vol. 48, no. 1
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Volume XLVIIl
Random strip searching of visitors at
the Martinez Jail is now prohibited by an
order issued by Contra Costa Superior
Court Judge Martin Rothenberg as a re-
sult of an ACLU lawsuit. _
The ACLU suit, Luke v. Contra
Costa, was filed in June on behalf of two
women visitors to the jail who were strip
searched without their consent and with-
out cause. Karen Luke was seven months
pregnant at the time of the search.
Shirley Banks was forced to submit to a
body cavity search.
"Because visitation is a right, subject
to necessary security restrictions, prison
officials may condition visitation on a
strip search only when such search meets
reasonable standards under the Fourth
Amendment,'' Judge Rothenberg wrote
in his December 1 decision.
He issued an injunction enjoining pri-
son officials from conducting strip
searches of jail visitors without reason-
able `suspicion that the visitor is conceal-
ing contraband or weapons and
mandated the following requirements:
-a written statement of the facts war-
ranting `reasonable suspicion' be pre-
pared by jail officials at the time of the
search;
clu new:
January-February 1983
Jail Visitors Strip Searches Halted |
-consent be given by the subject of the
strip search; and
-all evidence and consent forms be kept
as part of the official records of the
Sheriff's Department.
The case is being handled by ACLU-
NC cooperating attorneys Gary Green-
field and Charles Rice of the San Fran-
cisco law firm of Shartsis, Friese and
Ginsburg and ACLU staff counsel Alan
Schlosser.
"The procedural requirements neces-
sary for a strip search as outlined by the
superior court will be a monitor on the
conduct of jail officials,' Greenfield
explained.
"The very fact that jailers have to
meet all these conditions before they
conduct a strip search will probably serve
to limit strip searches only to situations
where they really have adequate consti-
tutional grounds,'' he added.
The ACLU is also asking $1 million in
damages for each woman. The claim for
damages and for a permanent injunction
is still pending :
The ACLU-NC still has two other
strip search cases pending in the courts,
Penny v. Fremont and Scott v. Oakland.
Both cases challenge the practice of strip
Michael Mille
Shirley Banks was strip searched whe
she visited her fiance at the Martinez
Jail. Random strip searches are now pro-
hibited as a result of an ACLU challenge.
searching persons picked up for minor
infractions and without reasonable
suspicion `to assume that they are carry-
ing contraband.
Marchers Sue over Police Fee
Can demonstrators be charged for police services?
On December 9, the ACLU filed a suit
in U.S. District Court demanding that a
fee for police services imposed on or-
ganizers of a march for disarmament in
Novato be refunded and that the ordin-
ance under which the fee was charged be
declared unconstitutional.
Imposing such fees on First Amend-
ment activities, the suit claims, not only
illegally limits free speech rights but also
places an unfair burden on groups which
cannot afford to pay such fees. The No-
vato ordinance contains no provision to
exempt indigent groups.
Last spring, the Ad Hoc Committee
for Nuclear Disarmament, a grassroots
organization in Novato, scheduled a
march and rally for June 5 to express
support for the United Nations Special
Session on Disarmament and _ bilateral
nuclear weapons freeze.
When Committee members applied
for a permit from the City of Novato to
use the public sidewalks for their peace-
ful march, they were told that they
would be required to cover the costs of
paying police officers overtime to moni-
tor the march, and for a rider to the
city's insurance policy.
In order that the march proceed as
scheduled, two representatives of the
Committee delivered, under protest, a
check to cover the police services of
$201.80 and insurance payment of $125.
The march and rally took place as
scheduled on June 5, with approximately
100 people in attendance. It was entirely
peaceful, and there was no obstruction
of traffic, property damage or violation -
of the law. Subsequently, the City of
Novato refunded $42 of the police ser-
vices fee and $70 of the insurance fee,
thus leaving $214 unrefunded.
continued on p.3
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(1983 :
Board
Elections
As provided by the ACLU-NC by-
laws, revised in 1980, the ACLU-NC
membership is entitled to elect its
1983-84 Board directly. The Nominat-
ing Committee is already seeking sug-
gestions from the membership to fill
at-large positions on the Board.
_ ACLU members may participate in
the nominating process in two ways:
1. They may send suggestions for
the Nominating Committee's consi-
deration before April 1, 1983. (Ad-
dress suggestions to Nominating
Committee, ACLU-NC, 1663 Mis-
sion St., S.F., CA 94103. Include
your suggested nominee's qualifica-
tions and how the nomineee may be
reached.)
2. They may submit a petition with
the signatures of 15 current ACLU
members. Petitions for nominations,
which should also include qualifica-
tions, must be submitted to the Board
of Directors by Wiay 23, 1953 (20 Gays
after the May Board meeting.)
(Current ACLU members are those
who have renewed their membership
during the last 12 months. Only cur-
rent members are eligible to submit
nominations, sign petitions of nomin-
ation and vote.)
ACLU members will elect Board
members from the slate of candidates
nominated by petition and by the
Nominating Committee. The ballot
will appear in the June issue of the
ACLU News.
The following by-laws govern the
ACLU-NC Board of Directors nom-
inating process:
ARTICLE VII, SECTION 3: The
final report of the Nominating Com-
mittee to nominate members-at-large
to the Board shall be presented at the
May Board meeting. Members of the
Board may propose additional nom-
continued on p. ey
Lair Smyser
aclu news
jan-feb 1983
by Evvie Rasmussen
On January 19 the ACLU-NC will
argue in U.S. District Court that the
Adolph Coors Company has no legal
right to obtain membership information
from Solidarity, a San Francisco-based
gay rights organization which is active in
the boycott against Coors.
In December, a district court magis-
trate ruled that Solidarity must provide
the Coors Company with the names of
all members who have been active in
boycott activities, in Coors' $145,000
antitrust suit against Solidarity and the
AFL-CIO Coors Boycott Committee.
The magistrate also granted Coors the
right to obtain the identities of contri-
butors to Solidarity, minutes of Soli-
darity's meetings, and other information
concerning the group and its activities.
The company contends that Solidarity,
the Northern California Chapter of the
AFL-CIO Coors Boycott Committee
and two of the Committee's employees
violated the Sherman Antitrust Act by
conspiring to restrain trade and reduce
competition in the brewing industry.
Coors is suing to restrain the parties
from: interfering with Coors' business
and is claiming punitive and compen-
satory damages of $145,000.
ACLU-NC cooperating attorney
Arthur Brunwasser and staff counsel
Margaret Crosby are representing
Solidarity. Union attorneys are repre-
senting the boycott committee and its
agents.
At the December hearing, Coors also
asked for and was granted reimburse-
ment for the cost of asking the magis-
trate for a ruling on the constitutional
issues of privacy and associational free-
The Adlolph Coors Company is suing to get the names of members of Solidarity,
x
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So.
2:
So;
SS
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a gay rights organization, who are active in the Coors boycott.
dom. The ACLU-NC had refused to
turn over Solidarity's records without a
court order.
"These sanctions punish people for
raising consitutional issues,'' said
Crosby. Agreeing that it sets a dangerous
precedent, Brunwasser added that if the
order holds, anyone who raised a consti-
tutional defense could be held liable for'
the opponent's attorneys fees.
Privacy threat
The privacy issue is central to the case.
"We knew when we took the case that
Coors was asking for this type of in-
formation,'' Crosby said. ``We felt that
this probe, totally apart from the rest of
the case, presented a real threat to
as associational freedom.
"People won't join controversial or-
ganizations if they feel threatened in this
Professor Fights Stanford over Free
The case of Bruce Franklin, the first.
and only tenured professor at Stanford
University to be fired for speeches made
during the height of campus anti-Viet-
nam war protests, has reached the Court
of Appeal after a decade of arbitration
and litigation.
The ACLU's 150-page brief, filed in
December in the First District Court of
Appeal, claims that the University's
firing of Franklin was in violation of his
First Amendment rights.
According to ACLU staff counsel
Margaret Crosby, who with staff counsel
Alan Schlosser is representing Franklin,
`*This is a significant stage in the case as
it is the first time that the constitutional
issue of free speech will be debated be-
fore an appellate court.
"During a decade of litigation, before
university faculty committees and in Su-
- perior Court, the Stanford administra-
tion has attempted to create a false his-
tory concerning the events that triggered
Professor Franklin's dismissal,'' she
continued. ``Indeed, Bruce Franklin has
been depicted in Stanford's briefs as
something of a mythic figure, an armed
warrior single-handedly turning a tran-
quil campus into a charred battleground.
"But this is not a case about violent
action. This is a case about free speech.
This is a case about academic freedom,"'
Crosby added.
