Constitutional Law

Henry Rollins: Our Constitutional Rights Require Constant Vigilance

[Look for your weekly fix from the one and only Henry Rollins right here on West Coast Sound every Thursday, and come back tomorrow for the awesomely annotated playlist for his Saturday KCRW broadcast.] See also: Henry Rollins: Hardcore Nostalgia in Washington D.C. "If destruction be our lot, we ... More >>

Byron Adams, Bill Rosendahl, Stevie St. John and L.A. Gay Equality Warriors Stunned, Thrilled by Obama 2013 Inaugural Promise

From revered gay UC Riverside professor and brilliant classical composer Byron Adams to Spectrum L.A. gay blog editor Stevie St. John, prominent Los Angeles-area lifelong fighters for equality were stunned by President Obama's surprise inaugural promise to bring full, unprecedented human rights to g ... More >>

Proposition 38 Election Results: Molly Munger's Tax-Hike Falls To Massive Voter Opposition

Major media outlets have concluded that Molly Munger's Proposition 38 is a big loser -- and by a huge margin if current numbers hold up. As of 10:20 p.m., the California Secretary of State web site shows that voters shot down Prop. 38 by 74 percent -- no other initiative on the 2012 state ballot is ... More >>

Rick Steves, Famed Travel Writer and Pot Advocate: 20 Questions

"I'm a travel writer, and for me, high is a place"

Metro Chastised for Poor Civil Rights Practices

thestrategycenter.orgBus Riders Union was right all along​Update: Bus Riders Union issues statement on the release of civil rights compliance review. More after the jump. In October, L.A. Weekly reported that local civil rights groups indicted Metro for discriminatory practices. The groups ho ... More >>

'Stop SB 48' Doesn't Want California Students to Know about Bayard Rustin?

American civil rights leader Bayard Rustin​In the history of the world, gays and lesbians have figured prominently in contributing to many different societies. One such person is Bayard Rustin, an African American man the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum describes as the "the S ... More >>

Azusa 13 Gang Terrorized Blacks, Monopolized Drug Sales, Sent 'Taxes' to Mexican Mafia, Feds Allege

​The feds cracked down today on a San Gabriel Valley Latino gang they say has been on a war path against African Americans for 20 years. Sixteen people were arrested, 23 were already behind bars, seven were arrested on state drug allegations, and 12 others were on the loose as authorities act ... More >>

Gay Rights Activists Thrilled with Barack Obama's Decision to Back Off on Defense of Marriage Act

​Gay rights activists in California and across the United States are thrilled with the Obama Administration's decision today to stop defending the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act in federal court. "This is a huge victory for gay and lesbian couples and removes any doubt that the freedom to marr ... More >>

Give Sodomy a Chance

Sexual rights are protected by the Constitution, if only the U.S. Supreme Court would open its eyes

The Feds Bury Border Patrol Abuses of Immigrants, But What's Been Unearthed Reveals a Culture of Cruelty

Proposition 8 Hearing Underway at U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Jesse Jackson In Favor of Gay Marriage

Ted SoquiGay marriage supporters in West Hollywood.​The Proposition 8 hearing is underway at the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, with pro-Prop. 8 attorney Charles Cooper laying out his case for why anti-gay marriage forces have legal standing to appeal U.S. District Cour ... 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 >>

Neshoba: The Price of Freedom

Attorney General Candidate Steve Cooley Would 'Defend' Proposition 8

L.A. County District Attorney Steve Cooley​Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley, who's the Republican candidate for California Attorney General, would defend Proposition 8 in court if given the opportunity, says his campaign spokesman Kevin Spillane. "The role of the attorney g ... More >>

Prop. 8 Overturned: Major Victory For Gay Marriage Advocates

Patrick Range McDonaldProposition 8 protesters in West Hollywood in October, 2008.​Updated throughout. Originally posted at 1:48 p.m. U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker has overturned Proposition 8 in San Francisco today, handing gay rights advocates a major victory in the continuing bat ... More >>

