IN THE ACLU NEWSROOM **The Latest News Can Always Be Found At:** http://www.aclu.org/news/pressind.html * Upholding Free Speech Rights of the Unpopular, Idaho Court Allows Aryan Nations to March * ACLU Calls for Moratorium After Gruesome Electric Chair Execution * NYCLU Applauds Appointment of Applicants 35 and Older to New York Police Academy * Settlement Reached in ACLU's Class-Action Lawsuit Alleging Inadequacy of CT Public Defender System * ACLU and Indian Rights Group Seek to Secure Voting Rights for Montana's Native Americans * ACLU Urges Attorney General to Adopt Panel's Opposition to Mass DNA Testing * ACLU of Ohio Sues to Prevent State From Censoring Last Words of Death Row Prisoners * Other Recent ACLU Press Releases ----------------------------------------------------------------- Upholding Free Speech Rights of the Unpopular, Idaho Court Allows Aryan Nations to March FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Friday, July 9, 1999 COEUR D'ALENE, ID -- A Federal Court today ordered the City of Coeur d'Alene to grant the Aryan Nations a parade permit allowing them to march through the city's downtown area tomorrow. The American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho had requested the court order on behalf of the group, claiming that the city had denied the parade route request for content-based reasons, and that such denial was an unconstitutional prior restraint of speech. In its order, Chief U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge agreed with the ACLU's argument that "the selection of the Ramsey Road parade route solely for the [Aryan Nations] parade is not a content-neutral application of the parade permit ordinance." The Court also said that the City's reasons for re-routing the parade were "pretextual," and that there was no evidence to suggest a "'clear and present danger' associated with the [Aryan Nation's] parade request." "The re-routing of the parade does not provide adequate channels of communication for the [Aryan Nations]," the Court said, "and removes the parade from the intended audience in potential violation of the First Amendment." Jack Van Valkenburgh, Executive Director of the ACLU of Idaho, said he was pleased with the Court's decision, and trusted that the public would not confuse the ACLU's defense of the right to speak with any defense of the Aryans' message. "'I may disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it' is a quote attributed to Voltaire," he said. "Well, if Voltaire were alive today, I think he would be proud of the ACLU." "The ACLU believes that the right to utter unpopular political speech -- on terms equal to the right to utter popular political speech -- is as fundamental to our American freedoms as any right, whether realized or imagined," he concluded. ACLU cooperating attorneys Harold B. Smith of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, and Dawn Reynolds of Pullman, Washington, represented Richard Butler, on behalf of the Aryan Nations Substantial assistance was also provided by Elizabeth Brandt of Moscow. ----------------------------------------------------------------- ACLU Calls for Moratorium After Gruesome Electric Chair Execution FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, July 8, 1999 MIAMI -- The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida today called on Gov. Jeb Bush to halt all executions until officials can ensure that they can be conducted humanely and until greater fairness and due process in the imposition of death sentences can be assured. The ACLU's call for a moratorium comes after the bloody electric chair execution of inmate Allen Lee "Tiny" Davis at 7:10 a.m. this morning. Davis was executed for the brutal slayings of 37 year old Nancy Weiler and her two daughters in 1982. According to news reports and eyewitness accounts, blood poured from his mouth and oozed from his chest as Davis was hit with 2,300 volts. Davis was the first prisoner to be executed in the electric chair that replaced an earlier version of "Old Sparky." The replacement of the chair stemmed in part from reaction to a 1997 incident in which flames shot from the head of Pedro Molina as he was electrocuted. The ACLU said it is calling for a moratorium to open public debate not only about the method of execution in Florida but also, in light of the arbitrariness of the imposition of death sentences, whether the people of Florida are well served and made any safer by the death penalty. "Capital punishment is an intolerable denial of civil liberties and is inconsistent with the fundamental values of our democratic system," said Howard Simon, Executive Director of the ACLU of Florida. "Criminals no doubt deserve to be punished, and the severity of the punishment should be appropriate to their culpability. But Florida's record of executions, and the Legislature's obsession with electrocution as the method of execution, has been barbaric." In February 1997, the American Bar Association passed a resolution calling for a nationwide capital punishment moratorium until the rights of fundamental due process can be guaranteed to prisoners facing the ultimate punishment. The resolution calls for ensuring competency of counsel, ending racial discrimination in sentencing, and preventing execution of mentally retarded persons and juvenile offenders. "The severity of punishment has its limits - imposed by both justice and our common human dignity," said Larry Spalding, ACLU of Florida Legislative Staff Counsel. "Governments that respect these limits do not use premeditated, violent homicide as an instrument of social policy." "Mandatory life imprisonment protects the public from violent criminals, and without the injustices and arbitrariness of the death penalty," he added. "When given the option of imposing a sentence of life without possibility of release, a majority of the public is willing to forego the death penalty." The death penalty has come under increasing challenges recently. In just a single week in May, Ronald Jones became the 12th death row inmate in Illinois (and the 79th nationwide) to be exonerated. The 78th wrongfully