The ACLU's representation of Frank-
lin began in 1972 after the University's
faculty Advisory Board recommended
that Franklin be fired for four speeches
that he made during campus protests and
the University implemented that deci-
sion. The ACLU filed suit for his rein-
statement, declaratory relief, back pay
and damages in Santa Clara Superior
Court.
In 1978, Superior Court Judge John
A. Flaherty ruled that two of the four
speeches were protected by the First
Amendment and ordered that the Ad-
visory Board rehear the case and _ re-
evaluate the punishment of dismissal.
In May, 1980 the Advisory Board,
after a perfunctory rehearing in which
only written testimony was allowed,
unanimously recommended that Frank-
lin's firing be reaffirmed. Finally, in
May, 1981 the superior court judge
entered his final judgment - determin-
ing solely whether the University abused
its discretion in dismissing Franklin.
Professor Bruce Franklin's firing was
legal, the court stated.
"The record in this case compels the
conclusion that Franklin was fired for
his constitutionally protected speech and
ideas,"' Crosby said, ``and it is the duty
- of the court to bar punishment for dis-
_sident speech and controversial beliefs."'
The ACLU brief also contends that
the disciplinary rules which Stanford
used to dismiss Franklin ``utterly lacked'
clarity and specificity as applied to
speech,'' and are therefore unconstitu-
tionally vague. In addition, the brief cites
testimony of Stanford faculty members
way,'' she said. ``Gay rights organiza-
tions are the type of group particularly in
need of protection.
"Upon disclosure of homosexuality,
people often lose their jobs and some-
times custody of their children. Society
continues to discriminate,'' Crosby said.
Solidarity officer Timothy Moore
agreed. To surrender the membership list
would be a violation of what the group
represents, he said. ``People came to
Solidarity because they felt' frustrated
with the system. It would be unwise of us
as leaders to release our members' names
-if they saw it was that easy to be ex-
posed, they'd be unlikely to join a group
again."'
- The action arose out of a successful
effort by the AFL-CIO Coors Boycott
Committee to discourage KQED tele-
Speech Firing
that the standards were never intended to
permit firing for political speech.
In upholding Franklin's termination,
the brief claims, the trial judge failed to
scrutinize the record under the stringent
standard demanded of courts which have (c)
found that a firing resulted in part from
constitutionally protected speech.
Rather, the judge essentially ruled that
Stanford did not act irrationally in its
second decision to discharge Franklin in
1980. se
`Firing is a common, though illegal,
fate for speakers whose political views
are anathema to their employers,"'
Schlosser said. ``Ironically, the motto of
Stanford University is `the wind of free-
dom blows.'
"In the case of Bruce Franklin, it
seems the wind of freedom blew too hard
for the Stanford administration,"' he
added.
| Furor Brews over Coors Suit Against Gay Group
vision from holding a special ``Coors
Day'' as part of its annual auction. The
suit names Howard Wallace, who repre-
sented the boycott committee at a meet-
ing with KQED officials in May 1981.
The KQED event was subsequently
cancelled.
`Solidarity, which supports the Coors
boycott because of its disapproval of the
company's labor policies and right-wing
political activities, produced a leaflet
urging the boycott of Coors products.
Wallace brought a copy of the leaflet to
the KQED meeting. Although a member
of the group, Wallace was not repre-
senting Solidarity at the meeting.
The leaflet was Solidarity's sole in-
volvement in the KQED incident. The
ACLU-NC is arguing that the First
Amendment protects individuals and
groups who produce a publication from
liability for its use by others.
Wallace did nothing that was not pro-
tected by the First Amendment, Crosby
explained, but even if he had, Solidarity
would not be responsible. A unanimous
Supreme Court decision recently de-
clared the NAACP could not be held
liable for illegal acts by a few of its
`members in support of a boycott during
the civil rights movement.
**You can't put a whole movement out
of business because of activities of some
of its members,"' she said. `"That would
be a great tool - enemies of an organi-
zation could infiltrate and cause trouble.
It's important that associations not be
penalized."' -
"This suit is simply a means for
- Coors to learn details of the boycott of
its products,'' Brunwasser said. The
issue, he added, is whether members of
the community can advocate an econom-
ic boycott without fear of being sued for
large sums of money - whether a large,
wealthy corporation `"`can try to sniff
out members of the community who
don't like their labor practices."'
``Antitrust laws certainly shouldn't be -
used to impose huge fines for the publi-
cation of a leaflet,' Crosby commented.
`The laws are designed to prevent com-
petitors from predatory or monopolistic
practices. Coors is using them to silence
a community group which is protesting
what it sees as unfair labor practices and
the use of profits for right-wing causes.
Solidarity only wants to ask people not
~ to spend their money to subsidize those
activities. This is classically what the
First Amendment was designed to
protect.
`*As the courts have recognized, con-
sumer boycotts for political purposes
have a long-standing tradition in
America - going back to the Boston tea
party,'' Crosby said.
ACLU News volunteer Evvie Rasmus-,
sen is a local public information
specialist.
aclu news
8 issues a year. monthly except bi-monthly in January-February, June-July,
August-September and November-December
Second Class Mail privileges authorized at San Francisco, California
Published by the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California
Davis Riemer, Chairperson Dorothy Ehrlich, Executive Director {
Marcia Gallo, Chapter Page iy)
ACLU NEWS (USPS 018-040)
1663 Mission St., 4th floor, San Francisco, California 94103. (415) 621-2488
`Membership $20 and up, of which 50 cents is for a subscription to the aclu news
and 50 cents is for the national ACLU-bi-monthly publication, Civil Liberties.
Elaine Elinson, Editor
aclu news
jan-feb 1983
High Court Affirms Inmates' Free Press Rights .
The California Supreme Court ruled
in December that Department of Correc-
tions regulations concerning prison
newspapers must take prisoners' First
_-Amendment rights into account.
The long-awaited ruling came in the
case of Bailey v. Loggins, a dispute over
prison officials' censorship of the Sole-
dad Prison's inmate-run newspaper, the
Star News, which began in 1977. The 4 -
3 favorable high court decision had an
immediate impact in a separate ACLU
prison news censorship suit concerning
the Vacavalley Star at the California
Medical Facility in Vacaville.
The ACLU's amicus brief in Bailey
was written by ACLU cooperating at-
torneys Zak Taylor and Peter Goodman
of the San Francisco law firm of Bro-
beck, Phleger and Harrison and staff
counsel Alan Schlosser. The same team
of attorneys is representing Vic Diaz,
editor of the Vacavalley Star.
The Supreme Court decision based the
parameters of prison news censorship on
Penal Code 2600, the statute governing
the rights of inmates in California pri-
sons. ``By [this] statute,'' the opinion
states, ``prisoners retain all rights en-
compassed under the heading of the free-
dom of the press in the First Amendment
to the U.S. Constitution and Article I,
Section 2 of the California Constitution,
except to the extent that such rights must
be curtailed for institutional security and
public safety.
"The state, having opened a forum
for the expression of ideas, may not pre-
vent members of its public from using
the forum because the state disapproves
of their beliefs or the content of their
expression,"' the court states.
Noting that the current Department of
Corrections guidelines and institutional
practices are so vague as to unconsti-
tutionally limit inmates' expression, the
high court calls for ``regulations to be-
drafted with sensitivity to First Amend-
city HUSA 84
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ment values, and with a view to avoiding
restrictions unnecessary to any institu-
tional or penalogical purposes."'
The Supreme Court in Bailey also up-
held the lower court's ruling that the ad-
ministrative appeal process for censored
articles must be expedited, so as not to
unnecessarily delay publication of the
newspapers.
The December 10 decision was written
by Justice Allen Broussard, and signed
by Justice Cruz Reynoso. Chief Justice
Bird and Justice Frank Newman filed
brief concurring opinions. Justices Frank
Richardson and Stanley Mosk argued in
dissent that inmates have neither a
constitutional nor a statutory right to
publish their articles in a prison news-
Paper Defeats Police Libel Suit
Eight years ago, San Leandro police
officer Goerge Gomes sued The Friday
Observer for allegedly libeling him in an
editorial critical of local police.
The $170,000 libel judgment awarded
to Gomes after a six-day jury trial would
have put the small family-run newspaper
out of business - had the ACLU not
stepped in to appeal.
The appeal was handled by ACLU-
NC cooperating attorney Steven Barnett,
a law professor at Boalt Hall and ACLU
staff attorney Amitai Schwartz.
In December 1982, the California
Supreme Court refused to hear Gomes'
appeal of the appellate court's October 1
reversal of the libel judgment, and the
case of The Friday Observer chalked up
another ACLU victory for freedom of
the press.
Staff attorney Schwartz explained that
the case was significant for several
reasons.
