vol. 49, no. 8
Primary tabs
Volume XLIX.
November-December 1984
No. 8
- Hard Times f or Civil Lib
`What dangers lie ahead for dissenters in the next four years?
by. Dorothy Ehrlich Executive Director
On Saturday, November 3, the
ACLU's Washington Legislative Office
was bombed. Fortunately, no one was
injured and the damage was minimal. -
Four days later an administration |
deeply hostile to civil liberties was
re-elected to office. `"Four more years''
they shouted. It was another ominous
occasion.
For this administration has promised
its supporters that over the next four
years it will minimally: institute prayer in
the schools; criminalize the choice of
abortion; and close our borders from
critics who might speak unfavorably
about U.S. policies. ACLU's national
Executive Director, Ira Glasser, calls this
climate ``moral McCarthyism.' He fears
we have some dark days ahead.
_. The bombing of the legislative office
illustrates that fact in a most chilling
fashion. After the bombing a group call-
ed the ``Wolverines'' claimed credit.
Their name apparently was borrowed
from a film released this summer which
depicted a high school group called the
Wolverines as fighters against com-
munism. Though the movie was widely
reviewed, the bombing hardly got a men-
tion in the press.
The administration's fear of criticism
at home and criticism from abroad has
already been stepped up since November
6. A few days after the election, the U.S.
- denied visas to four Salvadoran women -
who were to visit Washington, D.C., to
receive the Robert F. Kennedy Prize for
their human rights work. The four
women represented an organization call-
ed the Committee of Mothers and
Relatives of Political Prisoners Disap-
peared and Murdered of El Salvador.
The campaign to silence critics
through official intimidation will most
certainly increase during the next four
years. But what unofficial intimidation?
Can peaceful protesters be protected
from the kind of police abuse most
recently exhibited here in San Francisco
at the demonstration against the U.S. in-
vasion in Nicaragua just two days after
the election? Will dissent be chilled by
the legitimate fears of violence, when
even the ACLU offices are vulnerable to
-. this lawlessness?
And what about appointments to the
federal judiciary and the U.S. Supreme
Court? Will the ACLU's critic, Ed _
Meese, become U.S. Attorney and be
responsible for the enforcement of civil
rights in this country? Who will be
responsible for the CIA and FBI? Will
the landslide victory for the Reagan
forces send a signal that criticism of the
government is indeed unwanted and un=
popular?
20,000 ACLU members in Northern
California are an unlikely group to be
silenced by official or unofficial in-
_ timidation. ACLU's membership may be
an important hidden weapon in the fight
to preserve civil liberties during the next
four years. For it is this kind of challenge
to which ACLU members have most
often risen.
Following President Reagan's election in
1980, the ACLU's membership grew
both in terms of its size but moreover in
terms of its effectiveness as a civil liber-
ties lobby. La
The executive branch, in many in-
stances, cannot carry out all of its plans
without the agreement of Congress. It
was in this forum that the ACLU, work- _
ing in coalition, developed critical ex-
perience in fighting a this tide of
repression. |
Witness the passage of the Voting
Rights Act and the successful battle to
_ stop Simpson-Mazzoli during the last
four years. Moreover, while ACLU suf-
fered losses related to criminal justice
~ and civil rights proposals in 1984, not
one major piece of the so-called ``moral
majority'' legislation - school prayer,
further bans on abortion rights or tuition
tax credits - has yet to be apnreved by
Congress.
Hopefully our experience will serve us
well in the challenging years ahead. For
we also face a hostile governor in
California who already joined the anti-
civil liberties forces in the week following
the presidential election by undermining
the Family Planning Advisory Board by
packing it with new, vehement anti-
choice members. A timely reminder that
the administration in Washington cannot
allow us to ignore the opponents to civil
_ liberties here in California.
During the next four years, the ac-
tivities of the ACLU-NC's Field Pro-
gram will continue to flourish, concen-
trating on the key areas of reproductive
rights, dissent, immigration and the
draft. The ACLU News will continue to
keep members informed about action in
Sacramento and Washington, D.C. and
ACLU lobbyists will urge action by our
membership when it is required. As we
continue to explore new strategies to.
organize effective grassroots opposition
to anti-civil liberties proposals, we will
ask you to devote time and energy to our
Field Program and your local Chapter.
(See coupons on chapter information
and pro-choice lobbying work elsewhere
in this issue.)
We will also continue to meet our op-
erties
ponents in court, particularly here in
California where our legal program has
-extended civil liberties protections by.
successfully urging the state courts to
adopt a more expansive view of civil
liberties under independent state con-
stitutional grounds.
As an ACLU member you will be ask-
_ed over the next four years to give your
support in a number of ways. You will be
counted on to speak out; to write letters;
even to visit your legislators. You can
begin fighting back today by making a
special contribution to the ACLU-
NC Foundation. -_ Please do so -
it means more than ever. _
For it is only our silence that will allow
them to carry out a successful attack on
civil liberties for four more years.
FOUR DATION.
1984 BILL OF RIGHTS DAY
CELEBRATION
and ;
PRESENTATION | -
OF TWELFTH ANNUAL
EARL WARREN
CIVIL LIBERTIES AWARD TO:
C.L. DELLUMS
Keynote Speaker
JOSEPH R. GRODIN
Justice, California Supreme Court
Sunday, December 9, 1984 - 5 P.M.
No: Host Wine Bar - 4-5 PM.
Sheraton Palace Hotel Grand Ballroom
New Montgomery and Market Streets
Tickets: $10.00 - call 621-2488
or write Bill of Rights, ACLU
a.
OF NOR PHERR CALIFORNIA
_ San Francisco
Ls
- filed in
aclu news
nov. - dec. 1984
2
Abused Santa Rita Inmate Wins $40,000
On the eve of a September trial date,
the ACLU-NC won a $40,000 settlement
for a former Santa Rita inmate who was
beaten and sexually abused while in the
custody of the Alameda County Sheriff's
Department. According to ACLU-NC
cooperating attorney James Bennett,
"This settlement sends a_ significant
message to the County - prisoners'
rights and safety must be protected.''
Bennett also noted that another aim of. 3
the lawsuit - the improvement of safety
conditions for prisonesr being
transported to and from Santa Rita
_ Rehabilitation Center - had also been
achieved.
The settlement came as the result of a
lawsuit (Torrey v. Houchins) which was
1979 in Alameda County
Superior Court. ACLU cooperating at-
torneys Bennett, James J. Brosnahan,
Harold McElhinney, Andrew Monach,
Karl Olsen and Susan McDonnell all
~ from the San Francisco law firm of Mor-
rison and Foerster and ACLU-NC staff at-
torney Amitai Schwartz worked on the
five year sult.
The County cannot. afford to pay
$40,000. to victim who
prosecutes,"'
every
prevalent. This suit has put pressure on
the County to improve safety conditions
for inmates and ultimately to proceed
with the construction of the new jail."'
During the course of the suit, a former
nurse at
testified that there might have been as
many as 1000 inmate rapes while he
served at the jail clinic from 1970 to
1980.
"Tf that is the frequency of assaults,"'
said Bennett, `"`then the message to the
County is that they'd best do.a better job
than they have been doing."'
