vol. 46, no. 5

Volume XLVI

Political activists opposing U.S.

intervention in El Salvador have won

the right to distribute their leaflets,

collect petition signatures and solicit

donations from shoppers, at the Hilltop

_ Shopping Center in Richmond, despite

the mall owner's objections, as a result

of an ACLU lawsuit (see ACLU News,

April 1981.)

On May 18, Contra Costa County

- Superior Court Judge Robert J. Cooney

issued a preliminary injunction

granting access to the West Contra

Costa Coalition Against U.S. Inter-

vention in El Salvador ``for the purpose

of peaceful, orderly and non-disruptive

informational activity pertaining to

their general purpose."

_ACLU-NC staff counsel Alan

Schlosser commented, ``The ruling

clearly states that shopping centers are

a public forum for free expression."

Despite the U.S. Supreme Court

1980 landmark ruling in Robins y.

Pruneyard Shopping Center that

individuals may distribute leaflets and

; cl

9901050M CNN. C 0481 SAMPLE

CALIFORNIA HISTORICAL SOC

5099 PACIFIC te

SAN FRANCISCO CA 94115

June-July 1981

Mall Ban on Leafletters Lifted

solicit signatures at shopping centers. =m

without infringing on the owner's |

rights, the owners of Hilltop Shopping

Center, the Taubman Company,

refused to allow Coalition members a

permit for their informational activity.

The Supreme Court decision in Rob-

ins stated that shopping centers may

stipulate certain "`time, place and man-

ner regulations,"' but that these restric-

tions must be reasonable and not un-

necessarily burdensome.

Hilltop's time, place and manner

regulations were also challenged in the

ACLU lawsuit. Judge Caney ye

invalidated most of the restrictions,

stating that Hilltop "is enjoined from

requiring the names of Coalition

members, except one responsible party;

copies of materials at the table; or

references."

Schlosser noted that this was the first

case in which a judge actually ruled on-

`"`reasonable"' time, |

what constitutes

place. and manner regulations in

connection -with informational

No. 5

activities.

Judge Cooney also ruled that the

Coalition's activities must be confined

to a table and that they are limited to

three persons at any one time at the

table.

Schlosser said that he was disap-

pointed that the ruling forbade Coali-

tion volunteers from approaching shop-

pers and talking to them away from the

table. "This makes it difficult to com-

municate,"' he said.

The ACLU intends in this lawsuit to

continue to seek to invalidate Hilltop's

rule prohibiting leafletters and petition-

ers from approaching shoppers.

During the hearing, Hilltop owners

claimed that the shopping center had

the right to refuse access to groups.

Taubman Company vice-president Paul -

Nelson said that encouraging shoppers

to think ``deep thoughts' while

; wandering around a shopping center

ms was a deterrent to buying.

Abortion Funds Fight o on ae

Legislature Shuns Court Decision

Tossing a California Supreme Court

landmark decision, the state constitu-

tion, and the principles of separation of

power to the winds, the state legislature

passed the 1981 budget, severely re-

_stricting Medi-Cal funds for abortion.

The Budget Conference Committee

completed the budget in the early

morning hours of June 15 adopting the

Assembly version of restrictive language

which provides funds for abortions only

when the woman's life or health is in

danger, where the pregnancy results

from rape or incest, where the pregnant

woman is a teenager whose parents

have been notified, or where the

pregnancy would result in the birth of a

child with severe and congenital abnor-

malities.

This measure blatantly violates the

state supreme court landmark ruling in

March that cutting off Medi-Cal funds

for abortion is unconstitutional. That

decision came in the case of CDRR v.

Myers, the ACLU challenge to the

Legislature's restrictions of Medi-Cal

abortion funds which spanned three

years.

Medi-Cal funds for abortion have

been available to California women

solely because of that ruling and stays

issued by the courts during the lengthy

course of the litigation ever since the

Legislature first restricted funds in

As if in anticipation of a further court

challenge, the legislature also left in the

budget the Schmitz amendment which

would restrict the State Controller,

Treasurer, Governor, or any adminis-

trative official from spending state

funds for abortion should the courts

find the budget language unconstitu-

tional.

ACLU-NC staff attorney Margaret

Crosby, who argued CDRR before the

California Supreme Court, said, `"The

Legislature's defiance of a clear

mandate from the highest court in this

state threatens to provoke a constitu-

tional crisis in California.

"The legislators who supported the

1981 Budget Act restrictions have sacri-

ficed the principle of judicial review to

assure their personal political future by

placating anti-choice forces," she said.

Crosby told the ACLU News that the

ACLU will definitely file a petition in

the Supreme Court challenging the new

restrictions on Medi-Cal abortion

funds. She explained that the suit,

which will be brought on behalf of the

same coalition of plaintiffs as the

previous challenges, will be filed before

the Budget Act restrictions take effect

in August.

""We are confident that the Court will

act swiftly in this critical matter so that

there will be no interruption of funds

for women needing abortions,' Crosby

explained.

Flurry of anti-abortion bills

Though the Budget Act restrictions

are the most immediate attack on

continued on page 7

On April 9, Contra Costa Superior

Court Judge David Dolgin issued a

Temporary Restraining Order (TRO)

allowing the Coalition to distribute

leaflets at Hilltop until the April 23

court hearing. The TRO was requested

as a matter of urgency so that the

Coalition could leaflet about the May 3

mobilization against U.S. intervention

in El Salvador.

Washington:

Anti-Choice Maneuvers

The rampant and vicious attack on

abortion rights, not only in California,

but throughout the nation is the "`flag-

`ship'? of the Moral Majority. This

attack threatens our system of |

government and the survival of a plural-

istic society. In effect testing the

concept of church and state separation,

it explicitly draws conclusions on a

fundamental religious and philosophi-

cal belief - that a fertilized egg is a

human being from the moment of

conception. Written into law, this belief

would be imposed on _ everyone,

including those who do not share it.

A run-down of recent events in

Washington indicates how immediate

this threat has become under the

current administration:

e(R) Hearings on the so-called Human

Life Amendment are already underway

in the Senate. The HLA would reverse

continued on page 7

Blection Issue - Meet the Candidates m5 +

aclu news

June-July 1981

Preventive Detention: McAlister in Wonderland

by Beth Meador

ACLU-NC Legislative Advocate

The appeal of preventive imprison-

ment is as old as it is seductive.

Remember Lewis Carroll's Through the

Looking Glass? The Queen observes

that the King's messenger is "in prison

now, being punished; and the trial

doesn't even begin till next Wednesday;

and of course the crimes comes last of

all."' Perplexed, Alice asks, "Suppose

he never commits the crime?"'

"That would be all the better,

wouldn't it?" the Queen replies.

The Queen's thinking seems to be

shared by a quartet of state legislators

who are currently advocating preventive

detention measures.

ACA 14, authored by Representative

McAlister and ACA _ SO, _ by

Representatives Ivers and Stirling, each

propose to limit a defendant's right to

bail by requiring that a judge or magis-

trate consider the protection of the

public in granting or denying bail. ACA

14 goes further by fixing proscriptions

on persons who can be released on their

own recognizance. Though these, and a

similar Senate measure SCA 10, by

Senator Presley, have been touted as

"bail reform'' measures, they amount

to no more than the introduction of

preventive detention into our system of

justice.

Preventive detention clearly conflicts

with the fundamental presumption that

until a person has been found guilty, he

or she cannot be punished, a principle

as old as the Magna Carta.

_ Loyalty Oath Insanity

I read in the newspaper that a Los

Angeles Superior Court ruled in May

that teachers who were barred from

their Los Angeles teaching jobs in 1952-

3 after they stood on their. First

Amendment rights and refused to ans-

wer questions about their political

- beliefs and affiliations must now be

considered for reinstatement.

This whole matter is becoming too

insane for me to follow any longer.

_ Courts all over the state are finding

for the relics of the 1950's, and at the

same time, legislative committees are

ruling that the same McCarthyite laws

that they run up against must still be

enforced.

Frank Rowe

Contra Costa County

What Price SCA 7?