"At an early stage of the appeal,"'
Schwartz said, ``we were able to obtain a
stay of the payment of the judgment
while the appeal was pending. Everyone.
knew that if the father-and-son team
which publishes the paper was forced to
pay the judgment or put up a bond for
double the amount of the judgment, they
would have been put out of business.
`"We argued that payment of damages
in a libel suit before all appeals are ex-.
hausted is an unconstitutional prior re-
straint of the press.
``The October decision of the Court of
Appeal,'' Barnett said, ``reached two
important conclusions. For the first
time, a California appellate court ruled
that street-level police officers are con-
sidered public officials for the purposes
of a libel suit. This means that they, like
other public officials, must prove that
false statements were made knowingly or
`in reckless disregard of the truth - in
order to recover for libel,'' he said.
The Court of Appeal, citing an Illinois
case, stated, `"The abuse of a patrol-
man's office can have great potentiality
for social harm; hence public discussion
and public criticism directed towards the
performance of that office cannot
constitutionally be inhibited by threat of
prosecution under state libel laws."'
Barnett noted that the appellate
court's decision that an individual who
attempts to sue a newspaper for libel
must make a specific demand for retrac-
tion or else forfeit the claim was also
significant.
The Observer had run an editorial
"Keeping the Peace,"" accompanied by
several captioned photographs, including
one of Gomes. The appellate court wrote,
"The request for a retraction referred
only to statements [in the editorial], and
did not mention either the photograph
or its caption. Under these circum-
stances, the publisher could not be ex-
pected to comprehend from the letter
that Gomes also was requesting a retrac-
tion of an admittedly accurate photo-
graph and its caption.
``We conclude that since the demand
for retraction failed to specify with par-
ticularity the only potentially libelous
part of the article, the photograph and
its caption, Gomes... could not re-
cover general damages,'' the court
added.
paper. Justice Otto Kaus wrote a
separate dissent.
Immediately following the Bailey
decision, the Department of Corrections
sought to overturn the preliminary in-
junction which kept CMF officials from
censoring the Vacavalley Star. They ar-
gued that as the Supreme Court had in-
dicated that a prison ``need not establish
any publication whatsoever,'' there was
no need for further court supervision or
protection of the newspaper.
However, at a hearing on January 11,
Judge William Jensen of Solano County
Superior Court, refused to vacate his
earlier order preventing the Star from
being closed or censored.
According to cooperating attorney
Goodman, ``Judge Jensen ruled that the
Star will continue to publish under the
protection of court order. We are very
pleased that the judge interpreted Bailey
in a manner consistent with ours - and
did not agree with the state's tortured
reading of that decision as a basis to
close down prison newspapers."
Editor transferred
There was one setback, however, in
the case of Diaz v. Watts which occurred
at the January 11 hearing. For many
months, the prison administration has
been attempting to have Victor Diaz, the
inmate editor of the Vacavalley Star
transferred from CMF to another state
prison.
The ACLU has consistently fought the
transfer, arguing that the transfer would
be another form of harassment of the
inmate newspaper which officials have
Novato Marchers
from p. 1
When the Committee applied for a re-
fund of the entire fee paid, the City of
Novato informed them on September 28
that their claim had been rejected.
ACLU-NC cooperating attorney Eric
Neisser, who with ACLU staff coun-
sel Margaret Crosby is handling the case
for the Committee, said, ``The Novato
ordinance authorizing the imposition of
fees for insurance and police coverage as
a condition of the Committee's right of
free speech and assembly is clearly
unconstitional.
`"`Moreover,'' he added, ``the city's
practice of charging higher rates for in-
surance and police coverage to groups
holding `political' rallies than to groups
involved in less political or less contro-
versial types of activities is a violation of
the equal protection clause of the
Constitution."
Neisser, a professor of law at Stanford
University who was assisted by students
at Stanford's Civil Litigation Clinic,
pointed out that the Novato case is
particularly important because there are
no published judicial precedents which
directly decide whether a police services
fee may be imposed on groups for First
Amendment activities. There have been a
few decisions on the insurance issue,
most notably the ACLU's Skokie case
where the insurance requirement was
struck down by the federal courts. |
`"`This case is significant as a barom-
eter for the ability of political activists to
freely demonstrate to air their grievances
-particularly in this period of economic
distress,'' Neisser commented. ``We are
already witnessing that as the economy
worsens, political dissent becomes more
widespread - and protection of free
shut down, censored, and delayed over a
- two-year period.
At the January hearing, Judge Jensen
finally approved the transfer of Diaz
from CMF.
`*We understand the reluctance of the
judge to interefere with Diaz' transfer,
but we still wish he had done otherwise,"'
Goodman said. It is clear to us that Diaz'
transfer was treated differently than
other prisoners' and we fear that the -
transfer will give the state the oppor-
tunity to indirectly muzzle the Star now
that they have been denied the ability to
directly close it down or censor it.
`"We.are confident, however, that the
judge will continue to hold the paper
under protection of the law. Now that
the inmate population and other Star
subscribers are used to the outspoken
newspaper, we know that they won't
take any official harassment of the paper
lightly,'" Goodman added.
Ironically, editor Diaz is being trans-
ferred to Soledad.
ACLU's defense of the Star began two
years ago when the paper was shut down
by prison officials. Although the ACLU
won an injunction to reopen the paper,
prison officials have continually delayed
and interfered with production of the
paper. In August, a Department of Cor-
rections directive shut down the Star and
all other state prison newspapers claim-
ing financial considerations. As a result
of work by the ACLU and Assembly-
man Art Agnos, that directive was lifted
within a week and the prison papers
reopened.
Sue
speech rights becomes increasingly
- crucial.
"The government cannot doubly
burden people who want to express their
dissent by putting an expensive price tag,
on freedom of expression.
`Unless the Novato ordinance is
~ struck down, the prospect of having to
pay similar fees as a condition to
gathering in a public forum in Novato
will surely deter the Committee for Nu-
clear Disarmament and others from or-
ganizing such gatherings in the future,'':
Neisser concluded.
The ACLU suit asks the court to de-
clare the Novato ordinance unconstitu-
tional and to issue an injunction pro-
hibiting the City from requiring the pay-
ment of police services or the purchase of
insurance as a condition of the exercise
of the rights of free expression and
assembly.
In addition, the suit seeks a refund of
$214.80, the amount paid under protest
to the City of Novato by the Committee
for Nuclear Disarmament as a condition
to obtaining the march permit.
The defendants named in the suit are
the City of Novato, the members of the
Novato City Council, the Novato Police
Chief and the Public Works Director.
The case will be heard by U.S. District
Court Judge William Ingram.
aclu news
jan-feb 1983
ACLU-NC LEGISL
AISKAIAG PREQICTIONS
There's little cause for rejoicing over
the 1981-82 Legislative Session. Some of
the worst attacks were turned back. For
example, overt attacks on the indepen-
dence of the judiciary - on which the
defense of the rights of individuals is
keyed - were defeated. Similarly, vir-.
_ tually all attacks on the right of procre-
ative choice were blocked, as was most
of the Moral Majority agenda, which
had seemed such a potent force after the
1980 election.
On the other hand, Prop 8, passed by
the voters in June, wiped out two years'
successful effort turning back the most
egregious ``anti-crime"' proposals affect-
ing evidence, proof of guilt and pre-
sumption of innocence. Though the
- courts may trim that measure's worst ex-
cesses, for the moment the legal nihilists
dance their fool's jig in the light of day.
The ACLU also spent a great deal of
effort trying to turn back irresponsible
efforts by police organizations to stifle
citizen complaints. One bill which would
have made it a crime to file a ``false''
complaint was stopped. But a second bill
allowing civil retaliation for complaining
passed in the last minutes of the session.
_Most ``successes'' are qualified. The
ACLU spent two years in negotiations
trying to stop a dangerous attack on free
speech by people whom we normally
count as friends. Senator Diane Watson
introduced SB 267 for use against the
KKK and other hate groups, but in its
earliest forms it gave the Attorney Gen-
eral and district attorneys the authority
to seek injunctions against any group
from ever meeting - impacting not only
the Klan, but also environmental organ-
izations, anti-nuclear and anti-draft
efforts, and anyone feeling compelled by
Reaganomics to organize in defense and
protest. Senator Watson amended the
bill to avoid that result, after persistent
lobbying. The bill which passed allows
courts to issue injunctions against spe-
cific speech which a court is persuaded
will imminently lead to violence. Even
that measure will inevitably lead to
trouble down the line for ACLU liti-
gators. But, like Pac-Man, our success
this past session is measured by the
amount of white dots we were able to
gobble before being zapped.