Attacked on a Bus
- The former inmate was sent to Santa
Rita in August, 1978, and was at first
segregated from violent inmates. But in
October, 1978, while being transported
on a prison vehicle to Oakland for a
court hearing, he was not segregated or
protected' in any way by Sheriff's
deputies.
Ponme: ACLU-NC Board member
Steve Block died suddenly at the age
of 33 on October 20 in Minneapolis,
attorney, teacher and gay rights ad-
vocate, is a grave loss for his many
friends and coworkers in the civil
liberties movement.
Block served on the Gay Rights
Chapter Board from 1979 until 1983
` when he left San Francisco to teach
Law School. He was Chapter presi-
dent from 1980 until 1982 and served
as an at-large member of the affiliate
Board of Directors. Gay Rights
Chapter chair Doug Warner said, ``]
first knew Steve as a teacher of
privacy law at Boalt Hall and we later
worked closely in the Chapter. As a
teacher, we all learned so much from
him - not only from course discus-
sions but from the personal qualities
of openness and respect for his
students that he brought to the
classroom. His serious, but informal
style as Chapter chair, made even the
most mundane tasks of the Chapter
seem pleasant."'
A moving force in the formation of
`Bay Area Lawyers for Individual
Freedom, the 380-strong gay legal
work on a number of cases and legal
issues affecting the rights of lesbians
and gay men, including Gay Law
mark -employment discrimination
case, made many new gains for gay
rights.
Roberta Achtenberg of the Lesbian
Rights Project who co-chaired BALIF
with Block for its first three years
said, ``Our working relationship was
the most equal and most stimulating |
have.ever had with a coworker. I have
about credit and so much about quali-
ty.
In Memory of Steve Block
Minnesota. The death of Block, an:
law at the University of Minnesota -
_ for U.S. District Court Judge Robert
_ became an associate in the San Fran-
cisco law firm of Heller,
workers association, Block served as.
the organization's first co-chair. His:
Students v. Pacific Telephone, aland- -
' Rights
never had the opportunity to work_ .
with someone who cared so little
*"`Steve cared very deeply about
men and women fighting together for
social justice,'' added Achtenberg,
``which is why he became the driving
force behind BALIF. He was so in- "
tellectually keen and precise that those
of us who worked with him were
never allowed to slough off or hide
behind false analogies.
`*That intellectual acumen was part
of his great gift to our movement and
one that we are really sorry to lose,"'
she added. ;
A. graduate of UC Berkeley. and
Stanford Law School, Block clerked
Peckham in San Francisco, and later
Ehrman,
White and McAuliffe.
A memorial service for Steve was
held overlooking San Francisco Bay
on October 28. More than 100 Bay
Area friends and professional ac-
quaintances gathered to remember the
many gifts he gave to them and the
community in his short life. A funeral
service was held in Seattle where his
family resides. -
Gifts to honor Steve may be sent to
the ACLU-NC. The Gay Rights
Chapter is asking that those who wish
to do so, indicate that their Bill of
donation -be marked ``in
memory of Steve Block.'' The collec-
tive gifts will be recognized in the Bill.
of Rights Day program as a memorial
to Steve Block.
said Bennett, ``and we have
_ learned that such assaults were quite
the Rehabilitation Center :
The young man was seated only a few
feet behind two Sheriff's deputies when
he was accosted by a known violent
prisoner. He was dragged to the back of
the bus where he was beaten and his life |
threatened until he submitted to sexual
assaults. Though the prisoner screamed.
for help, the two Deputies remained ~
seated, staring straight ahead, ignoring
- his cries.
He was abused for 30 minutes and ar-
rived at the Courthouse in such a severe
state of shock that he could not function.
The Court modified his sentence and he
was released from Santa Rita that same
day.
He was taken to the hospital by his
- mother where he was treated for injuries.
He also had to receive psychiatric treat-
ment for emotional disturbances related
to the attack. His attackers were con-
victed of criminal assault in a subsequent
~ criminal trial.
When the lawsuit was filed in 1979 the
buses had no protective custody com-
partments. Shortly after the filing, the
County modified the buses to include
protective custody compartments and
improved the internal lighting. Later, the
County acquired new buses which have
two protective custody compartments
and also a compartment for the deputy
to ride in the-rear of the bus for inmate
protection.
In addition, classification procedures _
in the transportation department of the
jail have been tightened up so that
vulnerable inmates are now protected
from other inmates while being
transported from the jail to the court-
house.
"here have been significant im-
provements in all the areas targeted by
the lawsuit,'' said Bennett, ``This settle-
ment represents a victory for the rights .
of inmates.'
The High Cost of Justice
Marjorie Swartz. Legislative Advocate
In an effort to preserve due process.
rights, the ACLU battled against the
high cost of litigation and restriction of
access to the courts - major issues in
Sacramento this session.
Chief Justice Rose: Bird has been an
outspoken critic of the high cost of litiga-
tion which prevents the less affluent
from having their day in court.
The situation has become worse in re-
cent years. In the aftermath of Proposi-
tion 13, counties have been charging
higher and more fees and assessments.
Civil filing fees have doubled in the past
three years. In many cases, misde-
meanants are being jailed because they
cannot pay fines or penalty assessments
and yet some counties, like Los Angeles,
repeatedly have attempted to impose new
fees, charging criminal defendants for
the costs of incarceration.
This session the ACLU supported: the
Trial Court Funding Act, AB 108
(Robinson), which aimed to begin to
freeze court fees and litigants' expenses.
- Though this measure passed the Legisla-
ture, it was vetoed by Governor Deukme-
jian. Yet the following bills were suc-
cessful: SB 631 (McCorquodale) which
allows counties to charge criminal defen-
dants for the administration of work
furlough programs and SB 1813 (Dills)
which increases fees paid to the sheriff
for service of a writ.
Under the guise of cutting back on.
litigation and court costs, proposals were
introduced that would restrict due pro-
cess. A constitutional amendment, SCA
6 (Davis), sought to reverse a 1978
California Supreme Court determination
that a person indicted by a grand jury
has a constitutional right to examine the
sufficiency of the evidence before a car
Proponents of the measure argued that
post-indictment preliminary hearings are
expensive and a waste of judicial
resources and sought to eliminate them.
Fortunately the measure was defeated in _
the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The issue of state supplied counsel in
certain civil cases regarding indigents
also created controversy this session. A
series of cases culminating in Yar-
borough vy. Superior Court (now pending
`in the Supreme Court) held that an in-
digent sued for paternity or other
an indigent sued for paternity or other
child support related procedures, has a
constitutional right to appointed
counsel. The courts also held that public
defenders are not required to take these
cases and that private counsel could be
forced to represent these people without
compensation.
Two proposals resulted from. these
cases. AB 3869 (McClintock), vigorously
opposed by the ACLU among others,
would have prohibited any licensed pro-
fessional from being required to provide -
services without reasonable compensa-
tion. Although this approach protected
the lawyer, the client was left without
representation.
A more desirable. proposal, SB 2057
(Petris), would have provided com-
pensation to attorneys who represent
these cases. Unfortunately, this measure
too was vetoed by the Governor, so that
_ this serious problem cannot be addressed
for another year.