The supporters of SCA 7, the pro-

posed constitutional amendment that

would compel California courts to inter-

pret the state Constitution's ban on un-

lawful searches and seizures in accord-

ance with federal court decisions inter-

preting the 4th amendment of the U.S.

Constitution, claim that it is necessary

to help stem the state's crime problem.

They assert that California courts have

been reversing far too many convictions

n `independent state grounds," and

thus freeing many criminals, whereas

the federal court decisions are more re-

strictive.

This accusation against our state

supreme court and intermediate appel-

late courts is a blatant falsehood. The

Attorney General's crime reports show

Letters

Recognition of bail in avoiding pre-

trial imprisonment was a central theme

in the long struggle to give meaning to

this principle.

The drafters of both the U.S. and

California Constitutions were mindful

of the fact that if laws against pretrial

imprisonment were to have any force

and effect, then one must have access to

bail.

The California Constitution has

always provided for a right to bail in all

cases except capital cases when the

proof is evident or the presumption

great.

If ACA 14 or SCA 10 are passed,

then we would permit our courts to

punish the innocent as well as the guilty

as both would wait many months in jail

`pending trial, based solely on the fact of

an unproven accusation.

Predicting bail offenders

Those who support preventive

detention presume that there is a

method for accurately predicting future

dangerous behavior. Yet study after

a nearly 90% conviction rate in felony

cases filed in the superior courts. The

last Judicial Council Annual Report

shows that in a single year only about 20

of some 3000 criminal appeals resulted

in complete reversals, or less than 1%.

But aside from that false premise,

SCA 7 proposes an unprecedented

experiment that would foist a heavy

additional financial burden on our

already overburdened state and local

justice systems.

I refer to the heavy additional costs

that SCA 7 will generate by forcing Cal-

ifornia lawyers to litigate federal law in

state criminal cases.

Aside from soaring library costs and

higher counsel fees which will

accompany the need for all local courts

and counsel to conduct the necessarily

extended research of federal case

authorities even in the most mundane

search and seizure cases, it may be

reasonably anticipated that this untried

and untested proposal will force the

losing side in each case to pursue relief

in the federal courts, which after all are

the final arbiters of federal legal

questions. Every state court decision

which interprets and applies federal law

necessarily becomes a candidate for

federal review. Thus, under SCA 7,

every state search decision will become

a virtual ``federal case."

Little prescience is required to

imagine the heavy burden that SCA 7

will place upon county-funded public

defender offices and appointed counsel

systems that are already suffering the

effects of the post-Proposition 13

budget cuts and sharply increased case-

loads.

study has clearly demonstrated that

there is no way to accurately predict

whether a person will commit a crime

while released on pretrial release.

"Statistical justice,' where innocent

persons are knowingly punished in

order to punish a few guilty persons is

completely contrary to our system of

justice. It is precisely the kind of re-

pression which is the central feature of

totalitarian states.

As one of our pre-eminent former

Supreme Court Justices observed, the

greater tragedy occurs when an

innocent person is punished rather than

when a guilty person happens to go

free. To believe otherwise is to believe in

a complete abdication of centuries of

Anglo-American evolutionary law.

. Preserving fair criminal procedures

Preventive detention seriously jeopar-

dizes the possibility of a defendant

receiving a fair trial. Indeed our Bill of

Rights derives from the recognized need -

to develop laws which scrupulously

protect the rights of those accused of

wrongdoing. With this in mind, it has

generally been acknowledged that one

of the most serious costs of pretrial

detention is the possibility of prejudice

to the outcome of the defendant's case.

Several recent studies indicate that

defendants incarcerated before trial are

more likely to be found guilty and

committed to prison than those released

pending trial.

Detention restricts the ability of the

defendant to consult a lawyer, prepare

the case fully, gather witnesses or

establish an alibi. Detention also results

in a defendant's loss of job and other

economic and social dislocations. These

losses then reduce a judge's reason to

suspend the sentence or to place a de-

fendant on probation.

The pending legislation ororides no

procedural safeguards whatsoever for a

defendant charged with a crime. There

is no clear standard to be applied by a

court, nor even a requirement that

there be a showing of likelihood that the

defendant is guilty of the pending

charge.

Therefore, a person arrested on very

weak evidence could be viewed by the

court as being dangerous because of

prior offenses, prior arrests, gang

membership or any other factor which

might lead a court to feel that the

person is dangerous.

Perhaps the most apt condemnation

of preventive detention is a statement

by former Senator Sam J. Ervin, ``A law

with as many defects as preventive de-

tention cannot survive a constitutional

test. Preventive detention is clearly a

waste of time, and a cruel hoax on the

American people. It promises what it

cannot deliver - safety and a reduction

of crime - at a cost to its victims and

the public which we can ill afford."

This burden falls unequally upon

defense counsel and upon county

government. Unlike district attorneys

who are provided ready appellate sup-

port from the Attorney General's office,

defense counsel have no such backup.

As for indigent defendants, the State

Public Defenders Office is presently

overburdened by a flood of death pen-

alty appeals and other cases and would

be unable to handle the mass of federal

appellate litigation that SCA 7 is bound

to generate.

With respect to private counsel, they

will be forced to also increase their fees

to the point that very few criminal de-

fendants will be able to afford their ser-

vices, thereby adding to the load on

public defenders and appointed

by increasing convictions. Since

California prosecutors already enjoy a

90% conviction rate, and less than one

percent of the cases appealed are

reversed, what greater results can be

expected to justify the heavy costs indi-

cated above? The fact is that the

present conviction rate exceeds that of

the period preceeding the exclusionary

rule.

SCA 7 is an unnecessary, wasteful

and expensive experiment that our state

and local governments can ill afford at

this time of shrinking budgets and

increased workloads. _

The California Legislature should be

urged to disapprove this measure which

will waste precious, limited criminal

justice resources.

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

Drucilla Ramey, Chairperson Dorothy Ehrlich, Executive Director {

Michael Miller, Chapter Page if

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 ts for a subscription to the aclu news

and 50 cents is for the national ACLU-bi-monthly publication, Civil Liberties.

Elaine Elinson, Editor

counsel. Sheldon Portman

These inevitable costs of SCA 7 must Public Defender

`be weighed against the claims of its Santa Clara County

sponsors that it will help reduce crime

aclu news

Charging ``cultural repression,'

ACLU-NC Executive Director issued a

strongly-worded letter to San Francisco

Mayor Dianne Feinstein criticizing her

cancellation of a performance by the

Turkish Folkloric Ballet in the city's

Davies Hall.

The performance was scheduled for _

June 9 and was part of a nationwide (c)

U.S. State Department-sponsored tour

by the dance company in commemora-

tion of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk,

considered the father of modern

Turkey.

Mayor Feinstein ordered the

cancellation on the day of the

performance because of protests by

local Armenian groups who opposed

the memorial to Ataturk. Feinstein

claimed that an additional 200 police

officers would be required to protect

concert-goers from demonstrators.

In a quick response to the Mayor's

unconstitutional action, Ehrlich wrote,

"The ACLU of Northern California is

appalled to learn of your abrupt and

`unilateral cancellation of the perfor-

mance of the Turkish Folkloric Ballet

scheduled for this evening in Davies

Hall."

Referring to Feinstein's earlier attempts

in 1978 and 1979 to ban the movies

"Boulevard Nights'? and `Cruising,'

Ehrlich stated, ""This is your adminis-

tration's third act of cultural repression

in San Francisco. On each occasion,

you have used a vague forecast of vio-

lence to justify the suppression of First

Amendment rights. On each occasion,

you have neglected your duty to assure

that the City provide protection for.

controversial speakers and for those

who wish to protest their message. On

each occasion, you have chosen the

effortless and unconstitutional alter-

native: to act as the City censor.

"It is inconceivable,'' Ehrlich

continued, "`that you believe that you

possess the authority to cancel cultural

events in San Francisco whenever some

segment of the population finds objec-

tionable the artists, their ethnic

heritage, or the politics of their

country's government. In a time of

mounting international tensions, pre-

servation of First Amendment rights is

most critical, for suppression of speech -

Ballet BANNED,

-Mayor Panned

can only exacerbate the conflicts in our

society."