That is not to say that civil libertarians
did not have some clear victories. Re-en-
actment of a criminal libel law was
stopped; another attempt to facilitate
DA use of criminal law for collection
efforts against AFDC recipients was
blocked; and renewed attempts to lock
up juvenile runaways and truants in jail
facilities bit the dust after intense state-
wide lobbying.
The Coming Session |
Predicting what the coming Session
will be like is risky. Almost the entire cast
of characters in California government
will change.
Governor Jerry `Biown will be re-
placed by George Deukmejian. Deuk-
by Brent Barnhart
ACLU Legislative Advocate
mejian will be replaced as Attorney Gen-.
_ eral by John Van de Kamp. Assembly
Speaker Willie Brown and Senate Presi-
dent pro tem David Roberti remain the
legislative leaders, but otherwise the
legislative scene will be significantly dif-
ferent. Fully a fourth of the Assembly
membership will be. new to the Legis-
lature, the Senate will see many new
faces, and many of civil liberties' most
dependable supporters - Alan Sieroty,
Howard Berman, and Mel Levine - will
no longer be in Sacramento.
On those occasions that Governor
Brown was an adversary, it was either to
avoid political repercussions (such as
being labeled ``soft on crime''), or be-
cause his role as state government's ex-
ecutive: officer placed him in the path
between state agencies and civil liberties'
interests. There was never any doubt that
Jerry Brown firmly believed in freedom
of expression, that he was pro-choice,
and that he was intrinsically resistant to
overt use of government power as a re-
pressive instrument.
Deukmejian, on the other hand, holds.
very sincere views antithetical to those of
the ACLU in almost every sphere. He is
best described as Reagan without a sense
of humor. ``Deuk'' has been one of the
death penalty's most ardent proponents,
and believes sophisticated electronic spy-
ing and surveillance devices are just the
thing to eradicate crime and political
dissention. He is anti-choice and thinks
most welfare recipients are unworthy
parasites who should be cut from the
public dole.
Deukmejian shows no patience with
restraint upon government, and no indi-
cation that he has any grasp of how
fragile personal freedoms are. As A.G.
he showed no more concern for the re-
ligious freedom of the largely conserva-
tive membership of the Worldwide
Church of God, than he showed for
Mendocino property owners who were
the objects (or bystanders) of Deuk's
flack-vested helicopter-borne marijuana
attack teams.
Rumors emanating from Deuk's
transition team indicate that they'll move
immediately to implement the death pen-
alty as speedily as possible, and that they
would like to reinstate ``midnight raids"'
on AFDC mothers (to catch men in their
homes) which both the U.S. and Cali-
fornia Supreme Courts condemned 15
years ago.
With solid Democratic majorities in
both houses, Deukmejian should be able
to make very little significant change
through legislation. The most outra-
geous proposals (like those of former-
Governor Reagan) can be blocked.
More dangerous for civil liberties will
be his control of California's state
agencies such as Health Services, Mental
Health, Social Services, Employment
Development and Fair Employment and
Housing. By executive order and by
regulation, Deuk's appointees can slowly
and insidiously chew away at civil liber-
ties protections. With Washington con-
trolled by Reagan, Deukmejian's being
in control in Sacramento is especially _
bad news at a time when so many are
homeless, unable to pay outrageous
health costs and out of work.
New Attorney General
John Van de Kamp should be a com-
petent and professional attorney general,
who uses that office to good advantage
in the sorely neglected area of civil rights.
But from the standpoint of ACLU's
legislative program, Van de Kamp will be (c)
a tougher opponent than his predecessor.
Deukmejian's legislative program was so
ideologically rigid, that his lobbyists had
very little success.
As L.A. District Attorney, Van de
Kamp was no stranger to Sacramento,
lobbying legislators personally and by
phone. He came to testify often on in-
creased determinate sentences, limiting
the diminished capacity defense, and
limiting use of the exclusionary rule.
We can expect, therefore, the Attorney
General's legislative efforts on criminal
matters to be far less ideological, and far
more telling. While Democratic legis-
lators were seldom disposed to vote for
A.G. packages which would help the po-
litical aspirations of Younger and Deuk-
mejian, they will be much more reluctant
to run down one of their party's most
important elected officials. The effect is
to short-circuit much of the built-in resis-
tance of liberal Democrats to law en-
forcement proposals which erode the
rights of individuals.
Likely Proposals
On the top of the legislative agenda will
be implementation of Prop 8. Dry and,
complex stuff - but it forms the blue-
print for civil liberties for decades. May
police use evidence they secure by bug-
ging people's homes and offices? May
cops use surreptitious cameras and two-
way mirrors to spy on people in public
restrooms? May polygraph evidence be
used in court? May motorists be strip-
searched when stopped for routine traf-
fic violations?
On the abortion front, pro-choice ad-
~ vocates will be confronted with a hostile
Administration, but the Assembly ma-
jority remains staunchly pro-choice. And
even the Senate, which has rivaled the
federal forum for the stridency of anti-
choice rhetoric, has seen significant
changes.
One danger zone in the coming session
will be civil liberties reverses impacting
poor people. With the state in severe
economic distress, and with Deukme-
jian's Administration drawing up the
Budget, those most likely to be kicked
~ aside will be the poor and disabled. In
past years, attempts to peel away essen-
tial rights and protections have been
countered very effectively by the legisla-
tive staffs of CRLA and other publicly
funded poverty law organizations. But
the Reagan Administration may have
demolished their legislative presence in
the state capitals, leaving the work to.
ACLU, the Friends Committee on Legis-
lation and other private groups.
AB 732 (Montoya) - Informed Consent
Would have imposed ``informed con-
sent'' requirements which amount to a
check-list of dissuasion as a prerequisite
to performing an abortion. Also would
have prohibited the performance of an
abortion until 24 hours after giving writ-
ten consent.
Action: Passed Senate; died awaiting ac-
tion in Assembly Judiciary.
ACLU: Opposed
SB 1807 (Speraw)
AB 3766 (Sebastiani) - Student re-
strictions
Each would have prohibited school
employees from allowing a minor pupil
to leave school for the purpose of having
an abortion. The effect would have been
to require schools to impose a sweeping
surveillance of female students to avoid
liability.
Action: SB 1807 was defeated in Assem-
bly Education. AB 3766 died awaiting
action in Senate Judiciary.
ACLU: Opposed
SB 2065 (A. Garcia) - Fetus viability
Would have established ``viability'' of
fetus at 20 weeks, effectively prohibiting
`all abortions after 20 weeks except to
e save the life of the mother. (c)
Action: Defeated on Senate floor.
ACLU: Opposed
Workers'
Rights
AB 1985 (Johnston) - Harassment
Makes it an unlawful employment
practice to harass an individual, know-
ingly permit, or fail to take precautions
to prevent harassment on the basis of |
sex, race, age, etc.
Action: Signed by the Governor.
ACLU: Supported
AB 2694 (M. Waters) - Whistleblowing
Would have made it an unfair labor
practice for an employer to retaliate
against an employee for communications
with a public agency.
Action: Passed Assembly; died in Senate.
ACLU: Supported
Juveniles
SB 396 (Nielson)
AB 3156 (Konnyu) - Juvenile detention
. Current law prohibits putting run-
aways, truants and incorrigibles (i.e.,
non-criminal juveniles) in locked facili-
ties. These bills would have allowed
``bootstrapping,''(R) - status offenders
could be placed in locked facilities if they
violate any juvenile court order.
Action: SB 396 defeated in Assembly
Ways and Means; AB 3156 defeated in
Seante Judiciary.
Action: SB 396 defeated in Assembly
Ways and Means; AB 3156 defeated in
Senate Judiciary.
ACLU: Opposed
SB 649 (Ellis) - Raising penalties
Raises current assault and battery pen-
alties from a misdemeanor to a ``wob-
bler'' (felony-misdeameanor) if the as-
sault victim is a school teacher, counselor
or administrator.
Action: Signed by the Governor.
ACLU: Opposed
SB 1351 (Presley) Marijuana penalties
Enhances penalties for possession of
marijuana on school grounds while
school is open. Prevents the destruction
of arrest and conviction records for
marijuana-related offenses occurring
prior to January 1, 1976.
Action: Signed by Governor.
ACLU: Opposed
Mental
Health
AB 351 (D. Stirling) - 6 month Com-
mitment
Amends LPS Act to expand court-or-
dered commitment from a maximum of
90 days to 6 months. Also changes the
standard from ``imminent threat of sub-
stantial harm to others'? to ``demon-
strated danger of substantial physical
harm to others."'
Action: Signed by the Governor.
ACLU: Opposed
Church/State
SCA 40 (Robbins) School textbooks
The California Supreme Court recent-
_ly held that loans of public school text-
books to private schools violates
Church-State provisions of the Cali-
fornia Constitution. This resolution
would amend the state Constitution to
make it permissible.