Police Crack Down On Echo Park Lake Swap Meet Vendors

​ LAPD officers swept through Echo Park Lake yesterday issuing warnings and citations to vendors who refused to leave the sprawling unregulated flea market, according to the Eastsider LA. "We understand they are trying to make a living," Sgt. Joel Miller of LAPD's Rampart Divison told the Ea ... More >>

UC Irvine Recommends One-Year Suspension For Campus Muslim Group

​UC Irvine officials on Monday confirmed that they've moved to suspend the Muslim Student Union for one year for disrupting an on-campus speech by Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren Feb. 8 despite warnings from the school that such misbehavior would lead to sanctions. An attorney for the group ca ... More >>

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Rules LA's Billboard Ban Constitutional

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled today that the city's ban on billboards is constitutional. ​ The panel of three judges found that the Los Angeles City Council did not violate the free speech rights of World Wide Rush and Sky Tag when it granted exceptions to its ... More >>

Willy Leventhal: Civil Rights Shortstop

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 >>

Soundtrack for a Revolution

Judge Throws Out Civil Rights Lawsuit Against Miley Cyrus

Me so racist.​A lawsuit from a woman who claimed Miley Cyrus violated her civil rights and those of other Asian-Americans when she stretched her eyes out with her fingers for a photo was thrown out Friday. Claimant Lucie Kim argued that the photo, exposed in February, infringed on her civil right ... More >>

Obama's Inauguration Through the Post-Race Eyes of Clarence Thomas

A black man's blues

A Changing of the Guard at the Westwood March

Fore more photos, view Ted Soqui's Westwood protest slideshow. Related Posts: Patrick Range McDonald's "The Last, Passionate Rant of a Long Night in West Hollywood" Patrick Range McDonald's "The Long March to the Mormon Temple" Joe Donnelly's "Election 08: What Happens To A Dream Deferred? Prop ... More >>

Queer Town: Apple Donates to No on 8

Apple, the company that created the iPod and the iPhone, has given $100,000 to the No on 8 campaign, Andrew Sullivan at the Daily Dish reports. Apple very publicly stated its position on its start page today, which may make a whole bunch of gay men wear their iPods in the gym with a little more prid ... More >>

Laurence Tribe Tangles with CBS and L.A. City Hall

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit’s Courtroom 3 - a miniature auditorium with comfortable, smoked salmon-colored seats - was mostly filled with law students who seemed to be interested in just one thing: listening to Harvard Law School Professor Laurence Tribe argue constitu ... More >>

Laurence Tribe v. City of Los Angeles

It looks like the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office may have its hands full on June 4 when it goes up against leading First Amendment attorney Laurence Tribe in the case Metro Lights v. City of Los Angeles. Tribe, who is nationally recognized as one of the foremost liberal constitutional law sch ... More >>

Yagman to Surrender

At the U.S. Federal Courthouse in downtown today, civil rights attorney Steve Yagman has finally been ordered to surrender to prison authorities on Monday, March 31, at a federal prison and medical facility in Butner, North Carolina. The renegade lawyer, who's made a career of battling the LAPD and ... More >>

John Edwards: I Am Third

Why I still love him

The Clinton Machine Will Not Go Easily Into the Night

The battle begins

Best Served Cold

Obnoxious, brilliant litigator Yagman will make his prosecutors’ lives miserable

If the Glove Fits . . .

Johnnie L. Cochran, 1937–2005

Angel on the Bus

Drew Barrymore on popping her political cherry

Black Power(less)

The decline of black politics in America

Letters

Invisible Man

Bayard Rustin and the other civil rights struggle

Challenging the Recall

Letters

You Gotta Fight for Your Rights

Disorder in the Court

A Clean Slate

White Man’s Burden

Let’s draft David Dotson for police chief

Cooley Cops Out

Turns out that the new D.A. was only kidding about Rampart

The Next Cold War

On the need to create a diplomatic, economic, political, cultural — and military — approach

The War at Home

W. Stands for Wrongful

And suffrage hits the skids

Letters

From Liberty Hill to the Living Wage

A brief history of Progressive Los Angeles

Hall of Fame

Inside Agitators

The City's Most Effective Activists