Ehrlich demanded that the Mayor

revoke the "unconstitutional ban of the

Ballet;'' however no revocation was

forthcoming.

Also protesting the ban were several

local Turkish groups; Mustafa Turan,

the director of the Ballet, and represen-

tatives of the Turkish consulate who

said that the cancellations violate the

constitutional right of freedom of ex-

pression.

The Mayor's response to Ehrlich's

letter was less than satisfactory. Instead

of responding to Ehrlich, Feinstein ad-

dressed a letter to the Board of Direc-

tors of the ACLU-NC stating, "`Ms.

Ehrlich's statement is false, and I want

you to know that I resent it very much."

Rather than acknowledging that her

actions had been in violation of. the

First Amendment, Feinstein attempted

to justify her cancellation of the ballet

performance and stated, "The ACLU .

will lose credibility if such snap judg-

ments and ill-founded charges are per-

mitted to continue unabated."

_ The letter drew an angry reply from

-ACLU-NC chair Drucilla Ramey who,

speaking for the Board of the ACLU,

fully backed up Ehrlich's actions.

Ramey's lengthy letter to the Mayor

carefully analyzed the Mayor' s attempts

to ban cultural events in the city and

stated,

preme Courts have held, in case after

case, that censorship is a blatant viola-

tion of the Constitution regardless of

the subjective views of the government

official ordering the ban."

Press condemnation

The exchange of letters was made

available to the press, which sharply

criticized the Mayor's actions.

The San Francisco Examiner, the

Los Angeles Times and the Oakland

Tribune all ran editorials condemning

the cancellation of the dance perfor-

mances by city officials.

According to the Oakland Tribune,

"If the dancers of Turkey's Folkloric

Ballet return home with a slightly jaun-

diced view of American freedoms, they

can hardly be blamed... . It is time

for Mayor Feinstein to stand up to

aciu news

June-July 1981

"The U.S. and California Su- _

Turkish Folkloric Ballet - S.F. performance cancelled by Mayor.

threats of violence and put the full force

of the city behind the freedoms guaran-

teed in the Constitution.

"The people of the Bay Area, who

look to San Francisco as an important

`center for the region's cultural life, are

not eager to see the city become a

`Sahara of the Bozart,' to use Menck-

en's phrase, or a community exempt

from the First Amendment."

The Tribune's call was right on tar-

7 get, as evidenced by the New York

Times review of the ballet's performance

in New York - a city where the show -

and the protests - were allowed to go

on: "Folk dancing proved both jolly

and controversial Monday night.

Across the street from Lincoln Center,

protesters carried signs condemning

Turkey's treatment of Armenians... .

`But once the show got under way, mer-

riment prevailed.

`The reason for the tumult, as well as

the merriment, was the first New York

appearance by the `Turkish state Folk

Dance Ensemble .

Posters BANNED

from Public Property

The ACLU-NC is appealing to the

California Supreme Court a lower court

decision upholding a ban on the posting

of political campaign material on pub-

lic property imposed by the city of San

Mateo.

On May 14 the Court of Appeal ruled

in the case of Sussli v. City of San'

ordinance

Mateo, that a local

prohibiting sign posting on public

property did not interfere with free ex-

pression.

ACLU cooperating attorney Neil

O'Donnell and staff counsel Alan

Schlosser argue that the ordinance is in

violation of the First Amendment.

Appellant Eugene Sussli was a can-

didate for the San Mateo City Council

in an election held in March 1977. Prior

to the election, campaign signs support-

ing his candidacy were posted on public

property in the city. City officials wrote

to Sussli informing him that such cam-

paign posting was in violation of city

laws. When Sussli refused to remove

the signs, they were removed by city

personnel.

Represented by the ACLU. candidate

Sussli brought suit against the city in |

Superior Court challenging the

ordinance as an _ impermissible

abridgement of the right to free speech

guaranteed under the provisions of the

state and federal constitutions.

In upholding the superior court

decision, Justices Norman Elkington

and William Newsom stated that the

resolution ``requires a balancing

process ... between the compelling

interest of the public in maintaining

some semblance of visual harmony in

the areas where they live ... "' and the

contravention of First Amendment.

rights.

Asserting that ``(T)hose who filon in

Sussli's footsteps will, like him, have

available to them innumerable modes.

of political expression in both private

and public forums, including the un-

challengable right to use public places

for traditional speech . , the Court

found the balance on the side of the city

ordinance.

Presiding Justice Racanelli, however,

found that balance too indelicate. In a

dissenting opinion, Racanelli stated,

"In its effort to balance the competing

continued on page 7

Student's Draft Button BANNED by Hith School

A high school student's right to wear

a button saying `Fuck the Draft'' was

denied by the state Court of Appeal on

June 2. The student, Spiros Hinze, a

junior at Redwood High School in

Larkspur was represented by the

ACLU-NC after being suspended from

school for wearing the button during

_ the height of student anti-draft regis-

tration protests last spring.

"In upholding the earlier decision of

the Marin County Superior Court, the

2-1 appeal court opinion, written by

Justice Norman Elkington, stated that

the sections of the Education Code

which the school officials relied upon in

preventing Hinze from wearing the

_ button and suspending him from school

when he refused to take it off, did not

violate First Amendment principles of

free expression. |

"In the field of education it is `recog-

nized that even where there is an

invasion of privacy of protected

freedoms, the power of the state to

~ control the conduct of children reaches

beyond the scope of its authority over

adults...'

"Thus, First Amendment appli-

cations will differ between college -

campuses and lower level educational

institutions.

""We are unpersuaded that Spiros

was constitutionally permitted to flaunt

the message of his badge in and about

the classroom because it was a political

protest,' ' the opinion added.

The ruling denying Hinze's appeal

was signed by Justices Elkington and

William Newsom. However, coopera-

ting attorney Robert Spanner and staff

counsel Amitai Schwartz noted that

many of the ACLU's constitutional ar-

guments were reflected in a lengthy

. dissenting opinion by Presiding Justice

John Racanelli..

He stated, as the ACLU had argued,

that the Constitution protects "not only

the ideational content of linguistic ex-

pression, but its emotive content as well

`which may often be the more

important element of the overall

message.' "'

Perhaps most importantly, however,

the dissenting opinion reflected the sig-

nificance of the political message of

Hinze's protest. ` ... (I)t is at least

certain that no other group has a

greater stake in the controversial

military draft than the high school

students of today; as Spiros persuasive-

ly argues, since it is this group which

might one day be called upon to do

battle - and perhaps die - in the

defense of their country, they should be

considered mature enough to express

their personal views in the continuing

debate with the same degree of con-

stitutional protection as is accorded

others."'

Justice Racanelli also agreed with the

ACLU argument that Hinze's badge

did not cause substantial disruption or

interfere with the operation of the

school and could therefore not justify

the curtailment of his rights, even

under the letter of the Education Code.

Cooperating attorney Spanner said

that he plans to file a petition for

rehearing; if that is unsuccessful, the

ACLU will appeal the decision to the

California Supreme Court.

Spanner told the ACLU News,

"There is a real possibility of an actual

return to the draft being implemented

in some form by the Reagan adminis-

tration. Whether or not one agrees with

the draft, this makes it even more

`critical than potential draftees, like

Hinze, have a right to express their

deep and vehement feelings on the

issue."

Photos courtesy of Moceri Public Relations

aclu news

June-July 1981

DRAFT UPDATE

The status of registration and the

draft remains unclear under the new

administration. While ``candidate"'

Reagan was emphatic in his opposition

to the military draft and registration,

President Reagan is taking a wait-and-

see attitude.

Reagan could end the current regis-

tration, which President Carter

initiated last summer, with a simple

Executive Order, but there is no indi-

cation he will do so. However, various

bills in Congress that would move

beyond registration into some form of.

conscription will probably receive no

serious consideration this year.