Action: Passed both houses; defeated on
November ballot.
ACLU: Opposed
Police
AB 2579 (Konnyu) - Cruising ordin-
ances
An appellate court recently held in an
ACLU case that cities and counties are
preempted by state law from enacting
anti-cruising ordinances which are more
restrictive than the state Vehicle Code.
This bill empowers local authorities to
enact ordinacnes which prohibit ``repeti-
tive driving'' past a control point after
written notice to drivers.
Action: Signed by the Governor.
ACLU: Opposed
AB 3348 (Weyman) - Mandatory testing
Expands California's implied consent
law to include mandatory testing for any
_ drug whatsoever. The person arrested is
required to submit to either a blood or |
urine test to determine unspecified
``drug'' content of his or her blood.
Action: Signed by the Governor.
ACLU: Opposed
SB 63 (Presley) - Police complaints
Would have made it a misdemeanor to
file a ``false'' complaint against a police
officer.
Action: Died awaiting reconsideration in
Assembly Criminal Justice.
ACLU: Opposed
SB 1025 (Robbins) - Police complaints
Amends current absolute privilege
from defamation lawsuits for remarks
made in official proceedings, to create an
exception for ``communication'"' alleging
police officer misconduct on a complaint
form, or in any administrative or court.
proceeding concerning discipline or em-
ployment of that officer.
Action: Signed by the Governor.
ACLU: Opposed
First
Amendment
ACA 74 (Agnos) - Political defamation
This bill asks voters to pass a law
which would provide for an elected of-
ficial to be removed from office upon a
judicial finding that he or she attained
the office by defaming his or her oppo-
nent. The removal would occur after all
appeals had been exhausted.
Action: Passed both houses and enrolled
for ballot.
ACLU: Opposed
SB 267 (Watson) - Violent groups
Empowers individuals to seek an in-
junction against advocacy of violence if
that advocacy is likely to produce im-
minent and unlawful infliction of serious
bodily injury or death.
Action: Signed by Governor.
ACLU: Opposed
SB 393 (Russell) - Obscenity standard
Replaces current statutory obscenity
standard (proof that the writings or film
be ""`utterly without redeeming social
importance'') with a broader standard -
that the matter be "`lacking in serious
literacy, artistic, political or scientific
value."'
Action: Passed Senate; died awaiting
consideration in Assembly Criminal e
Justice.
ACLU: Opposed
SB 1847 (Maddy) - Criminal libel
Under current law, there are no crim-
inal penalties for defamation. All sanc-
tions are civil sactions sought by the indi-
vidual. This bill was an attempt to reen-
act a criminal libel statute.
Action: Passed Senate; defeated on As-
sembly floor.
ACLU: Opposed
Voting Right
AB 2949 (Alatorre) - Bilingual Ballots
Contains provisions exempting re-
quests _ for bilingual ballots from the
operation of the Public Records Act.
Action: Signed by the Governor.
ACLU: Supported
Webfare
Rights
AB 2953 (Wray) - Criminal Prosecu-
_ tion
(R)
criminally without first having to seek
(c) restitution.
; Action: Defeated in Assembly Ways and
Means.
e ACLU: Opposed
Under current law AFDC recipients
must be given the opportunity to make
restitution for overpayments. This bill
would have allowed DA's to prosecute
' Justice
aclu news
jan-feb 1983 -
AB 610 (Berman) - Patients records
Guarantees patient access to medical
records upon presentation of a written
request and payment of reasonable cleri-
cal costs. Amended in Senate to limit in-
spection of mental health records to li-
censed M.D.'s or licensed psychologists.
Action: Signed by the Governor. _
ACLU: Supported |
AB 2735 (Moore) - Cable TV Privacy
Prohibits cable television systems
from violating the privacy rights of their
subscribers using interactive cable services
such as ``two-way'' communications,
and from disclosing names and addresses
of subscribers without their consent.
Action: Signed by the Governor.
ACLU: Supported
_ AB 2897 (Roos) - Cable TV Privacy
Prohibits cable television companies
from monitoring individual viewing
practices or disclosing individually iden-
tifiable information about a subscriber
without express written consent.
Action: Signed by the Governor. (c)
ACLU: Supported
Criminal
AB 2340 (D. Stirling) - Jury Selection
Would have abolished attorney voir
dire in picking criminal juries, and re-
_placed it with judge voir dire as in the
federal system.
Action: Failed Assembly Criminal Jus- :
tice upon reconsideration.
ACLU: Opposed
AB 2426 (Lehman) - Discretionary
appeals
Would have reversed the automatic
appeals process and made appeals from
criminal convictions discretionary.
Action: Died awaiting interim study
from Assembly Criminal Justice.
ACLU: Opposed
SCA 7 (Presley) - Exclusionary rule
Would have amended California Con-
stitution to provide that evidence could
not be excluded in a criminal action un-
less required by decision of the U.S.
Supreme Court or by statute.
Action: Passed Senate; died awaiting
action in Assembly Criminal Justice.
ACLU: Opposed
SCA 10 (Presley) - Preventive detention
Would have expanded provisions of
the recently enacted Proposition 4. Bail
could be denied upon proof of ``danger-
ousness'' of anyone accused of any fel-
|ony, not just violent felonies or those in
`which a witness is threatened.
e Action: Passed Senate; died awaiting ac-
tion in. Assembly Criminal Justice.
(R) ACLU: Opposed
Privacy
Fr
6 aclu news
jan-feb 1983
Martinez Honored, Wicker Keynote at Rights Day
"One thing that we-must not fall err
to,'' warned Bill of Rights Day keynote
speaker Tom Wicker, ``is the notion that
we can solve the crime problem with a
quick fix or a short cut.' With a
thoughtfulness and depth that has been
honed by over twenty years of analysing
political and social problems as colum-
nist and Associate Editor of the New
York Times, Wicker blasted some of the
"neoconservative myths'? about the
causes of crime and asked that we ``ap-
proach the crime problem with the idea
that there really is something wrong with
our society."'
Tom Wicker - Keynote speaker.
The ACLU-NC's tenth annual Bill of
Rights Day Celebration at the Sheraton
Palace Hotel on December 5 attracted
more than 800 ACLU members and sup-
porters. The ACLU presented Vilma
Martinez with the Earl Warren Civil
Liberties Award for her decade of lead-
ership of the Mexican American Legal
Defense and Education Fund
(MALDEF) and ACLU-NC volunteer
Miriam Rothschild was honored with the
Lola Hanzel Advocacy Award.
person be an extraordinary human being
just to have a job and a decent life.''
Wicker also laid out a substantial ar-
gument against the death penalty, noting
that the only proven deterrent to crime is
swift and certain punishment. ``Nothing
is less swift and less sure than the death
penalty,'' he said.
Executive Director Dorothy Ehrlich
gave a sobering rundown of the work of
the ACLU-NC in 1982 and the chal-
lenges facing the organization in the
coming years with ``two hostile adminis-
trations, one in the White House and one
in Sacramento.
`*This government which promised to
get off the backs of the people, is
actually turning its back on the people,"'
Ehrlich said, adding that the coming
period will ``test our 62 years of experi-
ence, and business will surely boom at
the ACLU."'
When ACLU Vice-Chair Dick Criley
presented the Lola Hanzel Advocacy
Award to Miriam Rothschild, he called
her ``indefatigable, creative, versatile."'
Rothschild, a tireless activist against
the death penalty whose battle against
political repression dates back to the Mc-
Carthy era, paid tribute to Lola Han-
zel's decade of volunteer service to the
ACLU-NC and encouraged ``anyone
with a moment to spare'' to `spend it
volunteering for the ACLU.
President and General Counsel of
MALDEF Joaquin Avila introduced the
Earl Warren Civil Liberties Award win-
ner, his predecesser at MALDEF Vilma
Martinez. Citing Martinez as a ``tough,
smart, dedicated: leader,'' he. noted :that
her work at MALDEF ``made a lot of
people proud, and a lot of oppo-
nents angry."'
Among Martinez's accomplishments,
Avila said, were her victories in bilingual
education, voting rights, employment
opportunities, and a long and difficult
fight against widespread police brutality
in Latino communities.
Miriam Rothschild, congratulated by ACLU Vice-chair Dick Criley and Frank
Wilkinson, Executive Director Emeritus of the National Committee Against
Repressive Legislation, (1.-r.) for winning the Lola Hanzel Advocacy Award.
Calling for ``drastic changes in the
economy,'' Wicker asked people to
recognize that there is a `low-grade, un-
admitted class war in this country."'