On the affirmative side, a proposal i in-
creasing accessibility of justice for the
disabled was successful. SB 1521 (Petris)
provides for free interpreters for the deaf
in all court proceedings. Currently, inter-
preters are provided only in criminal
cases.
SAE Elinson, Editor :
aclu news
issues a year, monthly except bi-monthly in January- February. oare -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,
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 pu eietven: Civil Liberties.
`Chapter Page if
aclu news
nov. - dec. 1984 -
Volunteers Energy
Many evenings this November, the
- ACLU-NC staff has been replaced at
their desks by a second shift of workers
who proceed to monopolize the ACLU' S
eight telephone lines.
They are the Bill of Rights Campaicn
_ Telephone Volunteers who each make
several dozen calls and individually raise
from $250 to over $1,000 for the
ACLU's legal program
California. -
This same effort if being repeated in
donated offices from Oakland _ to
Sacramento to Santa Clara as ACLU
` grassroots activists work toward their
$105,000 Bill of Rights Campaign goal,
up from $85,000 raised in 1983.
According to Bill of Rights Campaign
Chair Dick Grosboll, ``If there is any
theme to this year's calling, it is the deep
Dick Grosboll
concern expressed by both the telephone
callers and the membership over what
has happened to civil liberties under the
current administration and, even worse,
what is likely to happen in the next four
years.
Members are also very responsive
when we tell them about the special sup-
In October, the San Francisco office
of the international law firm of Morrison
Foerster made a donation of almost
two hundred thousand dollars to the
ACLU Foundation of Northern Califor-
nia. The donation of $195,517; which
represents the law firm's share of at-
torney's fees awarded by the U.S.
District Court in the landmark mental
- patients' rights case: of Jamison vy.
Farabee, is the single largest gift ever
received by the ACLU-NC.
Morrison and Foerster senior partner
William Alsup said, ``We have been
quite proud of our affiliation with the
No other |
ACLU over the years.
_ organization has stood more firmly than
the ACLU against encroachments on we
Bill of Rights.
``We are pleased to have the oppor-
tunity to assist in that endeavor,
added.
The Jamison case determined that in-
voluntary mental patients at California's
Napa State Hospital cannot be treated
with mind-altering drugs without their
consent. The five year class action suit,
which was the first of its kind in the na-
tion, was settled in May 1983.
Two years earlier, in the same case,
the ACLU won a court order that all
voluntary patients in any public or
private licensed mental health facility in
the state of California have the right to
refuse mind altering medication.
Attorneys for the mental patients were
. Golden Gate Law School professor Mort
in pore
Choice Task Force,
' Alsup
port our Campaign is providing for small
ACLU affiliates around the county. And
those who know about C.L. Dellums are
very pleased that he is our Earl Warren
Award recipient,' Grossboll added.
The telephone nights are organized by
Grossboll and ACLU-NC Field Repre-
sentative Marcia Gallo with Field Pro-
gram leaders. :
Phone nights are being sponsored by.
the Right to Dissent Committee, the Pro-
the Immigration
Working Group, and following chapters:
Gay Rights, Santa Clara Valley, Earl
Warren, North Peninsula, and Fresno..
The Monterey and San Francisco
chapters are both making a special effort
to contact their total membership. The
Monterey Chapter has a $6,000 goal and
the San Francisco' Chapter has pledged
to match up to $4,500 in `gifts from its
membership.
_ Major Gifts
Many generous ACLU supporters
who do not hear from the Bill of Rights
Campaign, are being contacted by
`"ACLU-NC Board members and others
working with the Major Gifts Cam-
paign.
This year's Major Gifts Campaign
goal is $280,000 as compared to $210,000
for last year. Major Gifts solicitations
usually take place in a personal meeting
between a team of ACLU solicitors and
the donor. These meetings often result in
gifts ranging from $1,000 to $10,000.
There are 35 Major Gifts solicitors for "
1984, 25 from: the ACLU-NC Board.
Small Affiliates
In 1984, the ACLU Foundation of
Northern California will contribute an
~ additional $48,000 to the national office
to help guarantee that 22 Smale ACLU |
Law Firm Makes Major Gift
Cohen, ACLU-NC staff attorney Alan
Schlosser, and Morrison and Foerster
counsel Alsup, Jack Londen, Ellen
Borgensen and Lewis Lazarus, acting as
ACLU cooperating attorneys.
ACLU-NC_ Executive Director
Dorothy Ehrlich, receiving the donation
on behalf of the organization, said,
`*This is a tremendous victory for all ad-
vocates of mental patients' rights: the |
_award stands as a $200,000 warning to
all public officials that institutionalized
persons do not lose their nehis at the
hospital door.
"Victory in this case would not have
been possible without the many, many
years of dedicated, expert legal work by
Morrison and Foerster attorneys,'' Ehrlich
said. ``This firm stands as a leader in pro
_ bono public interest work and an exam-
ple for the rest of our legal community.
`With the current political climate
and the U.S. Supreme Court's insen-
sitivity to civil liberties, their gift comes
at a very crucial time in ACLU-NC
history."'
_ Ehrlich said that the gift will be used
for very special purposes. ``I plan to ask
the Board of Directors to establish a.
fund with this donation to underwrite
civil liberties work -that we could not
otherwise consider,'' she added.
. In addition to the Morrison award, the
ACLU-NC was independently awarded
$35,000 in attorney's fees from the
Jamison litigation.
affiliates can hae the funds they need to
keep their doors open.
These subsidies are being romden"
-under the terms of a new sharing agree-
ment between the national ACLU and
the ACLU of Northern California. All
of these additional funds will be raised
by volunteers through the Bill of Rights
Fuels Fund Drives
and Major Gifts Campaigns on behalf of
the ACLU Foundation. of Northern
California.
Many of these smaller ACLU af- |
filiates function with only a director,
part-time clerical help, and a host of
volunteers. In most, volunteer attorneys
maintain impressive legal dockets.
Letters
: History . the News
Hello to all of you who do such an ex-
cellent and interesting job with the News.
I have a hard time discarding some issues
and have a sea of floating clippings
around the house ready to be tucked into
letters if | can part with them...
I was much interested in Irving
Cohen's write-up of Sara Bard Field in
the June/July issue. | had the good for-
tune to know and visit C.E.S. Wood and
Sara Bard Field when they lived in Los
Gatos, and have a good collection of
their published works.
Mary C. Butler
Yuba City
Day Care Homes
Re: the rights of children in day care
homes to surprise inspections. Ms.
Crosby is of course correct that all
businesses are protected by the Fourth
Amendment; on the other hand, Ms.
Garberg is equally correct that children
in day care homes must be entitled to the
right to protection by surprise inspec-
- tions.
Hence we have as direct conflict of
rights as can be imagined: the Fourth
Amendment right (as the courts may in-
terpret it) of the day care operators to
privacy, versus the inalienable right of -
defenseless children to adequate govern-
mental protection of their lives and liber-
ties. When this conflict comes to be
balanced by final legal resolution, I con--
fidently predict that the higher courts
will rule firmly for such basic human
rights of the children, thus fully vin-
dicating Ms. Garberg's position.