In a recent L.A. Times interview,

Defense Secretary Casper Weinberger

said that Reagan would oppose a draft

"just as long as he can.'"' Weinberger

stressed, however, that a draft may be-

come necessary if quotas for the all

volunteer army are not met. -

We

ourller Now

or

While Reagan sits on his promises,

here is a summary of other draft action:

DRAFT NEWSLETTER

A new bi-monthly draft information

newsletter, Draft Action, has been

launched with help from former officers |

of the Committee Against Registration

and the Draft Card which led the anti-

registration fight in Congress last year.

and the Draft (CARD) which led the

anti-registration fight in Congress last

year.

The first issue contains articles on the

Reagan administration and the draft,

recent moves by Selective Service to in-

stitute local draft boards, the all-

volunteer army, various draft related

lawsuits, and the actual progress of

registration.

The Draft Action editorial board

includes ACLU staff counsel David

Landau, CARD's former vice-chairper-

son, and Barry Lynn, CARD's first

chairperson.

In a recent memorandum to ACLU

affiliates, national ACLU legislative

director John Shattuck said, `The

ACLU is withdrawing from further

_ formal participation in the Committee

Against Registration' and the Draft.

Over our strong objections, CARD has

recently begun taking positions on a

variety of foreign policy and economic

issues on which the ACLU has no policy

and which are not directly related to the

draft."

CARD was founded two years ago as

a single-issue organization dedicated to

stopping registration and the draft and

received considerable ACLU support.

S

At a February 1981 organizing con-

ference in Detroit, CARD moved to

expand its scope and take positions on

_other issues, such as U.S. intervention

abroad and the guarantee of full em-

ployment.

Draft Action is available by writing

#534 Washington Building, 1435 G

Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20005.

ACLU LAWSUITS :

ACLU's historic challenge to the all-

male draft was argued before the U.S.

Supreme Court on March 24. A

decision is expected in late June. The

ACLU argued that this is a simple sex

discrimination case and that Congress

does not have the right to single out

men for registration. If the suit is suc-

cessful, the current registration law

would be struck down and the issue

would go back to Congress.

observers predict that Congress,

dominated by older men, is unlikely to

"(c) Copley Mews Service

DRAFT BOARD

Tie PRICE

OF

VIGILANCE

is

Reasten Here

iO

Bee

pass a draft registration law that

includes women.

In a separate lawsuit, the ACLU

challenged the right of Select Service to

require Social Security numbers from

young men who register. The issue is

pending before the Federal Court of

Appeals in Washington, D.C., with

arguments scheduled for the fall. Until

the case is decided, according to Draft

Action, "`It is highly unlikely that any-

one would be threatened or prosecuted

for not giving a number."

HIGH SCHOOL NAMES

As the ACLU News went to press, the

Assembly Education Committee was

considering a bill (SB 246) that would

require school districts, community

colleges and state colleges and univer-

sities to release to military recruiters

upon request so-called student

"directory information'' including

names, addresses, telephone numbers

and birth dates. The bill passed the

state Senate in May.

The present law gives local school

boards and campus administrators the

power to set policy for the release of this

student information. Most school

districts already routinely release the in-

formation, though some do not.

Current federal and state law require.

that parents must be notified of local

policy for the release of directory infor-

mation and must be given an opportun-

`ity to strike the student's name from the

list.

The ACLU opposes SB 246 as a

serious invasion of student privacy and -

_ continued on page 8

-- Voting

Many |

`address.

ACLU office by noon on July 9, 1981.

1981 Board of Dir

2S 5-5 =

Information | BALLOT

Who is eligible to vote?

The By-laws for the ACLU of North-

ern California call for the at-large Dir-

ectors of the Board to be elected by the

general membership. The general

membership are those members in good |

standing who have renewed their |

membership within the last twelve i

months. I

The label affixed to this issue of the

ACLU News indicates whether you are l

eligible, or not eligible, to vote on the i

basis of when your last membership |

renewal contribution was recorded. i

If you are not eligible to vote, you

may choose to renew your membership 4

at the same time you submit your ballot

and resume your membership in good 4

Bernice Biggs O

Gordon Brownell (1

Marlene De Lancle O

Jerome B. Falk, Jr. O

EleanorFriedman Ul

Syivan M. Heumann 1]

standing. Oliver Jones (3)

If you share a joint membership, |

each individual is entitled to vote sep- | Charles Marson C

arately - two spaces are provided on |

the ballot. i

How are the eaniidates nominated to L

run for the Board of Directors?

The ACLU-NC By-laws permit two

methods of nomination. Candidates

may be nominated by the present Board

of Directors after consideration of the

Nominating Committee's recommen:

dations. Candidates may also be

nominated by petition bearing the sig-

natures of at least fifteen ACLU-NC

members.

Note: Members will note that there

are only nine candidates running to fill

the vacancies on the Board. All of these

candidates were recommended by the

Nominating Committee and approved

by the Board. There were no petitions

filed by members to nominate other

candidates. Notice was given in the Jan-

uary-February and May 1981 issues of

the ACLU News that nominating peti-

tions were being accepted by the Board.

Voting

Instructions

Candidates are listed below in alpha-

betical order. After marking your bal-

lot, clip and seal it in an envelope.

Peel off the self-adhesive mailing

label from this issue of the ACLU News,

and place it on the upper. left-hand

corner of the envelope as your return

oe Ee

Nancy Pemberton oO

statements were submitted by the

candidates for election to the Board of

Directors.

BERNICE BIGGS

`Iam President of the teachers' union

(United Professors of California) at San

Francisco State University where I have

been teaching English for over 30 years.

My union position includes represen-

Council.

In addition to my academic duties my

activities include representation of

faculty in grievances, student advocacy,

a humanities club for elders, the

student judicial court, and the local and

statewide academic senates. I have

worked with the Friends of the Public

Library, Common Cause, feminist

groups, neighborhood and political

groups, and parent-student groups

during the public school years of my

four children.

I am proud to have been a longtime

member of ACLU; I would welcome the

fuller involvement and commitment of

Board membership.

Address the envelope to:

Elections Committee

ACLU of Northern California

1663 Mission St., Fourth Floor

San Francisco, CA 94103

The special mailing label must be

included with your ballot in order to

assure voting eligibility.

If this is a joint membership, you

may use both columns provided, and

each of the members may vote

separately. _

If you wish to insure the confiden-

tiality of your vote, insert your ballot in

a double envelope with the special

mailing label on the outer. The

envelopes will be separated before the

counting of the ballots.

Ballots must be returned to the

GORDON BROWNELL

The ACLU's role today is more

crucial than ever. Fundamental civil

liberties are threatened by a politicized

""war on crime' that must be countered

by a strong defense of the Bill of Rights

and a sensitivity to the root causes of

crime.

You may vote for up to 9 candidates. Since 1972 I have been a lobbyist for

For your consideration, the following _

Seed

tation to the San Francisco Labor (c)

Jirectors Elections

aclu news

June-July 1981

rational drug laws, serving as Western

Director of the National Organization

for the Reform of Marijuana Laws

(NORML), as well as being active in

San Francisco groups dealing with

police practices and criminal justice

issues.

It is important that all organizations

concerned with protecting basic consti-

tutional guarantees and civil rights

work closely together. The ACLU is the

cornerstone of such a coalition. I would

like the opportunity as a Board member

to help strengthen it.

MARLENE DE LANCIE

A growing anti-civil libertarian

climate, impinging increasingly on

human rights, mandates the need for a

strong and solvent ACLU. As a full-

time volunteer, working towards that

objective on both fund-raising and

membership, I hope to ensure that we

are better prepared to meet the

challenges which loom ahead.

attorney.

In the next few years, the Board will

not only have to face the challenges of

the conservative tidal wave, but also the

threat to ACLU's effectiveness posed by

pressing economic problems. Increas-

ingly, the Board is being asked to assist

in substantial fundraising

responsibilities.

Good intentions do not hire staff,

attorneys, lobbyists or pay court costs.