"This is not a classless society,'' he
said. ``There is a constant juxtaposition
of poverty with so much visible afflu-
ence. This leads to people thinking, "This
is not a society in which I have a stake,'-
and if those conditions continue, crime
will continue to grow."'
To overcome conditions of poverty, a
person ``has to be extraordinary,"
Wicker added, ``It's a lot to ask, that a
Spirited American folk tunes from the
Bluestein Family closed the evening
celebration.
The Bill of Rights Day Celebration is
the culmination of the annual fund-rais-
ing drives of the ACLU-NC. The funds
raised will support the continuing legal
program of the ACLU-NC Foundation.
as ACLU-NC Chairperson Davis
Riemer told the Bill of Rights Day cele-
brants, `"Today we can look back at the
past decade - at our successes and set-
backs - and once again rededicate our-
selves to the task that lies ahead."'
Vilma Martinez (r.), former president of MALDEF, was honored with the Earl
Warren Civil Liberties Award. Former ACLU chair Drucilla Ramey presented
the award.
Saving a Voice for Women
by George Kelly
The ACLU is fighting an effort to
muzzle the California Commission on
the Status of Women.
In a friend of the court brief filed with
the state's Third District Court of
Appeal in Sacramento, the ACLU-NC
and Equal Rights Advocates, Inc., argue
that the Commission should be able to
take positions on public issues, dissemin-
ate its views to the public, and lobby the
Legislature. The friend of the court brief
was written by ACLU cooperating at-
torney Sandra Tichenor of the San Fran-
cisco law firm of Morrison and Foerster.
The Commission's advocacy role was
challenged over six years ago when indi-
vidual taxpayers and the ``Women's
Committee for Responsible
Government'' sued, claiming the
creation of the Commission deprived
male plaintiffs of equal protection, and
that the Commission' overstepped its
bounds by using public funds to promote
ratification of the Equal Rights Amend-
ment. :
In 1978, the Court of Appeal held it
would have been unlawful for the
Commission to use public funds to pro-
mote ERA ratification. It bounced the
case back to superior court to determine
the source of funding for particular
Commission communications, and to
consider whether those communications
were informational or promotional.
At trial, the plaintiffs attacked all of
the Commission's advocacy of feminist
causes, such as reproductive freedom,
child care centers, and textbooks show-
ing women in nontraditional roles.
Tichenor explained, ``The plaintiffs
asked the superior court to enjoin the
Commission from taking any position
on women's issues, and from dissem-
inating any information on women's
issues without presenting all sides to the
question.
`Thus, for example, information on
reproductive freedom would have to be
coupled with pro-life brochures, and
data on child care centers would accom-
pany pamphlets denouncing working
mothers,'' she added.
In March, 1982, a Sacramento Super-
ior Court judge rejected the ``equal pro-
tection'' argument and various other at-
tacks on the Commission, but found that
the Commission's use of public funds
was not completely impartial and
exceeded the authority granted by the
Legislature. The judge told the Com-
mission to refrain from proposing or
recommending specific legislation and
from ``presenting any particular view--
point with respect to information
gathered or disseminated."
Both sides appealed.
Meanwhile, in September, 1982 the
Legislature passed a bill spelling out in
no uncertain terms the Commission's
right to lobby the Legislature on any
pending bills and to ``urge the introduc-
tion of legislative proposals."'
Citing that bill, ACLU's amicus brief
declares that the Commission has statu-
tory authority to speak out. The bulk of
the ACLU agrument, however, is
devoted to explaining why the Commis-
sion is constitutionally permitted to take
positions and advise the public of the
positions it takes.
"Government must be allowed to
speak if government is to lead,"' the brief
states. Although there are constitutional
limits on government's ability to speak
- to guard against ``big brother''
propaganda - the Commission is not
forcing anyone to subscribe to any par-
ticular dogma, but merely advising the
Legislature on subjects within its area of
expertise, the ACLU argues.
The Commission's lobbying efforts,
the brief argues, are well within the
mainstream of government agencies'
functions. The Attorney General's
office, for example, maintains a staff of
six full-time lobbyists to spread law-and-
order gospel.
Tichenor points out, ``there's a big
difference between lobbying for legisla-
tion and taking part in government
financed. electioneering, which is off-
limits because it raises the spectre of
government officials perpetuating their
_ Own power.
"Lobbying, on the other hand, merely
helps carry out governmental policies
and programs,"' he added.
George Kelly, a San Francisco attorney
and journalist, is a volunteer with the
ACLU News.
aclunews =
- jan-feb 1983
`by Marcia Gallo
ACLU-NC Field Director
Ten years ago, on January 22, the
U.S. Supreme Court issued decisions in
two cases, Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bol-
ton, which affirmed the right of every
woman to decide, in consultation with
her doctor, whether to have a child or
obtain an abortion.
The Court's courageous rulings legal-
ized reproductive choice for all women,
regardless of economic status, age, or
race. The rulings also spurred the op-
ponents of reproductive freedom to step
up their campaign to eliminate choice
from childbearing.
Anti-Choice Reaction
Since the Court's decisions, the ad-
vocates of ``mandatory motherhood''
have succeeded in eliminating federal
funds for abortion, thus denying poor
women access to services available to
women of means.
In California, the ACLU's fight to in
sure state funding for abortions has
lasted for five years, despite a March
1981 California Supreme Court ruling
that denial of Medi-Cal funds for abor-
tion is unconstitutional. Each year, anti-
choice forces have persuaded legislators
to cut abortion funds from the state bud-
get, and each year, the ACLU has gone
to court to block those cuts from taking
effect.
Pro-Choice Week Calendar of Events
JANUARY 21
DISTRICT VISITS throughout
northern California, coordinated by
ACLU's Pro-Choice Task Force.
Contact: Dick Grosboll, 415/387-
0575 (evenings)
SAN FRANCISCO
TEN YEARS OF CHOICE CELE-
BRATION sponsored by the North-
ern California Pro-Choice Coalition
- comedy, music, dancing.
Contact: Marcia Gallo, 415/621-2494
JANUARY 22
MARIN COUNTY
PUBLIC FORUM sponsored by
ACLU and other Marin reproductive
rights groups.
Contact: Leslie Paul, 415/381-1088
JANUARY 23
SAN FRANCISCO
EDUCATIONAL FORUM
sponsored by the Action Committee
for Abortion Rights and featuring
ACLU Task Force member Linda
~ Baker.
Contact: Linda Baker, 415/282-0715
(evenings)
JANUARY 24
SACRAMENTO
SACRAMENTO LOBBYING DAY
. and workshops; reception for Sarah
Weddington at 5:00 p.m.
Contact: Sally Smith, 916/442-1036
JANUARY 26
SANTA CRUZ
FORUM with guest speaker Midge
Costanza sponsored by ACLU Santa
Cruz Chapter and Planned Parent-
hood.
Contact: Bob Taren, 408/429-9880.
For additional information on other
events planned for Pro-Choice Week,
please contact Marcia Gallo, 415/621-
_ 2494, ACLU-NC.
The work done by ACLU's lawyers
has been supplemented by the growing
activism of ACLU members throughout
northern California and across the
country.
More than 25 anti-choice measures
were defeated in the California legisla-
ture in 1982, thanks to the intensive
efforts of local, regional, and statewide
pro-choice coalitions.
The constitutional amendments and
bills outlawing abortion proposed in
the last session of the 97th Congress by
the ``Forced Pregnancy Four'' - Sena-
Celebrating a Decade of Choice
tors Orrin Hatch, Jesse Helms, and
Mark Hatfield and Representative Henry
Hyde - went down to defeat one by
one, as thousands upon thousands of
telegrams, letters, and phone calls
poured in against so-called "Human
Life'' measures.
The Battles Ahead
But reproductive rights are far from
secure, and new bills have already been
introduced, in Sacramento and in Wash-
ington, to eliminate or severely hamper
. choice.
The next decade could see the com-
plete erosion of reproductive choice, as
teenagers, older women, married
women, and women in rural areas, join
poor and minority women in the ranks
`of those who may have the legal right to
choose an abortion but who are unable
to exercise that right because of costly,
complicated restrictions. -
To commemorate the battles of the
past decade, and to rededicate energies
to the future fight for reproductive free-
dom, January 21 through 27, 1983 has
been designated ``Pro-Choice Week'? in
California.