Park Chamberlain
Woodside
Abortion Brochure
I just wanted to thank you for produc-
ing the pamphlet on abortion (How Do I
Make My Choice?, see ad p. 4). It's in-
formative, easy to understand and very
- needed around here (most of our clients
are women.) Keep up the good work! -
Joan Adornetto Taylor
Legal Services/Domestic Relations
Sacramento
Join the
Pro-Choice Battle
Once again, the battle over reproduc-
tive rights looms large, and the danger
posed by anti-choice forces. is greater
than ever.
From clinic bombings to funding
restrictions to attempts to control the
state Office of Family Planning, the anti-
choice movement has focused on key
aspects of reproductive freedom in their
well-funded effort to deny the right to
choose for women in California and
~ around the country.
The opening of the regional office of
the American Life Lobby in Sacramento
earlier this year signaled an escalation of |
their statewide anti-choice crusade. Their
extensive lobbying and oublicity against
reproductive rights conducted by the
A.L.L. could have disastrous results -
unless we act.
Now more than ever, we must surpass
their efforts by organizing, by speaking
out, by drawing on the strength of all
phases of the pro-choice' movement.
When we come together to fight we have
the ability to stop those who would take ACLUN_1981.MODS ACLUN_1981.batch ACLUN_1982 ACLUN_1982.MODS ACLUN_1982.batch ACLUN_1983 ACLUN_1983.MODS ACLUN_1984 ACLUN_1984.MODS ACLUN_1984.batch 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
the right to reproductive choice from us.
The ACLU's Pro-Choice Task Force
has mounted a mobilization effort to
`confront the American Life Lobby and
other anti-abortion groups - but we
need you to join us in the following
ways:
Petes ss ses see te ee eee ee ee eee ee eee
(| Help organize the January 22 `Commemoration of Choice'' events in Sacramen-
g (0: includes lobbying visits, press conference, signature ad campaign
(| Join our Legislative Telephone Network to lobby against anti-choice bills
g _) Authorize us to send emergency mailgrams in your name ($4.95 per mailgram
y charged to your telephone) no more than three times over the next three months
g _) Organize a group of pro-choice activists in. your area
i
@ Once again, we must make our voices. .:and choices... heard! Join us, today.
| NAME |
ADDRESS
; CITY STATE. = = - ZIP.
f TELEPHONE (DAY) _ (EVENING)
i -
6
i Please return ASAP to: ACLU Pro-Choice Task Force, 1663 Mission Street, #460, San Fran- @
Fi cisco, California 94110. For more information, contact Marcia Gallo, ACLU, 415/621-2493. #
aclu news
nov. - dec. 1984
Beating a Path to the
Voting Booth
In the five months preceding the.
November 6 elections, the ACLU-NC
advised and represented over a dozen
organizations throughout northern
California who were told by public and
private officials that they could not
register people to vote or lobby voters
about ballot initiatives at public sites and
shopping malls.
``In`all but one instance, we were able
to gain access for people without litiga-
tion,' said ACLU-NC staff attorney
~Donna Hitchens. And in the one -in-
stance where we went to court -
challenging the Carmel Valley
postmaster's refusal-to allow members of
the Monterey County Democratic Com-
mittee to register people to vote in front
of the post office - we were
- successful."'
Political activists faced problems in
federal agencies, county facilities (such
as welfare offices and hospitals) and
private shopping malls from Fresno to
Sonoma, Hitchens said.
A typical example is that of Human
Serve, a group which sought to register
~ voters and to hand out information on
Proposition 41 at Highland Hospital
and the welfare office to register voters,
but county officials told them they could
not distribute literature about Proposi-
tion 41 - the ballot initiative proposing
50% cuts in welfare and Medi-Cal ex-
penditures. =
and Medi-Cal expenditures.
ACLU-NC cooperating attorney
Mark White represented Human Serve
in negotiations with the County Attorney
and the Board of Supervisors, indicating
_ that the ACLU was prepared to sue the
County to ensure that the leafleter's First
Amendment rights were respected.
Through this representation, the County -
officials relented and allowed Human
Serve members to leaflet at the hospital
and the welfare offices.
"This election in particular was a
critical one for people who have been
traditionally underrepresented in our
political system, especially the poor. This
is true not just because of the presidential
elections, but because of important
issues on the ballot both statewide and
locally,'' said Hitchens.
`"`Groups like Human Serve were pro-
viding a critical service. They were
educating voters about- issues that had a
significant and very personal impact on
their lives.
``In advocating for these groups we
were really protecting two very precious
rights - the First Amendment right to
carry a message to people and the right
to vote. When these very basic rights are
threatened, the ACLU must be even
more zealous in our defense of people's
civil liberties,'' she added.
B.A.R.K.
BOARD MEETING: (Usually. fourth
Thursday each month. Contact Joe Dorst,
415/654-4163. The chapter needs
volunteers. Please call Florence Piliavin,
415/655-7786.
EARL WARREN
- BOARD MEETING: (Third Wednesday
each month.) Contact: Larry Polansky,
415/841-9020.
FRESNO
: BOARD MEETING: (Third Wednesday
- each month.) Contact: Scott Williains,
209/442-0410.
_ GAY RIGHTS
BOARD MEETING: (First Tuesday each
month.) Tuesday, December 4 and
January 8, (note second Tuesday in
Mission Street, 4th Floor, S.F. Sunday,
December 9, Bill of Rights Day Celebra-
tion, 4-6 P.M. Watch for Chapter
Special Event to be announced for March.
MARIN
Paul, 415/381-1088
January due to holiday), ACLU, 1663. -
BOARD MEETING: Contact: Leslie~
MID-PENINSULA
BOARD MEETING: (usually last
Wednesday of each month.) Wednesday,
November 28, December 26 and January
30, 8:00 P.M., at All Saints Episcopal
Church, Palo Alto. Contact: Harry
Anisgard, 415/856-9186.
MONTEREY
BOARD MEETING: (Fourth Tuesday
each month.) Tuesday, Novenber 27, 7:30
P.M., at the Monterey Library, Pacific
and Jefferson, Monterey. Contact:
Richard Criley, 408/624-7562. Annual
_ Meeting scheduled for January. For details
contact: Richard Criley, above.
MT. DIABLO
BOARD MEETING: Contact: Barbara
Eaton, 415/947-1338, (after December 1,
415/676-5160.)
NORTH PEN
BOARD MEETING: (Second Monday of
every month.) Monday, December 10 and
~ January 7, 8:00 P.M. at Sears Savings
Bank, San Mateo. Contact: Sid Schieber,
415/345-8603. 1984 ACLU Award Dinner
planned for February.
SACRAMENTO.
BOARD MEETING: (Usually third
Wednesday of each month.) Wednesday,
November 21 and December 19, 7:30
P.M. at the County Administration Center
on "I". Street, Sacramento. Contact:
Mary Gill, 916/457-4088.
BOARD MEETING:
New Publications.