Meeting our economic needs by

expanding the financial base of the

ACLU is a large part of the challenge of

the 1980's.

ELEANOR FRIEDMAN -

I attended my first ACLU-NC Board

meeting at the age of ten with my

father. More recently, I am active in the

ongoing work to secure reproductive

rights and quality health care as a

Board member of the Coalition for the

Medical Rights of Women.

continue to contribute to the guidance

of the ACLU financial programs.

I was chair of the Northern California'

Business Executives Moves for Vietnam

Peace and have worked with charities

and minority groups in business.

OLIVER JONES =

I am deeply concerned at the growing

threat to our civil liberties. The atmos-

phere pervading the country lends

CHARLES C. MARSON

I was on the legal staff of the ACLU-

NC for almost a decade, as legislative

representative (1968-72) a ee dir-

ector (1972-77).

I have been an active nena: of the

Board since 1978 and serve on the Legal

Committee and as a volunteer lawyer

and contributor.

As our society, economy, politics and

technology evolve, ACLU-NC's views:

must evolve with them - beyond the

First Amendment into the difficult

issues of privacy, poverty, and dis-

crimination; beyond the courthouse

into the legislative and administrative

arenas.

Yet this evolution must be selective

lest we lose what we have won in our

traditional areas of concern. Our

resources are tiny, our strength depends

upon the quality of our effort, and the

temptation to endorse a hundred right-

eous causes is continuing.

The resulting choices are hard. If

elected, I would bring to them all the

experience and energy I can.

NANCY PEMBERTON

I have been a member of ACLU for.

15 years and have served on the ACLU-

NC Board since 1979. As a Board

member, I have co-chaired the Equality

and Development committees and

served on several'others, including Leg-

islative, Budget/Management, and

Field Program Evaluation. I currently

chair the Development committee,

support and sympathy to hasty, ill-

conceived remedies to our exacerbating

which is charged with raising $220, 000

- In order to create greater awareness

of the ACLU and better understanding

of its goals, I am helping to build a

stronger Chapter in the North

Peninsula area.

Membership on the Boards of the

ACLU and Planned Parenthood of San

Mateo County enhances my efforts in

the area of reproductive freedom, maxi-

mizes their effectiveness, and translates

into action through the work with the

Bay Area Pro-Choice Coalition in which

both organizations actively participate.

JEROME B. FALK, JR.

In 1964, I was the first law student

hired to work with ACLU-NC staff

counsel during the summer. After grad-

uation, I served as law clerk to Justice

William O. Douglas at the U.S.

Supreme Court.

" Presently, I am Vice-Chair of the

ACLU-NC and serve on the Board and

Executive Committee. I have handled a

number of cases as an ACLU volunteer

As a founder and Chair of the New

Israel Fund, my commitment to civil

liberties led to support for and growth

of civil rights associations in Israel. I'm

also a member of the Vanguard and

Tides Public Foundations.

A vigorous defense of constitutional

rights and liberty will be the order of

the day during the coming years. I

would welcome the challenge to serve

on the ACLU-NC Board.

SYLVAN M. HEUMANN

Having served on the Board since

1978, I am a member of the Budget/

Management, Development and Execu-

tive committees. Currently I am active.

with my Board colleagues in soliciting

major gifts to support our legal

program, which I believe is a respon-

sibility of each Board member.

I am president of Metropolitan Fur-

`niture Corporation and have been

active in the business community as an

officer of various small corporations

and trade organizations over a 30-year

period.

I have experience in real estate and

investments and hope to be able to

social problems. My interest in civil

liberties and social justice has extended

over the years from my- conscientious

objection to the Vietnam war through

work with various organizations, in-

cluding Southern Leadership Confer-

ence, American Friends Service

Committee and the NAACP.

Currently, my career is divided

between my work as a staff attorney for

the Western Region NAACP and my

community law practice in Oakland.

My work with the NAACP has empha-

sized employment discrimination and

police abuse litigation.

As a Board member, I would strive to

develop better understanding and lines

of communication between the Black

community and the ACLU.

in nna) gifts this year.

The coming years will be difficult

ones for civil libertarians as we strive to

protect the Bill of Rights from

threatened intrusions. I hope to

continue playing an active role in pre-

serving and expanding our civil

liberties, and the organization which

protects those liberties.

OOOOH

aclu news

June-July 1981

Meese Assault: `Like Anonymous Hate Mail'

When presidential advisor Edwin

Meese III was speaking to a California

Police Officers Association gathering in

Sacramento on May 12, static from his

microphone interrupted his tough law-

and-order speech. The clever Meese

extemporised, ``I didn't know the

_ ACLU was that powerful."'

His wit evidently drew an enthusiastic

response from the law enforcement

officials, so Meese, never one to dis-

appoint an admiring audience,

developed the gag into a full-scale

assault on the integrity of the ACLU.

Supposedly citing a footnote in the

Pacific Law Journal as his source,

Meese said, `"`That reminds me of one

thing that has developed in the last 20

years. That is, there has actually been

the emergence, not only in California,

of what might be described as a

criminals' lobby."

He continued that the ACLU contri-

butes to increased crime in the U.S.

Latin American dictator

The inaccurate and unjust character-

ization of the ACLU brought an

immediate response from ACLU local

and national spokespersons.

"He sounds like a Latin American

dictator,'' ACLU-NC staff counsel

Amitai Schwartz told the press,

"calling anyone who disagrees with the

government a criminal."

A

NS

ACLU-NC legisiative advocate in

Sacramento Beth Meador said, ``It is

interesting that Mr. Meese can blame |

the increase in crime on the ACLU and

doesn't seem to have any concern about

the effects of inflation and joblessness

on the crime problem."

Lobbyist Brent Barnhart added,

"These butchers are trying to perform

brain surgery on the Constitution. The

Reagan administration wants to be able

to bug and spy and suspend habeus

corpus if need be."

ACLU national Executive Director

a Fi Setencich_-

Ira Glasser said that Meese's comments

sounded less like the words of a White

House official than a "`piece of anony-

mous hate mail."'

Glasser immediately sent a telegram

to Meese requesting a meeting. The

telegram said (in part) `"`Astonished and

disturbed by your remarks concering

American Civil Liberties Union. They

are unspecific, unfair and harmful to

constructive dialogue on serious con-

stitutional issues."'

Editorial response

From the New Yorker to the Fresno

Bee newspapers and journals around

the country almost unanimously

chastised Meese's reckless comments

and came to the strong defense of the

ACLU. ~

The St. Petersburg Times wrote,

`America needs the ACLU. It's not so

clear that America needs Edwin

Meese."

From the Sacramento Bee, ``Meese's

comments might be laughable except

that he is, as the president's

advisor, the second most powerful man

- in the White House."

Stutterings from Washington

When the press took up the fray, the

White House scurried to deny that

Meese's comments were anything but his

own personal opinion and that he was

not making a statement about official

government policy.

On May 14, White House press secre-

tary Larry Speakes said "Ed, of course,

was speaking for himself' when he

suggested the ACLU was part of a

national criminals' lobby.

A week later, Attorney General

William French Smith disassociated

himself with Meese's remarks.

However, a letter to ACLU of

Southern California Foundation chair-

person Stanley Scheinbaum from

another Reagan advisor, William

Wilson made strikingly similar com-

parisons.

`Wilson's letter, written last

December, and made public by the

ACLU after the Meese outburst,

contended that the ACLU ``must have

some sort of assured protection from

lawbreakers,"' and that the ACLU may

be supported by ``those whom in turn

they are helping, namely organized

crime."

Scheinbaum commented, "`It's just

damn interesting that the president's

closest advisor (Meese) and his possibly

closest intimate (Wilson) are both

talking the same way."

: Footnote wrong

Though it is perhaps only peripheral

to the central issue of the adminis-

tration's attitude toward criminal

justice, it is interesting to note that

Meese got the footnote wrong. The

Pacific Law Journal footnote actually

cited the ACLU as part of a "`liberal

coalition" which had testified at a state

senate hearing on the issue of law

enforcement. How quickly "`liberal coa-

lition'' translates into `"`criminals'

lobby" in the minds and mouths of the (c)

Reagan administration.