For a complete listing of events
planned throughout northern California
during Pro-Choice Week, please contact
Marcia Gallo, 415/621-2494, at the
ACLU-NC office. :
Report on Civil Liberties in Congress
"This has been a year of stunning vic-
- tories and painful defeats for the Bill of
Rights in Washington,'' writes John
Shattuck, ACLU national legislative di-
rector in a new report from the Wash-
ington Office of the ACLU. The Special
Report on the 97th Congress assesses the
1981-82 record of Congress on civil liber-
ties issues and rates all 535 members on
twelve key floor votes in the House of
Representatives and fourteen in the
Senate. aS
The votes analyzed were on measures
involving school desegration, legal
services for the poor, abortion, school
prayer, intelligence agents' identities,
voting rights and draft registration. _
Of the 18 Representatives who scored
perfect (100%) ACLU ratings four are
from northern California. They are
Goerge Miller, Ron Dellums, Fortney
Stark and Don Edwards. Edward Roy-
bal, from southern California, also
scored 100%.
_ In the Senate, Alan Cranston was
among the top five scorers, with 93%.
The Senate average was 46% rating;
Democrats averaged 59%, while Repub-
licans averaged 35%.
Shattuck's analysis sets out many ex-
amples of legislative victories for civil
liberties which have been undercut by ac-
tions taken by the Reagan Administra-
tion. ``Civil rights and liberties have been
successfully defended in many areas i
Congress,' Shattuck points out, `"bui
they have encountered an implacable and
increasingly isolated foe in the Reagan
Administration."' As an example, he
cites the President's ``loose and danger-
ous charge, reminiscent of the McCarthy
era, that the nuclear freeze is being
manipulated by some who `want a weak-
ening of America."'
Efforts by the ``New Right'' to over-_
turn parts of the Constitution by legisla-
tion have been thwarted at every turn in
Congress, but a Department of Justice
bent on dismantling federal civil rights
enforcement has made steady progress
toward its goal. An administration
determined to operate in greater secrecy
has failed to persuade the Congress to
and its promise of access to justice for
millions of poor Americans, but the de-
livery of legal services has been drastic-
ally curtailed by Reagan budget cuts and
severe restrictions on legal representa-
tion. A reborn civil rights movement has
overcome all opposition in Congress to
the passage of a stronger Voting Rights
Act, but the Justice Department has filed
Immigration Bill Defeated -
During the waning hours of the lame-duck session in Congress, the Simpson-Mazzoli
Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1982 went down in defeat. Civil liberties
and minorities rights groups from around the country mobilized massive opposition
to the bill which would have severely restricted the rights of immigrants. To amplify
lobbying efforts in Washington, Bay Area activists held a press conference
denouncing the measure just prior to its defeat in Congress. From l.-r. Juan
Lombard, presidert, SETU Local 616; Juan Gonzales, attorney, Bay Area Com-
mittee Against Simpson-Mazzoli; Bill Tamayo, attorney, Asian Law Caucus;
Dorothy Ehrlich, executive director, ACLU-NC.
gut the Freedom of Information Act, but
the President by a stroke of his pen has
instituted the broadest security classifica-
tion system in American history.
A valiant struggle on Capitol Hill has
saved the Legal Services Corporation
only two new cases in the voting rights
field during its first twenty months,
_ compared to a dozen in the first year of
the Carter Administration, the report
notes.
"At every turn,'' Shattuck writes,
"the civil liberties policies of the Reagan
Administration have called for a radical
shift in the traditional relationship be-
tween government and the individual in
the United States. Contrary to the Rea-
gan campaign slogan, `keep government
off the backs of the people,' the Admin-
istration has supported policies on abor-
tion, prayer and CIA domestic spying, as
well as some of its less well known posi-
tions on such issues as the privacy of
income tax records. The only promise of
governmental withdrawal that the
Reagan Administration has kept involves
its systematic retreat from the enforce-
ment of civil rights laws enacted by
Congress or set forth in the Constitution
and interpreted by the Supreme Court.
"Against this background,'' he con-
tinues, ``the civil liberties victories of the
last two years are remarkable, but by no
means secure.'' They include:
e defeat on the Senate floor or in the
House Judiciary Committee of all ef-
forts to strip federal courts of their.
authority to decide or issue remedies
in abortion, school prayer and school
desegregation cases;
e shelving of proposed constitutional
amendments to curtail reproductive
freedom, religious freedom and the
right to be free from racially segre-
gated public schools;
(c) defeat of an effort in the House of _
Representatives to establish a new
House Internal Security Committee,
Copies of the ACLU Special Report
on the 97th Congress and Voting
Records may be obtained from ACLU
National Legislative Office, 600 Pennsy]-
.vania Ave., SE, Washington, D.C.
20003.
8 aclu news
jan-feb 1983
Field Committee Sets Priorities
Although current work on reproduc-
tive rights and the right to dissent should
continue as top priorities in northern
California, ``new'' issues are surfacing
which demand special attention from
ACLU activists. This was the consensus
reached at the special November 13 Pri-
ority Discussion held by ACLU-NC's
Field Committee, which will guide the
work of the Committee in 1983.
' Twenty-five ACLU activists from
twelve chapters and two task forces
gathered in San Francisco on November
13 for the Priority Discussion. Issues
were evaluated using special ``action cri-
teria'' developed by the Field Committee
at its first meeting 1% years ago.
Field. Committee Acting Chairperson
Richard Criley emphasized the ways
chapters have utilized the new Field
Program structure, noting particularly
the numbers of coalitions, public
forums, and lobbying activities
sponsored by the Pro-Choice Task Force
and Right to Dissent Subcommittee.
"Our task now is to determine what
other issues the chapters and the Field
Program can take on to best mobilize
ACLU's membership in Northern Cali-
fornia,'' Criley explained.
The priority discussion will continue
on the first Saturday in February, as
members of two working groups -
Draft Registration and Immigration -
Board Elections
continued from p. 1
inations. If no additional nominations
are proposed by Board members, the
Board, by majority of those present
and voting, shall adopt the Nominat-
ing Committee's report. If additional
nominations are proposed, the Board
shall, by written ballot, elect a slate of
nominees with each member being en-
titled to case a number of votes equal .
to the vacancies to be filled; the Board
shall be those persons, equal in num-
ber to the vacancies to be filled, who
have received the greatest number of
placed before the membership of the
Union for election shall be those per-
sons nominated by the Board as here-
in provided, together with those per-
sons nominated by petition as here-
after provided in Section 4.
SECTION IV: Any fifteen or more
members of the Union in good stand-
ing may themselves submit a nomina-
tion to be included among those voted
upon by the general membership by
submitting a written petition to the
Board not later than twenty days after
the adoption by the Board of the slate
of Board nominees. No member of
the Union may sign more than one
such petition and each such nomina-
tion shall be accompanied by a sum-
mary of qualifications and the written
votes. The list of nominees to be |
consent of the nominee.
present possible strategies for ACLU in-
volvement in those issues.
``The defeat of the Simpson-Mazzoli
bill during the lame-duck session of
Congress means that another immigra-
tion restriction bill will surely be intro-
. duced,'' said Andrea Learned, Sonoma
County Chapter chairperson and a
members of the Immigration working
group. `""The ACLU must inform and
organize its members and the general
public on the dangers presented by so-
called immigration reform measures."'
The prosecution of draft registration
resisters also presents educational oppor-
tunities for ACLU activists, said Draft
Registration working group member
Judy Newman. ``We must take advan-
tage of recent favorable court rulings (on
behalf of resisters) to spread the word
that young men have the right to refuse
to register, and that the government
prosecution is based more on political
activism than on refusal,'' she added.
A third `"`new'' issue area-Crime and
Civil Liberties-will be considered after
an ad hoc staff committee presents pro-
posals to the Board of Directors in
March or April.
"Clearly, we must consider available
resources aS we consider new areas for
involvement," Criley observed.
`The challenge to the Field Program
in 1983 is to determine how best to con-
tinue our successful work of the past
eighteen months while expanding to meet
new needs,' he added.
D.C. Arrestees Wanted
WASHINGTON-After eleven
years, four administrations and an -
uncountable number of staff hours,
the ACLU is still trying to close the
books on the Mayday demonstrations
of 1971. :
The latest development occured in
April when the federal court released
to the ACLU over $77,000 for the
purpose of refunding the bail, bonds
and fines of persons arrested May 3-6
1971. Although many people received
refunds in 1971 and 1972, there are
still as many as six thousand people
who may be due money. Refunds will
average from $10 to $25 per person.
The ACLU has begun the process
of searching out the Mayday arrestees,
many of whom may not have been
heard from in eleven years, and re-
funding their money. Anyone who
believes he or she may be due a re-
fund, and has not contacted the
ACLU in the last year should write:
ACLU of the National Capital Area,
600 Pennsylvania Ave., S.E., Suite
#301, Washington, D.C. 30003.