The 1984 edition of the ACLU-
NC's popular brochure on
reproductive rights contains the
latest information on Medi-Cal
funding, contraception, steriliza-
_ tion and more. A must for clinics,
schools, women's groups, or any
individual wanting to be informed
about all aspects of reproductive
`rights in California.
Single copies are free. Bulk
orders are $10. per 100.
Both publications are available
by writing: Public Information
Department, ACLU-NC, 1663 Mis-
sion St., S.F. 94103. Please make
checks or money orders out to
ACLU-NC.
Americans are far less free to- .
day than they were a year ago. In
the space of one genuinely ap-
palling term of the Supreme
Court, we have lost our constitu-
tional rights to travel abroad, to
be free from preventive detention,
to be free from government sup-
ported religious observances, to
privacy, to competent counsel...
and more.
For an insightful review by
ACLU's top legal experts on this
year's disastrous Supreme Court
term and what the future term
may bring, read the just- -
published Special Report on the
U.S. Supreme court. Cost: $1.00.
Calendar0x2122-
SAN FRANCISCO
(Usually fourth
duesday cach month.) Tuesday,
November 27 and January 22, 6:00 p.m. at
ACLU, 1663 Mission Street, 4th Floor,
S.F. No meeting in December. Come help
plan the new years activities. Contact:
Chandler Visher, 415/626-5978.
SANTA CLARA -
BOARD MEETING: (First Tuesday of
each month.) Tuesday, December 4, 7:30
p.m. at the Community Bank Building
Conference Room, 111 West St. John
Street, Second Floor, San Jose. Contact:
`Steve Alpers, 415/792-5110.
SANTA CRUZ
BOARD MEETING: (Usually second
-Wednesday each month.) Wednesday,
December 12, January 9 and February 13,
7:30 p.m. Public Discussion at 8:30 p.m.,
_ Louden Nelson-Center. Contact Keith
Lesar; 408/688-1666.
SONOMA
BOARD MEETING: (Fourth Thursday
each month.) Thursday, November 27, -
January 24, 7:30 P.M., CRLA Office, 719
Orchard Street, Santa Rosa. Contact An-
drea Learned, 707/544-6911.
STOCKTON
BOARD MEETING: (Third Wednesday
each month.) Contact: Bart Harloe,
209/946-2431 (days).
YOLO COUNTY
BOARD MEETING: Thursday, January
17, 6:30 P.M. Contact: Larry Garrett,
916/758-1005 (eves.) or 916/427-4285
(days)
ANNUAL FALL MEMBERSHIP
SOCIAL tentatively set for December 2.
RIGHT TO DISSENT ROAD SHOW
scheduled for early February on FOIA.
FIELD
~ COMMITTEE
- MEETINGS
PRO-CHOICE TASK FORCE:
Wednesday, December 5, 7:30 P.M. and
January 2, 6:00 P.M. ACLU, 1663 Mis-
sion Street, 4th Floor, S.F. All Pro-Choice
supporters and friends welcome. Contact:
Marcia Gallo, 415/621-2494.
RIGHT TO DISSENT SUBCOMMIT-
TEE: Wednesday, December 5, 6:00 P.M.
and January 2, 7:30 P.M. ACLU, 1663
Mission Street, 4th Floor, S.F. Contact
Marcia Gallo, 415/621-2494.
DRAFT OPPOSITION NETWORK: No |
meeting in December. Next meeting
January 8. Contact: Judy Newinan,
415/567-1527. ee
IMMIGRATION WORKING GROUP:
Thursday, December 13 and January 10,
6:00 P.M. ACLU, 1663 Mission Street,
4th Floor, S.F. Contact: Cindy Forster,
415/621-2494.
AMERICAN |
CIVIL LIBERTIES
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_ "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." 86
History from the pages of the ACLU News
"This branch sprung into being
as a result of the San Francisco
General Strike in 1934. That
strike was marked by destructive
vigilante raids on the headquarters
of labor and radical organizations.
Chester Williams and I were
sent by the national ACLU to
oppose the reign of lawlessness
that was tolerated, and many times
participated in, by law enforcement
Photo: courtesy Dispatcher/ILWU
officers."
Ernest Besig
During the 1934 dock strike, local police attacked Executive Director ACLU,
strikers with tear gas and bullets. 1935-1971
Photo: courtesy Dispatcher/ILWU
On Bloody Thursday, July 5; 1934, a longshore-
man and a cook from the strike kitchen, were
felled by police bullets.
Rea NL PE
Vol II.
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, OCTOBER. 1937
No. 10
Court Orders Eight Syndicalism _
Victims Discharged From Custody
SACRAMENTO, Sept. 28.-The Third District Court of Appeal today reversed the
conviction of the eight Sacramento criminal syndicalism victims, because the verdicts ren-
dered by the jury were inconsistent. The case was not sent back to the lower court for
a new trial. Instead, the appellants were ordered discharged from custody because ``No
good will be subserved by a second trial. We are of the opinion the verdict of acquittal
which was rendered by the jury on the sec-
ond indictment will furnish conclusive proof acquitted by the jury of resorting to writ-
of a former acquittal of the charges con- ten or spoken language or personal conduct,
tained in the first indictment." to advocate, teach, aid or abet criminal
Vol. III.
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, MAY, 1938 -
_ The Story of Tessie
Tessie Palmaymesa won't be six years old
until November 14. She's pretty, with black _
hair and dark eyes, and quite bright, too.
And, what's more, Tessie is a good little
girl-she obeys her mother. For that rea-
son she was made the innocent victim of
the following flag salute incident:
Registered in the first grade of San Lean-
dro's Roosevelt School, her teacher noticed
that she failed to join the other pupils in
the flag salute ceremony. "`Why won't you
salute the flag.' Tessie was asked. "Be-
cause my mother told me not to," she re-
enandad Taccia'a tannhar wade ineangad and
s A.C
LeU. Director
Camera-Shy Stanley Doyle, professional red-baiter and former Communist Party
stoolpigeon, went berserk during the course of a demonstration before the Nazi Con-
sulate in San Francisco on Saturday, April 23rd, and assaulted Ernest Besig, local director
of the Civil Liberties Union, and Carl Bergmark, photographer for the San Francisco
NEWS. Doyle and An unidentified companion destroyed motion pictures taken by Besig,
but failed in an attempt to ruin a picture
taken by Bergmark showing the destruc-
tion of Besig's films.
two shots which apparently escaped Doyle's
attention.
- News Cameraman
IMMIGRATION OFFICIAL
DRAWN INTO CALIF. -
"RED NETWORK"
Another amendment has been tacked on
to the $5,100,000 complaint filed by Ivan
Francis Cox, erstwhile International Long-
shoremen Workers' Union official, who
claims he was ousted from his job as the re-
sult of a state-wide red plot engaged in by
more than five thousand named and un-
named defendants.
It charges that Edward W. Cahill, Com- .
1930's
Birth of the ACLU-NC
Six Santa Rosa tar and feather party vigilantes were acquitted of criminal charges
in 16 minutes by a Sonoma County jury on October 26. Only two ballots were necessary.
The first stood 11 to 1 for acquittal, while the second liberated the defendants. A ser-
vile judge set the pace for the jury by dismissing charges against six others, though
they were all identified by state's witnesses.