Perhaps the most apt synthesis of the

whole affair is the column by Eli Seten-

cich of the Fresno Bee reprinted below

with the author's kind permission.

Senate Saves

Loyalty Oath

Major Gifts

Fund Climbs

_ The ACLU-NC _ Foundation's

$170,000 Major Gifts Campaign for

1981 raised nearly $30,000 by the end of

May according to Development Com-

mittee chairperson Nancy Pemberton.

"This is the first time the Board has

attempted a fundraising project of this

size to support our legal program and

our start is a little slow. We planned on

raising $75,000 by mid-June; now the

goal has been reset for mid-July.

However, we still plan to complete the

campaign by the end of September,"

said Pemberton.

"Our first $25,000 has come from

ACLU-NC Board members - and we

expect even more from the Board. We

are now asking these same Board

members to approach other ACLU

supporters face-to-face to ask for gifts

_ of $1,000 or more,'' Pemberton added.

In a surprising setback in the contro-

versy around the use of a loyalty oath

for employees of the state school

system, the Senate Education

Committee voted 3-1 against a measure

which would have removed the loyalty

oath from the state Education Code.

The measure, SB 1084 authored by

Senator Nicholas Petris, would have re-

pealed the 1953 law requiring prospec-

tive school employees to swear that they

are not members of the Communist

Party.

The vote followed the April decision

by Contra Costa Superior Court Judge

Martin Rothenberg that the oath was

unconstitutional and must not be used

by the state school system. Judge

Rothenberg's ruling came in response

to a challenge by the ACLU on behalf of

a teacher who was required to sign the

oath by the Richmond School District

(Schmid v. Lovette, see ACLU News,

May 1981.)

`Another reason for my optimism for

the fundraising campaign is the

political climate. The Reagan adminis-

tration has essentially declared war on

poor people, on minorities, and on

women. I'm not surprised that presi-

dential advisor Ed Meese recently

attacked the ACLU in a Sacramento

speech to a group of police officers.

"The ACLU leads the fight to defend

the rights of many people who are un-

popular in both Washington and

Sacramento right now. I believe that

our members and supporters see the

same connection and will respond with

the financial support that gives us the

strength to effectively fight back,"'

Pemberton said.

In addition to the Major Gifts

Campaign, the ACLU Foundation will

continue to sponsor its annual Bill of

Rights Day Celebration with a fund-

raising goal of an additional $50,000 for

1981.

dope? The heaviest and toughest of them all, the

wn the butcher knife I was using to clean my

Pee reached across the kitchen table and shoved

another grapefruit half into her mug.

It didn't stop the blubbering. `You're Te me .

feel like some kind of a gun moll or something, like a

Ma Barker," she said with a shudder. The top of her

housecoat dropped off a shoulder and I felt a stirring

but settled for a cold beer instead.

"" should've married the insurance guy," she said.

The tears came like a cloudburst. | turned up the

radio and broke down and oiled my .45. ee

weet dopey dame, I thought to myself. To tell you

fer J felt kind of sorry for the broad

because none of this was her fault. ee

had only listened to her I'd still be doing the

cou ner piavine a little pinochle on Friday nights

and hitting Happy Steak maybe a couple times a

month. ;

heart and soul of every thieving, cheating, raping,

horse-stealing murderer in the country, none other

Bonnie and Clod

OU dirty rotten crook you," she hissed through

clenched teeth. I looked into the mirror and

curled a moistened lip, which caused the cigarette to

fall out and drop into the coffee.

We had been on the lam now for about a week,

ever since the day the mailman handed me the letter

with the membership card in it and a dirty look at the

same time.

It had been a rough time for her and she was

getting a little tired and | was getting a little tired of

her and her whining.

. "How long are we going to have to keep living like

this, running and hiding and living on Big Macs and

keeping the shades down?" she moaned. "I want to

see the grandchildren and a movie and the blue skies

and...."

The kid was gutsy, all right, but I could tell she

was getting fed up with it all, especially with my

trying to look like Jack LaRue one day and Eduardo

Ciannelli the next.

| tried to introduce a little levity. `""How you like

the new threads, the pinstripe with the white silk tie

`on the black shirt and the studs?" I asked kindly.

Her face screwed up in anguish and anger, but

before she could start Pawns or yelling any more I

ana

than the American Civil Liberties Union. co

I couldn't have got in with a wilder bunch if I

aigned up with the Black Hand or the Red Brigades.

The moll was sniveling again. `You're so smart,"

she cried, ``you should've known Ed Meese was going

to finger the ACLU and put it on. the administration s

hit list. You should've known. You should've. ...

fore I could push her head down into the bowl! of

patel for the third time, the door flew open and a

half-dozen men waving submachine guns and sawed-

off shotguns and wearing pinstripe suits with white

silk ties over their black shirts burst into the room.

The guy with the Edward G. Robinson lips did the

talking" don't care what Meese or anybody else

back there says," he snarled. ``We're running this

side of town and we're taking over, and what're you

and the ACLU going to do about that?"

In case I missed his meaning, he shot the seeds out

of the other grapefruit half with his snub-nosed .38.

"Thank you," I said, easing out. The moll ages

sobbing. "`Now I suppose you're going to wan 0 join (c)

the World Council of Churches," she said. "I am not a

crook," I said. Reprinted with permission from the Fresno Bee.

oe

iN anything you want, she kept telling me, the

Tesaa ee ie National Geographic Society, the

_ Masons, the Republican Party, anything that's gota

~ nice clean reputation, and you can just pay your dues

and go to all of their conventions.

But no, I had to go first cabin, lash up with the

meanest criminal lobby of them all.

So what do you think I end up joining like a real

Lb 8

Full Blast Attack on Abortion Rights

In Sacramento ey

continued from page |

abortion rights, there is a whole host of

bills which have been introduced in the

state legislature which threaten a

woman's right to reproductive freedom.

In addition to a state constitutional

amendment similar to the federal so-

called Human Life Amendment which

would make abortion equivalent to

murder, legislators have introduced a

variety of bills to restrict abortion

through intimidation or a cut-off of

ACA 40 - Constitutional Amend-

torious for adding amendments at the -

last minute. The bill passed the

Assembly and is on the third reading in

the Senate.

SB 732 - Informed Consent, Montoya

(D-El Monte). Would require a physi-

cian to inform a woman seeking an

abortion of the medical procedure to be

used, the effect and consequences on

the woman and the embryo and `the

estimated age of the embryo or fetus

and its anatomical and physiological

characteristics.'' A 24-hour waiting

period is also required. This bill passed

the Senate floor on June 18 and is

headed for the Assembly.

SB 946 - Abortion Reporting, Davis (D-

L.A.). Would require detailed

reporting on each abortion to the state

Department of Health Services within

fifteen days of the operation. The

mandatory report must include the

name of the doctor, hospital and

referral agency; the race, ethnicity,

marital status and medical history of

or expelling the student despite non-

payment of fees. The bill was scheduled

for hearing in the Education Committee

for June 3, but the author pulled the bill

off schedule because of the possibility

that it would stop a great deal of federal

funding to the state under Title IX.

SB 697 - Sex Education, O'Keefe (R-

Santa Clara). Puts the control of sex

education in the state legislature by

prohibiting the Superintendent of

Public Instruction or any state agency

from seeking or accepting funds for sex

education programs other than money

appropriated by the state legislature. It

would limit the participation of groups

such as Planned Parenthood in sex edu-

cation. The bill passed the Senate and

is being assigned to committee in the

Assembly.

Urgent protests

ACLU Legislative Advocate Beth

Meador stresses that immediate

attention should be focused on defeat-

- aclu news

June-July 1981

Sade in

Washington

continued from page I

the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade

decision (1973) and prohibit all

abortion without exception.

Stating that the paramount right to

life ``is vested in each human being

from the moment of fertilization," the

HLA would make abortion comparable

to manslaughter. It would also outlaw

all methods of birth control. which

prevent implantation, e.g., IUD, low

estrogen pills, etc.

