Aclu

Did you hear that the American Civil Liberties Union issued a "travel advisory" last week? Yep, ACLU offices in two dozen states felt it necessary to warn those traveling to Arizona that they may be subject to racial profiling. This warning is no doubt in response to Arizona's new law slated to take effect later this month. This is the one specifying that if you're stopped there for another offense, and fail to come up with the requisite documentation proving you're there legally, you know, like a drivers' license or passport, they can check your immigration status so long as they don't racially profile?

The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California sued the Newport-Mesa Unified School District and Corona del Mar High School officials Wednesday, claiming that the school fosters an environment rife with homophobia that doesn’t protect female and gay students from harassment and threats of violence. The 36-page lawsuit, filed in Orange County Superior Court details what ACLU attorneys call “a school culture gone awry,” where “homophobic slurs are routinely used with impunity” and students were harassed and called names for voicing opposition to California’s anti-gay marriage ballot measure, Proposition 8. “We notified the school district and asked them to resolve the situation and avoid the filing of a lawsuit and we received no response,” said Lori Rifkin, a staff attorney for the ACLU.

An ACLU attorney called an appeal filed in a criminal case against his client, immigration activist Benito Acosta, “meritless” Wednesday after Costa Mesa challenged a judge’s dismissal of the city’s case against Acosta. “The legal issue is well established,” said ACLU defense attorney Kwaku Duren, who represents Acosta. Duren said his client believes the judge made the right decision to dismiss the case the first time around. Calls to City Prosecutor Dan Peelman and Costa Mesa City Attorney Kimberly Hall Barlow were not returned Wednesday.

There has been a lot of emotion expended in the letters to the editor about the Dyke March and their lawsuit, which has been joined by the American Civil Liberties Union. Most of what I have read is incorrect, showing that most readers misunderstand both the ACLU and the purpose of this lawsuit. This lawsuit isn't really about the Dyke March, it's about equal access in the special events permitting system. Costa Mesa, like many cities, has never really codified its permit process.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Kelly MacEachern dealt Costa Mesa officials a serious and embarrassing blow this week when the judge tossed the city’s case against Benito Acosta. Acosta, who also goes by the name Coyotl Tezcatlipoca, was accused of two misdemeanor city code violations after he was arrested during a Jan. 3, 2006, City Council meeting. The council was discussing Mayor Allan Mansoor’s plan to train city police to enforce immigration laws. That point eventually grew moot when the federal government agreed to put an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in the city jail to check the immigration status of arrestees.

Thank God -- oh, perhaps I shouldn't say that. Thank goodness we have Paul Blank of Corona del Mar, the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Community Services Center of Orange County -- the fourth largest such community center in the United States -- and the ACLU to protect the people's rights. The city of Costa Mesa imposed 17 -- I repeat 17 -- burdensome and unreasonable conditions on the permit for the Dyke March Organizing Committee that are over and above four similar conditions imposed on other groups in the community.

"We believe we can accomplish all this privately. We don't feel there's a need to be under the jurisdiction of a redevelopment area and don't want to be subject to eminent domain and all the potentially negative attention that has for our property values." -- Dan Gribble, president of the Westside Revitalization Assn., on the group's upcoming request to the Costa Mesa Redevelopment Agency to be removed from the proposed downtown redevelopment area "[The city]

SANTA ANA — An Orange County judge on Thursday rejected a motion by prosecutors that he unseal the transcript of a grand jury investigation into the Irvine 11 case. Eleven students stand criminally charged for allegedly disrupting a speech at UC Irvine last year by Israel's ambassador to the United States. Defense attorneys and prosecutors could not comment Thursday because Orange County Superior Court Judge Peter J. Wilson had earlier issued an order forbidding both sides from talking to the media about the case.

In his wonderful movie "Annie Hall," Woody Allen boils down California's distinction to the ability to make a right turn on a red light. America has a particular distinction too, one that has set us apart from nearly every country that has come or gone since the founding fathers first established this republic. The distinction is freedom. Around the world, we are envied for our devotion to this one element of our society. And though our freedom requires constant vigilance so it is neither reduced nor abused, it is still a marvelous concept.