Of course, no one expected convictions
in mob-ruled Sonoma County. But what
was hoped for, if not expected, was a com-
petent and diligent prosecution of the case
by the Attorney General's office, and an
impartial and fair judge to preside at the
trial. Our hopes were smashed; we got
neither.
"I remember waking up and
sensing that something was
terribly wrong in the house. I went
to the bathroom and the tub was
an inch thick with grease, oil
and feathers.
Then, I saw my father, he was
all black and blue and clumps of
his hair had been ripped out.
I was seven years old."
George Green
Secretary, Santa Clara Chapter
ACLU. Son of Santa Rosa
vigilante victim Jack Green
Wy
ey
Le
oe
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, APRIL, 1938
Tom Mooney Asks
Your Help (c)
We urge our readers to respond to the
following appeal for help received from
Tom Mooney: .
Through the energetic, consistent support
of our many friends throughout the coun-
try and in Congress, a Sub-committee of the
Judiciary in the House of Representatives
has finally been appointed to conduct hear-
inbs on and consider the Murray-O'Connell
Resolution. (Memorializes the Governor
of California to pardon Tom Mooney.) |
May I once more indulge upon your good -
nature and your sincere and expressed in-
terest in our cause, and request you to write
to the Congressman from your State who
is on this Sub-committee? (Hon. John H..
Tolan, House Office Bldg., Washington,
D.C.). Please request them to conduct the
hearings at once. Ask them to call me to
Washington as a witness to testify in my
own. behalf.
Last week, in an unprecedented, history-
making action, I was called to Sacramento
and there I told the story of the frame-up
to the California Assembly, which later
voted 41 to 39 to grant me an immediate
legislative pardon, which Resolution, how-
ever, was tabled by the reactionary Senate.
If this could be done in California, where
I have been kept prisoner for twenty-two .
years and where the forces against me are
strong and organized, it certainly can be -
done in the United States Congress, where
we have a host of friends.
"SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, NOVEMBER, 1936
SACRAMENTO FLAG SALUTE TRIAL
SET FOR NOVEMBER 5
The Gabrielli flag salute case goes to
Photo: ACLU News
Sol.
Nitzberg
and
Jack Green
leading
procession
of vigilantes
out of
Santa Rosa,
and who,
it is now
claimed,
"did pull,
push,
jerk,
jostle
and
strike"'
the
vigilantes
who
tarred and
feathered
them.
San Francisco labor organizer Tom Mooney, imprisoned for over 20 years ona framed-up bomb throwing
charge, talks with early ACLU activist Elizabeth Gurley Flynn. C. 1930
Photo: courtesy California Historical Society
ae a a a ea nen
41940's
Losing Liberty By Duress
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, DECEMBER, 1941 NO ie
A.C.L.U. Test of Calif. Law Ends
Successfully in U.S. Supreme Court
The almost two-year effort of the American Civil Liberties Union in challenging the
constitutionality of California's "anti-Okie law", making it a misdemeanor to aid an in-
digent to enter the state, ended successfully on November 24 when the United States
Supreme Court reversed' the conviction of Fred F. Edwards of Marysville and held the
Fed. Court Bans Segregation
Of Mexican School Children
Segregation of children of Mexican descent by
officials of four school districts in Southern Cali-
fornia was ruled unconstitutional when the Ninth
Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in San Fran-
cisco on April 14 upheld a similar decision by
Federal Judge Paul J. McCormick. The ACLU
and three other organizations had filed briefs as
friends of the court supporting Judge McC: ,
statute to be unconstitutional. While the decision was unanimous, the members of the mick's ruling. (c) ;
court differed as to why the law was in- WMan semawiwnana danigian of tla ance Daten
valid.
Vol. Vie. SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, OCTOBER, 1941 No. 10
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, MARCH, 1944
Public and Private Buildings 50 Negro Seamen Convicted
Closed To Anti-War Groups
Of Mutiny Restored to Duty
Court martial sentences of 8 to 15 years im-
posed on 50 Negro sailors for alleged mutiny
at a munitions loading port in California in
Discrimination in the right of assemblage in public buildings is becoming an increas- 4944 were set aside and the men restored to
| duty by Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal
an Tania wre oe pound .
all Reewmre on man amt ` hes, TY nntan
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, MAY, 1944
No. 5
Wayne Collins Will Argue Korematsu
Case Before Supreme Court On May 1
SAN FRANCISCO, FEBRUARY, 1946 No. 2
Slave Labor Racket Enjoyed by Caucasians
At Tule Lake Concentration Camp _
War Relocation Authority employees at the Auto repair and car washing used to be
ae Lake Center are exploiting the Japanese handled for the camp's personnel by the same
under their charge as virtual "slave labor." That jaye jJabor. In general, it is interesting to note
e ie 0x00B0
fant wrsa jinat Aiacanvarad Auvine tha nact manth
1934-1984.
The March of Civil Liberties Through the Decades
The headlines and the stories that appear in this
special historical issue of the ACLU News come ex-
clusively from the pages of the ACLU News, the organ
of the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern
California. The News has been in continuous publica-
tion since January 1936 and contains an overflowing
storehouse of vital civil liberties issues which have
emerged in this state for the past half century.
Kk... the history of the ACLU of Northern
California is like looking into the social history of the'
state of California itself. Since its founding in 1934, the
ACLU-NC has been involved in the major struggles of
the people of this state against repression and for the
preservation and extension of our basic freedoms.
In 1934, one of the most dramatic labor struggles in
the United States took place in San Francisco. In an at-
tempt to gaineunion recognition and improve -the
notoriously bad working conditions on the waterfront,
Bay Area longshoremen went out on strike.
After vicious police attacks on strikers, culminating
in Bloody Thursday when two trade unionists were shot
in the back and killed outside the union hall on Mission
Street, a general strike was called by other San Fran-
cisco unions to support the longshoremen.
Governor Merriam called in the National Guard who
posted themselves on top of the piers and the Ferry
Building with machine guns. Police and private
vigilante groups attacked union halls, strike kitchens
and strikers' homes with teargas, bullets and bricks.
The national ACLU, then 14 years old and based in
New York, sent two southern California organizers,
Chester Williams and Ernest Besig, to help combat the
wholesale attack on workers' civil liberties.
Chester Williams recruited the first Board of Direc-
tors for the ACLU including Dr. Alexander Meikel-
john, Mary Hutchinson, Helen Salz and Dr. Charles A.
Hogan, who became its first Chairperson.
One of the first actions of the local ACLU was to sue
the cities of San Francisco and Oakland for not protect-
ing the strikers' First Amendment rights to free speech
and assembly - and the newly formed organization
was successful.
When the Holmes-Eureka lumber strike broke out,
three pickets were killed, eight wounded by company
goons and over 150 persons were arrested. No attorney
in Humboldt County was willing to defend the strikers,
so the ACLU-NC undertook to supply legal counsel
and to oppose the reign of terror in the community.
Besig was assigned to Eureka for 30 days. His 30
days extended to a lifetime of service to the ACLU and
he served as the Executive Director of the affiliate from
1935 until 1971.