(c) To pass, the Human Life Amend-

ment needs a 2/3 majority of both

houses and ratification by 38 states.

Because passage of any amendment is

time-consuming, arduous and

uncertain, anti-choice leaders devised

an alternative - the Human Life Bill

(HR 3225). This bill would allow

abortion only to save the mother's life,

and prevent federal courts from hearing

cases that challenge state abortion

statutes. Moreover, it gives state legis-

latures the power to ban abortion.

"As judges and as citizens, we cannot

fail to see that if the state is allowed to re-

strict the exercise of choice for the poor

alone in this intimate area, indigent wo-

men in our society are forced to become

ment, McAlister (D-Santa Clara and

Young (D-L.A.). This amendment

would prevent the courts from ordering

state officials to use budget funds for

any purpose for which the legislature

had not specifically appropriated the

money. Such a measure would limit

almost all state abortion funding for

poor women and undo the recent

Needing only a majority vote in the U.S.

Congress, the Human Life Bill could

change abortion laws even in the

absence of the Human _ Life

Amendment.

e The Helms-Hyde Amendment to

the federal budget passed through

Congress this month, cutting off all

Supreme Court decision in CDRR. It is

scheduled to be heard by the Assembly

Criminal Justice Committee on June 24.

AB 2169 - Fetal Death Registration,

Tucker (D-L.A.). The Los Angeles

Superior Court ruling in the ACLU case

People vy. Avalon Memorial Hospital

declared that a state Health and Safety

_ Code provision requiring fetal death

certificates to be placed on public

record violated the state constitutional

guarantee of privacy. This bill would

alter the provision, limiting the people

having access to the information on the

fetal death certificate. The ACLU is

second class citizens."

California Supreme Court

March, 1981

the woman; the ``length and weight of

the aborted child when measurable,"'

and "`signs of life.'' Failure to submit a

complete report would constitute a mis-

`demeanor for the doctor.

SB 154 - Parental Consent, Schmitz (R-

Orange Cty.). An unmarried minor

would be required to obtain either both

her parents' consent or a court order in

order to get an abortion. Last session in

almost identical bill, SB 1814, was in-

ing ACA 40 and SB 154. Pro-Choice

Californians should write to their

Senators, Assembly Representatives,

Assembly Criminal Justice Committee

(where ACA 40 is scheduled for hearing

on June '24), and the Senate Finance

Committee chair (where SB 154 will go

next).

Terry Goggins

Chair, Assembly Criminal Justice

Committee

federal funds for abortion except where

the woman's life is in danger. Even in

cases of rape or incest, funds for

abortions will not be provided - thus

doubly victimizing a woman who has

been raped.

e Dr. C. Everett Koop was.

appointed by President Reagan as U.S. .

Surgeon General. Koop, writing in the

Journal of the Medical Society of New

Jersey, stated that abortion leads to

infanticide and then to euthanasia -

"indeed the very beginnings of the

political climate that led to aeerieratz,

: : troduced and found unconstitutional by Room 13

opposed to fetal death registration and the legislative counsel. This bill passed State Capitol Building Dachau sng beeen

ene both this bill and the original the Health and Welfare Committee on Sacramento, CA 95814 ee An one eye inooee ee

statute _. April 30 and to the Senate Finan arjorie Mecklenburg who served as

AB 267 - Wrongful Life, McAlister (D- Cymmitice SS StStSSCS*eAfred E. lq President of American Citizens Con-

Santa Clara). This measure results

from a lawsuit involving hereditary

disease and is intended to prevent

lawsuits claiming that a child should

not have been conceived or if conceived

should have been aborted. It should be

watched because it is supported by anti-

abortionists and the bill's author is no-

SB 1233 - Student Fees, Doolittle (R-

Sacramento). This bill would allow a

student to withhold student fees when

those fees go toward abortion, referral

or counseling. It prohibits state

university, college and community

college officials from denying admission

Fight for the Right to Choose

| I want to help spread the word on how to protect a woman's right to choose.

1 Please send me:

copies of the ACLU pamphlet `The So-Called Human Life Amendment

copies of the special ACLU News supplement "Reproductive Freedom

Chair, Senate Finance Committee

Room 5031

State Capitol Building

Sacramento, CA 95814

Ms

Research for this article was done by

David Sweet, a volunteer, and Jennifer

Werner, a student intern, at the ACLU.

cerned for Life, was appointed by Presi-

dent Reagan as the Director of the

Office of Adolescent Pregnancy

Programs. That office, under the De-

partment of Health and Human

Services, has jurisdiction over all

federal programs for teen-age mothers

and teen-age birth control programs.

Sign Posting Ban continued from page 3

interests involved, the majority strikes a

devastating blow to a long established

method of political expression utilizing

a medium which often - as Marshall

McLuhan admonishes - is the message

itself.

ticularly during an election campaign,

that the public be well-informed on |

political issues. We feel that in addition

to violating the constitution, the San

Mateo city officials are doing a

disservice to candidates and voters alike

Victory Sparks Action" "Contrary to the dismal scenario set by prohibiting the free dissemination of _

membership information for the ACLU-NC in the majority opinion, it is much more election information."' .

rational to believe that carefully crafted The ACLU filed a similar suit, Saylor

i `Name regulations accommodating basic cons- v. City of San Francisco, during the

I titutional rights can be implemented to November 1980 elections challenging a

i Address . ward off the specter of environmental San Francisco city ordinance which

A blight and the sea of scribblings prohibited the posting of political signs

City Zip graphically predicted in that gloomy on public property. In that case, the

I Clip and send to the ACLU-NC, 1663 Mission St., S.F., CA 94103, attn: Abortion

{ Rights.

forecast,"' Racanelli stated.

In announcing the Supreme Court

appeal, cooperating attorney O' Donnell

said, "It is of utmost importance, par-

city agreed that the existing ordinance

was unconstitutional and agreed to

allow the posting of campaign material

on public property.

aclu news -

june-july 1981

CHAPTERS

New Field Program for Chapters, Members

After five months of deliberation, the

~ACLU-NC Board of Directors has

adopted a major new Field Program to

guide ACLU chapters and members in

organizing coordinated grassroots poli-

tical action.

The aim of the new program is poli-

tically effective affiliate-wide cam-

paigns through the coordination of all

fifteen ACLU-NC chapters, individual

activist members, affiliate staff and

other affiliate-wide resources. One such

potential campaign cited by the Board

is an ACLU-NC pro-choice campaign

aimed' at anti-abortion measures

- pending in Congress and the state Leg-

islature and threatening various local

communities.

At the center of the new program is a

new standing Board Field Committee.

The new committee will be made up of

all chapter representatives on the

ACLU-NC Board, and several at-large

Board members. The Field Committee

will select priority issues each year for

organized membership action.

These priorities will go to the full

Board for ratification. Day-to-day

campaign direction will rest with ad hoc

organizing committees made up of

ACLU members who have expertise in

the issue.

Entering the political arena

Over the past 15 years, the ACLU has

become increasingly involved in

"political" fights and lobbying, in ad-

dition to its traditional litigation pro-

gram. The campaign to impeach Presi-

dent Nixon involved an unprecedented

number of ACLU members, as did the

seven-year battle against S1 (federal

Criminal Code Reform) and its

successors. Last year, thousands of

_ members worked through the ACLU to

oppose draft registration.

Recognizing that paid staff cannot be

effective alone, the national ACLU's

Washington office is forming a "Bill of

Rights Lobby' to draw on the volunteer

efforts of members.

In order to respond to the resurgence

of the "new right," a political program

with strong grassroots appeal, the

ACLU must accelerate programs to

draw on its own membership strength

(17,000 in northern California). Wide-

spread action in the form of direct

lobbying, letter writing, public

education and other activities is needed

to resist such anti-civil liberties

measures as the so-called Human Life

Amendment and Human Life Bill, the

unleashing of the CIA and FBI, SCA 7

and other efforts to erode the California

Constitution and much more.