convicted death row inmate was recently exonerated in Oklahoma. "Race, poverty and geographical location continue to tilt the scales of justice whenever death penalty verdicts are sought and handed down," the ACLU's Simon said. In a special "Execution Watch" feature on its national web page, the ACLU is monitoring the number of executions nationally; 558 is the current total since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. The Execution Watch logo, which users can post on their own websites, is updated regularly. It can be accessed at: http://www.aclu.org/executionwatch.html. ----------------------------------------------------------------- NYCLU Applauds Appointment of Applicants 35 and Older to New York Police Academy FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, July 8, 1999 NEW YORK, NY -- The New York Civil Liberties Union today hailed the New York City Police Department's appointment of 39 qualified men and women aged 35 and older, who had been rejected previously because of their age. The NYCLU had sued the NYPD and the City of New York in state and federal court, saying that denying the six women and 33 men the right to join the police force was illegal. The suits have been settled with the group's entry into the NYPD Police Academy. "We are extremely pleased with our clients' being sworn in as probationary police officers," said Norman Siegel, Executive Director of the NYCLU. "Their dreams of becoming members of New York's Finest have been fulfilled." "Age is an inaccurate predictor of individual capacity and limitation and cannot serve as a blanket criterion with respect to the appointment of NYPD officers," he added. The NYCLU had argued that denying the applicants for more than two years violated their fundamental right to be free from discrimination in employment on account of age, and was basically unfair. "It's been an honor for the NYCLU to represent this impressive group of individuals with so strong a commitment to providing public service," said Beth Haroules, Staff Attorney for the NYCLU. "They will be an asset to the NYPD." ----------------------------------------------------------------- Settlement Reached in ACLU's Class-Action Lawsuit Alleging Inadequacy of CT Public Defender System FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wednesday, July 7, 1999 HARTFORD -- The American Civil Liberties Union and its Connecticut affiliate today announced the resolution of its class-action lawsuit against the State of Connecticut for failing to provide the public defender system with sufficient funding. Under this historic settlement, the staff of the public defender system will increase, the rates of compensation paid to special public defenders will double, and the public defender system will substantially enhance the training, supervision and monitoring of its attorneys. Because of these changes, which will become final upon approval by the Connecticut Superior Court, the ACLU agreed to withdraw its lawsuit. Ann Parrent, a staff attorney with the Connecticut Civil Liberties Union, hailed the settlement as an example of advocates and state officials working together effectively toward the goal of ensuring a fair criminal justice system. "We applaud the Connecticut Legislature and the Governor for recognizing the severity of the problem and taking the necessary steps to remedy it," Parrent said. "Once we agreed on the scope of the problem, we put our heads together to focus on how the system could be improved and came up with a plan that meets all of our objectives." The ACLU's lawsuit, filed in January 1995, alleged that the underfunding of the defender system had caused attorney caseloads to skyrocket, which, in turn, prevented individual public defenders from providing their clients with adequate legal representation. The ACLU claimed that poor defendants were thus deprived of their basic right to counsel guaranteed by the Constitution's Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments, as well as by the state's constitution and laws. In late 1997, the state began to make a number of significant improvements to the system, most notably: Between 1997 and 1999, the state legislature increased funding for the indigent defense system, allowing the office to hire approximately 80 new attorneys and support staff, computerize its operations and increase attorney training. For the first time in more than 15 years, state officials agreed to raise the compensation rates of special public defenders. Beginning on July 1, 1999, non-contract special public defenders who handle felonies will receive $40 per hour for out-of-court work, as opposed to $20 per hour under the previous pay scale. On June 15, 1999, the Public Defender Commission announced a host of new policies that include setting caseload goals, creating new practice standards, establishing a year-long training program for new attorneys, and enhancing attorney evaluation. As a result of these improvements, attorney caseloads declined by approximately 40 percent. In response, the ACLU agreed to withdraw its lawsuit -- the first withdrawal of this kind based on legislative action to increase funding. The defendants named in the lawsuit were the Governor of Connecticut, John Rowland; and the members of the Public Defender Services Commission. "The ability of Connecticut defendants to get a fair hearing before the law has been advanced through the cooperative efforts of all those involved," said Joseph S. Grabarz, Jr., Executive Director of the CCLU. The case was filed at a time when public defender systems nationwide were seeing their budgets slashed amid a general hostility toward the rights of the poor, a situation the American Bar Association characterized as "national crisis of extraordinary proportions." The settlement in Connecticut marks the second such outcome of an ACLU class-action lawsuit against a public defender system. Last May, on the eve of a courtroom trial, the ACLU and its Pittsburgh chapter announced a settlement (http://www.aclu.org/news/n051398a.html) in its lawsuit against Allegheny County, Pennsylvania for failing to provide