In 1937, the ACLU-NC procured full pardons for 22
members of the 1.W.W. (Wobblies) who, between 1919
and 1925, had been convicted under California's
criminal syndicalism law. ,
The affiliate also aided in the defense of Tom
Mooney and Warren Billings, San Francisco labor
leaders falsely convicted of the 1916 ``Preparedness
Parade"? bombings. After a massive campaign for their
release, which eventually reached around the world,
Mooney and Billings were pardoned, but only after
they served over 20 years in San Quentin: for the
frame-up.
In the 1940's the ACLU-NC succeeded in fae the
- S. Supreme Court overturn the state's infamous
``anti-Oakie'' law which prohibited indigents from
entering California.
The ACLU was one of the few early fighters agai
race discrimination in the state, challenging segregation
of Mexican school children and denouncing the race
bar and subsequent mob violence directed at blacks in
the Madera public swimming pool.
One of the proudest espisodes of ACLU-NC history
was our challenge to the World War II relocation and
forced detention of Japanese Americans from the West
coast. S
The Korematsu case, the first to challenge the con-
stitutionality of the internment of Japanese Americans,
was argued by ACLU counsel Wayne Collins before the
U.S. Supreme Court in 1944.
The ACLU-NC fought against internment of LS
Americans during World War II.
The ACLU also filed amicus briefs and provided
further support in three other challenges,
Hirabayashi and Endo.
The ACLU-NC argued that the exclusion and deten-
tion laws violated basic constitutional rights, depriving
citizens and aliens of liberty and property, subjecting
them to unreasonable search and seizure, denying them
a speedy and public trial, and without justification
labeling them ``suspects, disloyals, and criminals."'
Despite these strong constitutional arguments, the
Supreme Court ruled 6-3 against the ACLU and upheld
all of the war measures on the grounds of military
necessity in a time of immediate danger.
Unfortunately, the ACLU national office disagreed
with ACLU-NC's strong stand against Japanese-
American detention and did not support the affiliate's
litigation. This deep disagreement produced longstand-
ing strain between the affiliate and the national office.
That the ACLU-NC never capitulated to pressure
from the government, the general wartime anti-
Japanese hysteria or the ACLU national office is truly a
credit to the local organization.
Not until 1983, when a petition on behalf of
Korematsu, Hirabayashi and Yasui filed by the Bay
Area Committee to Reverse the Wartime Decisions in
federal court was successful, were their convictions
overturned and their rights vindicated: The ACLU-NC
honored the three courageous men with the Earl War-
ren Civil Liberties Award in 1983.
Apart from litigation, the affiliate also investigated
and publicized the ``Gestapo-like'' conditions at the
concentration camps. Detainees at Tule Lake, Man-
zanar, Tanforan and other so-called Assembly Centers
turned to the ACLU-NC for help in improving condi-
tions at the camps.
Exclusion and detention were not the only unpopular
wartime issues that the ACLU-NC championed. The
affiliate also fought for the rights of conscientious ob-
jectors (as the national ACLU had done since its incep-
tion). As the ACLU-NC fought for the rights of
atheists to be conscientious objectors on moral, as op-
posed to the traditional religious grounds, this issue
became quite controversial. The affiliate also sued on
behalf of groups advocating peace to use public
facilities to hold their meetings.
The end of the war presented new dangers for civil
liberties as the Cold War on the home front gave rise to
an era of political supression.
The ACLU-NC successfully defended hundreds of
victims of post-war federal ``loyalty and security'' pro-
grams. It opposed the witch-hunting activities of con-
gressional and state legislative committees.
Through litigation, the affiliate obtained state and
U.S. Supreme Court decisions striking down various
types of loyalty oaths -- from those required by tax-
payers in order to get exemptions (1938), through those _
requiring recipients of unemployment benefits to take
government jobs requiring loyalty oaths (1960) to the
Levering loyalty oath exacted of all public officials and
ee in California (1967).
Yasui,
After HUAC held its widely disapproved of hearings :
in 1960, and anti- HUAC demonstrators on the steps of
San Francisco City Hall were broken up by police
ACLUN_1981.MODS ACLUN_1981.batch ACLUN_1982 ACLUN_1982.MODS ACLUN_1982.batch ACLUN_1983 ACLUN_1983.MODS ACLUN_1984 ACLUN_1984.MODS ACLUN_1984.batch 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 firehoses, HUAC issued a distorted propaganda film
Operation Abolition. To counter the HUAC film, the
ACLU-NC produced a refutation called Operation
Correction which was distributed nationwide.
The widespread political ferment of the 1960's
brought new challenges to the ACLU. In 1964, the Free
Speech Movement at U.C. Berkeley set off campus
demonstrations around the state and country. The
ACLU went to battle with university officials in an at-
tempt to protect the rights of students and academic
freedom.
- The affiliate also became propelled into the growing
civil rights movement. On the grounds of equal protec-
tion of the law, the ACLU-NC joined other organiza-
tions in challenging the 1964 statewide referendum per-
mitting discrimination in the sale of rental of private
housing. The affiliate was also successful in obtaining
religious freedom rights for Black Muslim inmates in.
California's prisons.
The first challenge to the constitutionality of the
state's death penalty came from the ACLU-NC in con-
junction with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. In
1967, in the Anderson case, the California Supreme
Court halted all executions in California.
In 1974 the ACLU-NC's successful arguments before
the California Supreme Court in Burrows ensured that
the police may not obtain an individual's bank records
without authorization by a judge. The affiliate is still
campaigning to protect the privacy of medical records,
membership lists, and police records.
Women's rights also became a major area of concern
for the ACLU. An early advocate of reproductive
freedom, the affiliate defended the right of two women
to disseminate information about abortion techniques.
The ACLU-NC has continued its leadership role in pro-
choice advocacy: every year since 1978 we have filed
successful lawsuits ensuring Medi-Cal funding for abor-
tion despite the state Legislature's cuts.
The ACLU also became involved in gay rights, in-
cluding a legal challenge to the Briggs initiative (1978), a
measure which would have prohibited homosexuals
from teaching in the public school system. In 1977, the
Gay Rights Chapter was formed to mobilize member-
ship action and lobbying on gay rights issues, including
the ongoing fight for state law prohibiting employment
discrimination against homosexuals.
In attempts to redress past wrongs, the ACLU-NC
supported affirmative action programs in education
and unemployment, and pursued both litigation and
legislation to protect school desegregation programs.
The affiliate took many cases to defend the rights of
prisoners, including protection against cruel and -
unusual punishment, access to counsel, and the right to
read. The affiliate also challenged the massive burden-
some governmental security surrounding political trials,
particularly of black activists.
As governmental surveillance became increasingly
exposed to the public eye throughout the Nixon era, the
ACLU campaigned for restrictions on wiretapping and
other surveillance by the FBI and other agencies. The
Reagan Administration's calculated attack on the right
to dissent - through government censorship, the
unleashing of the FBI and the CIA, restrictions on
travel abroad, the denial of visas to foreign critics such
as Chilean former First Lady Hortensia Allende and
Nobel Prize winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez, secrecy
pledges for government employees, cutbacks on the
Freedom of Information Act - has made this issue an
increasingly important one for the ACLU.