Gil Ferguson As one who has been involved in politics, including the hardball variety, for a very long time, I'd respectfully advise our Newport Beach city councilmen to let this matter regarding their colleague Dick Nichols slide. Based on the obvious dislike some of them have for him and the tough report with which the city attorney (their employee) will provide them, I'm sure they will be tempted to politically harpoon Nichols. Don't. Don't do anything foolish.

The quickest way between two points is a straight line - unless, of course, you're on the no-fly list. In the case of Irvine resident Stephen Persaud, who believes he's wrongly listed on the U.S. government's anti-terrorism docket, the quickest way home from the Virgin Islands was a boat to Miami and then three train rides. Persaud, a nurse, is one of 16 plaintiffs listed in an amended civil complaint filed in federal court by the American Civil Liberties Union that claims the U.S. government gives little redress or explanation for why some people are on the list that bars them from flying over or to the United States.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Peter J. Wilson said the so-called Irvine 11 students were "motivated by beliefs" when they disrupted a speech by the Israeli ambassador at UC Irvine. Wilson said he took that into consideration in sentencing the 10 students, who were found guilty of conspiring to disrupt — and then disrupting — the speech, to three years of informal probation and no jail time. Wilson said they must complete 56 hours of community service. If they complete it within a year, the informal probation will be terminated.

Attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union and a Latino-rights advocacy group on Monday praised a federal appellate court ruling that will likely have implications for Costa Mesa's anti-solicitation ordinance. In a 3-1 ruling, a 9 t h Circuit Court of Appeals panel on Friday ruled that Redondo Beach's law that prohibits individuals from standing on streets or highways to solicit employment violates constitutional free speech protections. Justices stated that Redondo's ordinance was too broadly worded and could conceivably apply to everyone from Girl Scouts hawking cookies to children selling lemonade.

SANTA ANA — An Orange County judge on Thursday rejected a motion by prosecutors that he unseal the transcript of a grand jury investigation into the Irvine 11 case. Eleven students stand criminally charged for allegedly disrupting a speech at UC Irvine last year by Israel's ambassador to the United States. Defense attorneys and prosecutors could not comment Thursday because Orange County Superior Court Judge Peter J. Wilson had earlier issued an order forbidding both sides from talking to the media about the case.

COSTA MESA — Using a Costa Mesa man's detention as an example, the American Civil Liberties Union sued the federal government this week on grounds that it doesn't give the mentally disabled a fair chance to dispute deportation orders. Six suspected illegal immigrants, who are mentally handicapped, filed a federal suit Monday against the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security with the support of the ACLU of Southern California, the Public Law Counsel in Los Angeles and the Sullivan & Cromwell LLP law firm.

Did you hear that the American Civil Liberties Union issued a "travel advisory" last week? Yep, ACLU offices in two dozen states felt it necessary to warn those traveling to Arizona that they may be subject to racial profiling. This warning is no doubt in response to Arizona's new law slated to take effect later this month. This is the one specifying that if you're stopped there for another offense, and fail to come up with the requisite documentation proving you're there legally, you know, like a drivers' license or passport, they can check your immigration status so long as they don't racially profile?

A mentally disabled man from Costa Mesa who was detained for more than five years by immigration authorities was released Wednesday, less than a week after the American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit on his behalf. Jose Antonio Franco, whose last name is listed as Franco-Gonzalez in court documents, was released to his family from Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention Wednesday afternoon. Franco, 29, was arrested in 2004 and convicted of throwing a rock that cut a man’s face during a fight between two gangs.

U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officials said Monday that it is instituting changes to its detention system for mentally disabled detainees after public criticism of its procedures last week by the American Civil Liberties Union. In appeals to federal courts in Southern California, the ACLU called for detention and bail reviews for two immigrants — one of whom is from Costa Mesa, and whom ICE has detained for years without processing. Jose Antonio Franco Gonzalez, 29, has been held by ICE for five years, even though a judge determined in 2005 that he is mentally unfit to be processed by immigration enforcement.

The city of Costa Mesa will put a halt to enforcing its solicitation ordinance, City Atty. Kimberly Hall Barlow confirmed Tuesday night. An attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union said Tuesday that the city has agreed to the moratorium until the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rules on another case challenging a similar ordinance in Redondo Beach. “While we believe that our ordinance is legally enforceable, there are other considerations, and one of those is the cost of litigation,” Barlow said.