- yen Join the ACLU ACLUN_1946 ACLUN_1946.MODS ACLUN_1947 ACLUN_1947.MODS ACLUN_1948 ACLUN_1948.MODS ACLUN_1949 ACLUN_1949.MODS ACLUN_1950 ACLUN_1950.MODS ACLUN_1951 ACLUN_1951.MODS ACLUN_1952 ACLUN_1952.MODS ACLUN_1953 ACLUN_1953.MODS ACLUN_1954 ACLUN_1954.MODS ACLUN_1955 ACLUN_1955.MODS ACLUN_1956 ACLUN_1956.MODS ACLUN_1957 ACLUN_1957.MODS ACLUN_1958 ACLUN_1958.MODS ACLUN_1959 ACLUN_1959.MODS ACLUN_1960 ACLUN_1960.MODS ACLUN_1961 ACLUN_1961.MODS ACLUN_1962 ACLUN_1962.MODS ACLUN_1963 ACLUN_1963.MODS ACLUN_1964 ACLUN_1964.MODS ACLUN_1965 ACLUN_1965.MODS ACLUN_1966 ACLUN_1966.MODS ACLUN_1967 ACLUN_1967.MODS ACLUN_1968 ACLUN_1968.MODS ACLUN_1968.batch ACLUN_1969 ACLUN_1969.MODS ACLUN_1969.batch ACLUN_1970 ACLUN_1970.MODS ACLUN_1970.batch ACLUN_1971 ACLUN_1971.MODS ACLUN_1971.batch ACLUN_1972 ACLUN_1972.MODS ACLUN_1972.batch ACLUN_1973 ACLUN_1973.MODS ACLUN_1973.batch ACLUN_1974 ACLUN_1974.MODS ACLUN_1974.batch ACLUN_1975 ACLUN_1975.MODS ACLUN_1975.batch ACLUN_1976 ACLUN_1976.MODS ACLUN_1976.batch ACLUN_1977 ACLUN_1977.MODS ACLUN_1977.batch ACLUN_1978 ACLUN_1978.MODS ACLUN_1978.batch ACLUN_1979 ACLUN_1979.MODS ACLUN_1979.batch ACLUN_1980 ACLUN_1980.MODS ACLUN_1980.batch ACLUN_1981 ACLUN_1981.MODS ACLUN_1981.batch ACLUN_1982 ACLUN_1982.MODS ACLUN_1982.batch ACLUN_1983 ACLUN_1983.MODS ACLUN_1983.batch ACLUN_1984 ACLUN_1984.MODS ACLUN_1985 ACLUN_1985.MODS ACLUN_1986 ACLUN_1986.MODS ACLUN_1987 ACLUN_1987.MODS ACLUN_1988 ACLUN_1988.MODS ACLUN_1989 ACLUN_1989.MODS ACLUN_1990 ACLUN_1990.MODS ACLUN_1991 ACLUN_1991.MODS ACLUN_1992 ACLUN_1992.MODS ACLUN_1993 ACLUN_1993.MODS ACLUN_1994 ACLUN_1994.MODS ACLUN_1995 ACLUN_1995.MODS ACLUN_1996 ACLUN_1996.MODS ACLUN_1997 ACLUN_1997.MODS ACLUN_1998 ACLUN_1998.MODS ACLUN_1999 ACLUN_1999.MODS ACLUN_ladd ACLUN_ladd.MODS ACLUN_ladd.bags ACLUN_ladd.batch add-tei.sh copy-create-manuscript-batch.sh create-bags.sh create-manuscript-bags.sh create-manuscript-batch.sh fits.log
(_ ) Individual $20
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( ). This is a gift membership from
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Return to ACLU-NC, 1663 Mission St., S.F. 94103
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BeAeReK
BOARD MEETING: (Fourth Thurs-
day each month.) Contact Joe Dorst,
415/654-4163 for meeting time and
place.
CAMPUS ACLU: ``Decade of
Choice'' Rally and Educational Event
- Noon to 2:00 p.m., Wednesday,
January 19, Sproul Plaza. Contact
Liz Zeck, 415/848-4038.
Earl Warren
BOARD MEETING: Third Wednes-
day each month.) Wednesday, Feb-
ruary 16, 7:30 p.m. Sumitomo Bank,
20th and Franklin Streets, Oakland.
Contact Barbara Littwin, 415/452-
4726 (days).
MEMBERSHIP MEETING/POT-
LUCK: Saturday, February 5, 6:00
p.m. Panel discussion: `"The Alame-
da County Courts - How Much Jus-
tice Can We Afford?'' Contact Bar-
bara Littwin, number above.
Fresno
BOARD MEETING: For meeting
date and place, contact Scott Will-
iams, 209/441-1611.
Gay Rights
BOARD MEETING: (Last Tuesday
each month.) Tuesday, January 25;
Tuesday, February 22. 7:00 -p.m.,
ACLU Office, 1663 Mission Street,
San Francisco.
CONGRATULATIONS to new
chapter chairperson Doug Warner! |
Marin
BOARD MEETING: (Third Monday
each month.) Monday, February 21.
8:00 p.m., Fidelity Savings, Throck-
morton Street, Mill Valley. Contact
Alan Cilman, 415/864-8882.
DECADE OF CHOICE: Special
Commemorative Event on the tenth
anniversary of the U.S. Supreme
Court decisions legalizing abortion -
Saturday, January 22. Contact Leslie
Paul, 415/381-1088.
PUBLIC FORUM: `"`Lesbian and
Gay Rights,'' with special guests
Donna Hitchens, Director, Lesbian
Rights Project; and Mary Dunlap.
Wednesday, February 9; Mill Valley
Community Center, Sunnyside and
E. Blithesdale, Mill Valley. Contact
Milton Estes, 415/383-6622.
Mid-Peninsula
BOARD MEETING: (Last Thursday
each month.) Thursday, January 27;
Thursday, February 24. 8:00 p.m. in
Palo Alto. Contact Harry Anisgard,
425/856-9186.
Monterey
BOARD MEETING/PUBLIC
FORUM: (Fourth Tuesday each
month, alternating board meetings and
forums.) Tuesday, January 25;
Tuesday, February 22. Contact Rich-
ard Criley, 408/624-7562.
Mt. Diablo
BOARD MEETING: (Usually third
Thursday each month.) Contact Eve
Gilmartin, 415/935-0257 for meeting
information.
ee a ea
Calendar
North Pen
BOARD MEETING: (Third Monday
each month.) Monday, February 21.
8:00 p.m. Contact Richard Keyes,
415/367-8800.
Sacramento
BOARD MEETING: (Third Wednes-
day each month.) Wednesday, Janu-
ary 19 - special guest speaker
Michael Ullman, chief counsel, As-
sembly Criminal Justice Committee,
7:30 p.m.; Wednesday, February 16,
7:30 p.m. All meetings at New
County Administration Building, 7th
and I Streets, Hearing Room I, Sacra-
mento. Contact Mary Gill, 415/457-
4088 (evenings).
San Francisco
BOARD MEETING: All members
are invited to the regular board meet-
ing, Tuesday, January 25, 6:00 p.m.,
at ACLU, 1663 Mission Street, #460,
San Francisco. Wine and sandwiches
will be served. Members are encour-
aged to add their ideas to the discus-
sion on the chapter's future program.
Contact Chandler Visher, 415/391-
0222.
Santa Clara
- BOARD MEETING: (First Tuesday
each month.) Tuesday, February 1,
7:30 p.m. Community Bank Building,
San Jose. Contact Vic Ulmer,
408/379-4431 (evenings).
Santa Cruz
BOARD MEETING: (Second Wed-
nesday each month.) Wednesday,
February 9, 8:00 p.m. Louden Nelson
Center, Santa Cruz. Contact Bob
Taren, 408/429-9880.
TENTH ANNIVERSARY. OF
CHOICE: Guest speaker Midge Cos-
tanza will discuss the U.S. Supreme
~Court's 1973 decision affirming
reproductive choice - Wednesday,
January 26, 7:30 p.m. Louden Nelson
Center, Santa Cruz. Contact Bob
Taren, number above. :
Sonoma
BOARD MEETING: (Third Thurs-
day each month.) Thursday, January
20; Thursday, February 17. 7:30
p.m., Center for Employment Train-
ing, 3755 Santa Rosa Avenue, Santa
Rosa. Contact Andrea Learned, 707/
544-6911.
Stockton
ANNUAL DINNER: Saturday, Feb-
ruary 26, 7:00 p.m. $10.00 per per-
son. Contact Bart Harloe, 209/946-
2431 for location and further infor-
mation.
BOARD MEETING: (First Tuesday
each month.) Tuesday, February 1.
Contact Bart Harloe, number above.
Yolo
BOARD MEETING: Contact Julius
Young, 916/758-5666 (evenings) or
Casey McKeever, 916/666-3556 (eve-
nings) for meeting information.