vol. 49, no. 8

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

JOIN THE ACLU

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LJ $30 Joint

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City

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.

Please tell me more about

_] Opportunities for tax deductible gifts to the

ACLU Foundation

LJ Including the ACLU in my will

(| Gifts that pay me a lifetime income

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_] Working on grassroots civil liberties cam-

paigns in my community.

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