... More >>

Men's Central Jail 'Medieval,' Should Be Closed, According To ACLU Report

ACLU​An American Civil Liberties Union report released Wednesday paints the downtown Los Angeles County jail as an almost-Dickensian den of horrors where prisoners have been beaten for complaining to the ACLU, mental patients are housed without doctors' care, and severe overcrowding exacerbate ... More >>

Sheriff Joe Arpaio's Reign of Terror Becomes Arizona Policy, Thanks to State Senator Russell Pearce and Governor Jan Brewer

ACLU Defends Man Who Displayed Upside Down U.S. Flag

Demonstrator Rosebrock, left.​The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California announced Tuesday it has filed a lawsuit against the Veterans Administration on behalf of a veteran and perpetual demonstrator who it says had his free speech rights violated when he was cited after display ... More >>

County School For Juvenile Offenders Accused Of 'Abuse, Retaliation'

L.A. County Probation​The ACLU and an alliance of organizations are suing the county over its administration of the Challenger Memorial Youth Center for youths on probation, where education mandates are ignored and kids are neglected, the groups allege. The suit contends that the Lancaster sc ... More >>

Chief Bratton Defends iWatch Program

As LAPD Chief Bill Bratton prepares to saddle up and ride into the sunset, Angelenos are already arguing over one part of the legacy he's leaving behind. According to a report by China's Xinhua news agency, the Southern California American Civil Liberties Union is warning that the department's iWatc ... More >>

Settlement in Federal Immigrant Jail Suit

Most Angelenos never see the Brezhnevian Federal Building on Los Angeles Street. Fewer still have had a reason to brave the long security line to get inside, much less to visit its underground detention center. The latter's six holding pens, known, in affectionate governmentspeak as "B-18," are wher ... More >>

Hard Cell: Central Jail Stacks 'Em High

In her Witness L.A. blog, Celeste Fremon talks to a prisoner stuck in the crowded county lockup. "Al," as she calls him, is nursing a bum knee created by a mishap that occurred when he was sliding down from a three-tiered bunk bed. That's how sardine-can-like the Men's Central Jail has become. The p ... More >>

Morning Sixpack: A News Roundup

ACLU Calls Jail Bedlam The American Civil Liberties Union has released a report Tuesday decrying mental health conditions at the Men's Central Jail. The group calls for the closing of the facility if swift changes cannot be made. L.A. Daily NewsHeight Law Shortened A county judge has thrown out port ... More >>

Performance Art & Torture: Compare & Contrast

Pedro Guzman's Return

Wrongly deported to Mexico, a developmentally disabled man is found safe

5 Transmissions From the Post-TV Frontier

5 Transmissions From the Post-TV Frontier

Preying on the Seal

The ACLU takes on the county’s cross

Reading, Writing and Rats

Talks break down on ACLU challenge to terrible learning conditions

Dealing With Druggies

New platitudes from the people who stopped the vote counting in Florida

Testing in L.A.

1 Person, 0 Vote

The undemocratic ways of the L.A. City Council

Shoot the Messenger

ACLU lawsuit says LAPD targeted reporters

LAPD Secrets

Judge refused to keep you from reading this convention plan

Philadelphia Story

Like L.A., the City of Brotherly Love had to confront cowboy cops

Hard Line

Feds demanded change in Pittsburgh

The First Amendment, LAPD Style

Cops push politics to the sidelines at DNC

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