Emergence of the Field Committee

This is the context in which a ten-

member Board Select Committee

studied the present field program and

chapter activities of the ACLU-NC and

recommended the creation of the Field

Committee.

The Select Committee, formed in

January, issued its recommendations in

an eight-page report which was

formally adopted by the full Board at its _

June 11 meeting. The committee's re-

commendations were previewed in

several earlier meetings with chapter

activists.

Not all important civil liberties issues

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_1969 ACLUN_1969.MODS ACLUN_1970 ACLUN_1970.MODS ACLUN_1971 ACLUN_1971.MODS ACLUN_1972 ACLUN_1972.MODS ACLUN_1973 ACLUN_1973.MODS ACLUN_1974 ACLUN_1974.MODS ACLUN_1975 ACLUN_1975.MODS ACLUN_1976 ACLUN_1976.MODS ACLUN_1977 ACLUN_1977.MODS ACLUN_1978 ACLUN_1978.MODS ACLUN_1979 ACLUN_1979.MODS ACLUN_1980 ACLUN_1980.MODS ACLUN_1980.batch ACLUN_1981 ACLUN_1981.MODS ACLUN_1981.batch ACLUN_1982 ACLUN_1982.MODS 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 create-bags.sh create-manuscript-bags.sh create-manuscript-batch.sh fits.log lend themselves to effective organizing

campaigns. The Select Committee's

report included guidelines for selecting

potential issues. Issues must be

considered for their ability to attract

significant membership involvement

and for the opportunities they offer for

effective volunteer action.

Currently the fifteen ACLU-NC

chapters each set their own action

agendas independently and there exists

no mechanism for coordinating action

among the chapters. The new Field

Program will not restrict chapters from

taking action on important local issues

in their communities. However, the new

structure, built largely on chapter rep-

resentatives, allows chapters to work for

more effective action on state and

national issues.

The Field Committee will hold its

first meeting on June 27 to select initial

priority issues. These issues will be

presented to the July Board meeting.

Action committees will start forming

around the priority issues in the late

summer.

The annual ACLU-NC chapter con-

ference will be built around the new

organizing campaigns.

ACLU-NC: Chairperson Drucilla

Ramey chaired the Select Committee.

Other members were: at-large Board

members Richard Criley, Lisa Honig

and Nancy Pemberton, plus Santa

Clara Chapter chairperson Larry

Fleisher, Monterey Chapter

chairperson Samson Knoll, and Santa

Cruz Chapter legal committee coordin-

ator Robert Tarin. Staff members on

the committee were executive director

_ Dorothy Ehrlich, staff counsel Alan

and associate director

Michael Miller.

Schlosser,

New Field Rep, "a Mover and Shaker"

For some political organizers, their

work is their job, for others it is their

vocation, and for a few it is their life -

getting people together and making

changes in what drives them. ACLU-

NC's new field representative Marcia

Gallo is one of those few.

For the past 2% years, 30-year-old

Gallo has been administrative assistant

to ACLU-NC_ executive director

Dorothy Ehrlich, maintaining the

affiliate office, staffing Board meetings,

running a speakers bureau, providing

clerical support and coordinating office

volunteers and interns. But when Gallo,

who is also pursuing a BA in journalism

leaves the office, "`I either go to a

meeting or to a class."'

Prior to coming to the ACLU, Gallo

worked at the state Department of

Health in Sacramento. She was

recruited by Dr. Josette Mondanaro

who became well-known when Gov- -

ernor Jerry Brown attempted, unsuc-

_ cessfully, to have her fired.

"TI worked for the state by day and

the Mondanaro defense by night,"'

Gallo.

Through her state job, Gallo,

officially a clerical worker, started

advocating for the rights of clerical

workers in a loosely structured organi-

zation for women involved in drug and

alcohol abuse projects, the Northern

California Coalition of Women in

Substance Abuse.

By early 1979, the advocate moved up

to become co-chair of the organization.

Under Galio's direction, the member-

says'

Marcia Gallo

ship increased nearly 200%. She

developed three separate conferences

attended by over 700 women from

around the state.

Says Gallo, "I learned about

planning, training, why people come to

meetings and why they don't. I learned

about the importance of strong commit- |

tees and about delegating work. I

learned to resist the impulse to do it all

myself."

Last year Gallo was recruited for the

advisory board of a multi-state women's

shelter network and asked to help hire

staff for their information and resource

center. Gallo has also served as an

ACLU staff representative, negotiating

a comprehensive salary and personnel

policy with the Board.

Union Maid Photos

Did she consider herself a ``civil

libertarian'' before coming to the

ACLU-NC? "`My mother used to

scream and yell about the segregated

school system in Wilmington where I

grew up. That's the first time I became

aware of the struggle for rights. Later I.

heard a lot about the ACLU during the

anti-war years.'

But, Gallo added, "`what really has

surprised me about the ACLU is how

nothing is taken for granted. It can

make for long meetings, but we're

always re-examining our positions. Of

course, working here has added greatly

to my understanding of civil liberties

principles."

Gallo will staff the Board's new Field

Committee (see story this page) and

grassroots organizing efforts.

Comments the new Field Representa-

tive, ""I am optimistic about the new

structure with stronger connections

between the Board and the chapters

and other members - some of whom

are not yet active."'

"This is a particularly important

time for the ACLU to mobilize around

the growing attacks on civil liberties -

from anti-abortion to measures to re-

pressive criminal legislation. The

ACLU is already pledged to take up

these battles in other arenas besides the |

courts - by lobbying, public education

and so on - and our 20,000 members

in northern California can have a signi-

ficant impact if we are well organized,"

Gallo added.

--- Calendar -,

San Francisco

ELECTION RESULTS. Newly

elected to the S.F. Chapter Board

are Frederic Baker, Vanda Colman,

Ina Dearman, and Robert L.

Goldberg elected along with

incumbents Donna Amborgi,

Howard A. Caplan, Maxwell

Gillette, Lorraine Honig, Sumi

Honnami, Irving Levy, Linda

Weiner and Richard Weinstein.

BOARD MEETINGS. Meetings are

open to members and are held on the

last Tuesday of each month at 6PM.

_ Call 771-8932 for location.

DRAFT continued from page 4 7

a thorough misuse of student

educational records. In districts where

names are currently released, students .

have told the ACLU that recruiters have

persistently made calls to individuals

homes, even after being asked to stop.

The ACLU also opposes the bill as a

violation of the federal Buckeley Act

which details student's privacy rights

with regard to educational records. The

Act specifically states that policy for

directory information should be set by

local educational institutions. This

should put the matter beyond the reach

of the state legislature.

Individuals should express their op-

position to the bill by writing to

Assembly Education Committee Chair

Leroy Greene and their own Assembly

members at State Capitol, Sacramento

95814, and by visiting their local

Assembly member's district office.

Local school boards should be able to

provide information on what their local

policy is.

REGISTRATION FIGURES

Over 100,000 California males,

almost 25 percent, may have failed to

register for the draft in 1980 according

to several newspaper accounts based on

a comparison of Selective service and

Census Bureau figures.

Selective Service said in late April

that 330,764 young men registered in

California. The Census bureau released

figures showing that there were approx-

imately 430,000 males in the age groups

eligible for registration in California

last year.

The penalty for failure to register, or

any other violation of the draft act, is

up to five years in prison and a $10,000

fine. However, there have been no pros-

ecutions of ariy sort for violations of the

Tegistration law since registration was

reinstituted last year.

Gallo, who supervises the volunteers

on the ACLU complaint desk, has con-

siderable experience in helping people

deal with almost every conceivable civil

liberties issue. She has recruited,

trained, and provided on-going support

for the volunteers for the last two years.

The complaint desk volunteers, the

affiliate Board members and Gallo's

co-workers on the ACLU-NC staff are

all unanimous in praising the new field

representative's thorough understand-

ing of the ACLU's work as well as her

ability to "work with people."'

On July 1, Gallo's job title will

change, but her on-going work and

direction, her efforts to bring people

together to make changes, oe be the

same.