Law

Henry Rollins: Misguided Outrage Over DOMA's Demise

[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 Sunday KCRW broadcast.] See also: Henry Rollins: Worried About the NSA? What About Google? When I read the Supreme Court ... More >>

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 >>

Amoeba's Vinyl Vault: Treasure Trove or Legal Sticky Wicket?

While the corpses of corporate music retail chains litter strip malls where outlets like Tower Records and Blockbuster Music once stood, Amoeba Music is an independent juggernaut with three California-based stores the size of supermarkets. They've been a destinations for music aficionados for more t ... 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 >>

[Updated, Again]: Dervaes Family Trademarks "Urban Homestead" Term: Legal Battle Follows

The cover of The Urban Homestead, written by Erik Knudsen and Kelly Coyne, which might be renamed in the next printing.​Updated, 2/22, 12:30 p.m.: The Dervaes family recently filed a Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DCMA) take down notice to Google regarding content in The Urban Homestead by K ... More >>

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 >>

If Kamala Harris Keeps Lead ...

Victory could put her reforms at odds with new governor

Grinding Justice

Operation Streamline Costs Millions, Tramples the Constitution, Treats Migrants Like Cattle, and Doesn't Work

Bill Targets Spouses Who Hire Hit Men

​A bill that denies financial benefits to spouses who solicit the murder of their partners is scheduled to be heard in a state legislative committee on Tuesday, according to the Associated Press. The bill was inspired by John Pomroy, a Pomona police detective whose wife had tried to hire gang ... More >>

Willy Leventhal: Civil Rights Shortstop

Soundtrack for a Revolution

Hollywood Joins Union Bill Drive -- Too Late?

A new online ad promoting the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) has been posted by a coalition of Hollywood labor guilds and the reviews (all right, my reviews) are mixed -- both as to the spot and the chances that Congress will pass the legislation this year in anything but a watered-down form. EFCA, ... More >>

Massive Cave-in -- Workers Abandoned

Well, EFCA got the rug pulled out from under it last week. That's when key Senate Democrats caved in and announced they couldn't support the Employee Free Choice Act in its current incarnation.  EFCA is -- or was -- a bill that would make it easier for workers to form unions and the looming fig ... More >>

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

A black man's blues

Proposition 6: The Most Implosive

A tiny, unnoticed clause could allow the use of much looser hearsay in trials

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 >>

John Edwards: I Am Third

Why I still love him

New Count for Three-Strikes Law

D.A. Steve Cooley wants voters to revamp the inhumane measure

The Child in Hard Time

Meet Alonza Thomas, first-time juvenile offender, now superpredator

Bush’s Kingmaker

Alberto Gonzales’ tortured arguments for reigning above the law

Veil of Secrecy Torched

Judge’s order could bring prosecutors closer to the man in red

Slow Road to Rampart Justice

It just might be the LAPD reforms itself faster without outside help

Second and Long

Retrial in Inglewood’s videotaped beating case is a test for Steve Cooley

Invisible Man

Bayard Rustin and the other civil rights struggle

Challenging the Recall

You Gotta Fight for Your Rights

Behind the Robes

Pondering the secrets Cardinal Mahony might hold about the Catholic sex scandal

The Rampart Verdict

The deeper meaning of LAPD’s biggest scandal may never be known

A Stretch for Garcetti

L.A.'s Ethics Commission gets an insider

No Movie for Rafael Perez

The World’s Worst

How the international justice system works

Uneasy Justice

Why a trial makes more sense than war

War and Power

Is Osama bin Laden a terrorist or soldier, and does it matter?

How to Bury A Scandal

Rafael Perez has come and gone but Chief Parks remains unmoved

Another Lost Rampart Case

Officers get benefit of doubt when Perez is the accuser

A Key Test

D.A. chooses to drag out suspense

In Contempt

Judge Connor went beyond the call of duty to help Rampart officers

Beyond the Verdict

The real Rampart scandal is citywide

Trouble With the Truth

Rampart whistle blower flunked five lie-detector tests

Napster, Round 2

Genie 1, Bottle 0

Patently Absurd

Looking the Other Way

Gil Garcetti’s record of shame on Rampart

Juvenile Injustice

Proposition 21 aims to send thousands of California teenagers to adult prisons

Naming Names

Defense attorneys want details on all the possibly flawed cases involving LAPD officers at the Rampart Station

Magic Marker Dragoon

Pasadena’s Secret Sharers

Lawsuits suggest officials knew coach sought sex with boys

From Liberty Hill to the Living Wage

A brief history of Progressive Los Angeles

Hall of Fame