The Vietnam War and opposition to it generated
ACLU support on behalf of demonstrators as well as
conscientious objectors. The ACLU vigorously oppos-
ed peacetime draft and registration as well as the
military's abridgement of theconstitutionalrights of ser-
vice people. With the resurrection of draft registration
in 1980, the affiliate has again taken on this challenge
for a whole new generation of young American men.
Bice back on ACLU history, there are many -
perhaps too many - recurring themes. Police brutality
against strikers in the 1930's continues against blacks in
Oakland in the 80's. Sex and race discrimination have
been legislated against, but continue to recur: gains
made through affirmative action programs are current-
ly under attack. The suppression of civil liberties under
the guise of national security affects Salvadoran
refugees now as it did Japanese Americans during
World War II]. The ACLU continues to fight against
capital punishment, abortion restrictions, government
surveillance and censorship. The affiliate continues to
fight for the rights of privacy, equal protection and the
basic First Amendment guarantees of free speech, free
press and free assembly.
It is, perhaps, ironic that the ACLU-NC celebrates its
50th anniversary in the landmark year of ``1984'' - the
year George Orwell targeted in fiction as a death knoll
for individual freedoms. Even more chilling than the
literary parrallel, however, is reality of our anniversary
occurring in the same year that an Administration which
has been more detrimental to our civil liberties than any
other in recent years was overwhelmingly returned to
power.
With the dismantling of civil rights in the name of
``traditional American values'' and the dismantling of
civil liberties in the name of ``national defense'', the
Reagan Administration has been a dangerous adversary
for the ACLU. Over the past four years, we have faced
major battles over:
(R) prayer in the schools
reproductive rights
school desegregation
immigrants rights
criminal justice
book and news censorship
(c) capital punishment. ..and much more.
Each national move brings with it changes in the
local mood, as we find ourselves fighting on key na-
tional issues in the local arena: the right to public fund-
ing for abortion in California, the removal of school
prayer from a public school graduation ceremony in
Livermore, preventing INS agents from terrorizing im-
migrant workers in San Jose and Santa Rosa, ensuring
free speech for demonstrators in Sacramento, Oakland
and at the Democratic National Convention in San
Francisco... :
There are many lessons to be learned from our
history. A major lesson articulated by the late Edison
Uno, an ACLU-NC Board member, when he was
awarded the Meikeljohn Civil Liberties Award on
behalf of the Japanese American Citizens League in
1972, can serve as a guide for the future:
``We may have eliminated the statutory provisions
for detention camps, but we must always remember it
takes eternal vigilance to improve democracy. We must
struggle to eliminate the camps of fear, hate, racism
and repression."
November, 1984
Photo: eines California Historical Society
. against the anti-Conununist hysteria of the McCarthy
(ChE.
This special historical issue of the ACLU News was
prepared by editor Elaine Elinson, Grateful thanks for
their invaluable help and information to Ernest Besig,
Germaine Bulcke, George Green, Leo WNitzberg,
Michael Ungar, the Japanese American Citizens
League, the California Historical Society, The Dispat- ~
cher/ILWU, Enlisted Times and all former editors of
the ACLU News whose zealous and careful reporting
throughout the decades have provided us with the living
history we have today.
{pias Gaze cuss quup mum GNRW GEE amy GES ae am
The Growth of the ACLU-NC
LL first meeting of the ``Northern California Com-
mittee of the American Civil Liberties Union"' was held
on September 21, 1934 at the Bellevue Hotel in San
Francisco. This was actually the third try for the ACLU
in northern California. Earlier committees were short-
lived, but this one lasted. Lasted and grew - in
membership, funds, activity and influence.
In September 1934, there were 60 ACLU members in
the area. This grew - slowly at first - to 648 i1n.1940;
1,516 in 1950; 4,581 in 1960; 12,500 in 1970 to the
20,000 members we have today. In 1971, the ACLU-
NC merged its membership with the national office and
started sharing membership income. (Some northern
California members may remember when an individual
proposals this session to limit abortion rights.
The first issue of the ACLU News was published in
January 1936 and consisted of one page. It has been
published without interruption ever since - and is now
eight pages published eight times a year.
There were, in the early years, fitful attempts at start-
ing local ACLU-NC groups. Local groups initiated by
members in Berkeley and in Butte County both dissolv-
ed after several months. It was not until 1956 that a
Marin County chapter was formed and became a per-
manent part. of the ACLU-NC. Next, the Mid-
Peninsula chapter was chartered in 1960. By 1963, there
were eight more local chapters and 80 members attend-
ed the first Chapter Conference held that same year.
Photo: ENS Graphics
.. for equal opportunity for racial minorities and women.
technically belonged to the affiliate or the national of-
fice, but not both.)
Along with the 60 members, the branch had a
treasury of $347 in 1934. Six years later the budget ex-
panded $3,700. That reached over $13,000 in 1950; over
$50,000 in 1960; $162,000 in 1970. Today, the combin-
ed budgets of the ACLU and the ACLU Foundation
are over $700,000.
In its earliest years, the branch handled lawsuits
primarily related to labor, accused radicals and Com-
munists, and aliens. All of the lawsuits were handled by
volunteer attorneys. Through the years, areas of litiga-
tion expanded widely (see History, opposite page) and
today our docket contains over 100 legal cases ranging |
from police brutality to school book censorship and
from abortion rights to prison newspapers. There are
now three fulltime attorneys and two legal assistants
staffing our legal department and a battery of more
than 60 volunteer attorneys who litigate ACLU cases.
The organization also began as a lobbying group and
co-sponsored, with the Southern California branch,
legislation to repeal California's criminal syndicalism
law in 1938. Today, our legislative staff in Sacramento
- two fulltime lobbyists and a legislative assistant, still
shared with southern California - watch over 1,000
bills each session for their impact on civil liberties. They
have been successful in pushing through needed
reforms, such as the bill restricting strip searches, and in
stopping dangerous bills such as the more than dozen
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Tay the affiliate's 16 local chapters play a major
role in mobilizing membership and organizing activities
from Sonoma to Fresno. All but one of the chapters
(the Gay Rights Chapter formed in 1977) are
geographically-based. ACLU chapter members form
the activist core of the organization and - by holding
. public forums on civil liberties issues, testifying before
local government bodies, lobbying state and federal
representatives, fundraising and staffing complaint
lines - maintain a strong local presence for the
organization.
In 1981, the Field Program was launched as the
membership action arm of the ACLU-NC to prioritize
and plan grassroots lobbying and organizing cam-
paigns. Comprised of representatives of each chapter
and at-large Board members, the Field Committee cur-
renly has four priority civil liberties action groups: the
Pro-Choice Task Force, the Right to Dissent Subcom-
mittee, the Immigration Working Group, and the
_ Draft Opposition Network.
The ACLU-NC has grown tremendously over the
last fifty years, but immense tasks still lie ahead. The
organization is always open to new members, new
ideas, new resources. You can help us build for our next
half century of civil liberties battles by getting involved
...Or getting more involved! Please join us to protect
the gains of the last fifty years - to make sure that we
have our freedoms for the next fifty.
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