adequate counsel to its indigent clients. "Today's settlement sets an example for other states facing a crisis in indigent defense," said Robin Dahlberg, a national ACLU staff attorney. "Where the political will is there, the constitutional rights of poor defendants can be protected." In the course of the litigation in Connecticut, Dahlberg said, the ACLU reviewed troubled public defender offices in Oklahoma, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Virginia and Louisiana. "The ACLU will continue to evaluate public defender systems and act to ensure that states honor their constitutional obligations to poor people," she said. The case is Rivera v. Rowland. The trial team included national ACLU lawyers Dahlberg, Reginald Shuford and Mark Lopez and CCLU lawyers Parrent and Philip Tegeler. ----------------------------------------------------------------- ACLU and Indian Rights Group Seek to Secure Voting Rights for Montana's Native Americans FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wednesday, July 7, 1999 MISSOULA, MT -- In two lawsuits filed here today in U.S. District Court, Indian tribal members said that county election practices dilute their voting strength, in violation of the federal Voting Rights Act and the United States Constitution. The lawsuits, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union's Voting Rights Project, the ACLU of Montana and the Indian Law Resource Center (http://www.indianlaw.org/) on behalf of 11 individuals, ask the court to create single-member districts that would give Indians the same opportunity non-Indians now have to elect candidates of their choice. At issue is the at-large method of electing the Board of Commissioners in Rosebud County and the Board of Trustees of Ronan-Pablo School District 30 in Lake County. According to an analysis conducted by state and ACLU experts in a previous voting rights case in Montana, state election returns show that in contests with Indian and non-Indian candidates, Indian candidates usually get a majority of the Indian votes, while non-Indian candidates usually get a majority of non-Indian votes. But even though both Rosebud and Lake counties include substantial voting blocs of Indians, the ACLU said, their votes are diluted by the white majority. "In a majority white district, it doesn't matter how many Indian voters turn out -- the white candidate is going to win 99 percent of the time," said Laughlin McDonald, Director of the ACLU's Voting Rights Project. "The at-large election practice is illegal because it prevents Indians from participating equally in the political process." Charlene Alden, one of the plaintiffs and a member of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, said that the at-large election practice has discouraged Indians from running countywide. "They know they won't get enough support from non-Indian voters," she said. In contrast, state elections are conducted through single-member districts, which include majority-Indian districts. Indians have frequently run in local house and senate districts in Rosebud County. Indians have also run and been elected to office in majority Indian school board districts in the county. The lawsuits filed today are similar to an ACLU suit filed several years ago in Windy Boy v. County of Big Horn, which resulted in a single-member district plan for the county commission. After the new plan was implemented, Indians were elected to the commission for the first time. In Lake County, a majority of the students attending the Ronan-Pablo School District 30 are Indian, but the district is two-thirds white. Since the early 1970s, Indians have run for school trustee 17 times; only one Indian has ever been elected. In that instance, Ron Bick won a seat on the school board in 1990, at about the same time he became a tribal member. But he was defeated three years later when he ran for re-election. Jeannine Padilla, another plaintiff and a tribal member, has also run for the school board. She attended the Salish-Kootenai College and works for the tribe as a contract specialist. She has children in the public schools and has been active in the Indian Education Parent Committee. But while running for the school board, she encountered negative racial attitudes firsthand. "One white lady said 'we have to get everybody out to vote because there's another Indian running,'" Padilla said. "I didn't realize that people could be so shallow." Clayton Matt, a member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, has run for the school board three times. Matt is the manager of the tribe's water administration program and holds a masters degree from the University of Arizona. His children attend public schools and he believes that "there should be an Indian presence on the school board." "Historically, Native American residents of Montana have been subject to private as well as official discrimination on the basis of race, tribal, and language minority status," said Tim Coulter, Executive Director of the Indian Law Resource Center. "One way to counter discrimination is to ensure that Native Americans are able to participate equally with others in the political process." Since the 1970's, a number of so-called "white rights" groups have proliferated in Montana, including Montanans Opposed to Discrimination (MOD), Citizens Rights Organization (CRO), and Citizens Equal Rights Alliance (CERA). These groups have been particularly active in Lake County, where non-Indians own almost half of the land on the reservation, and have argued that the state should exercise exclusive jurisdiction over non-Indians and non-Indian land. They have also called for termination of the reservations. Last year, U.S. Senator Conrad Burns, R-MT, proposed a bill calling for the assumption of expanded civil jurisdiction by the state over Indian reservations -- a move that further polarized the Indian and non-Indian communities in Montana. Indians viewed the proposal as another attack on tribal sovereignty and turned out in large numbers at public hearings in Billings and Kalispell to voice their opposition to the bill. Burns later withdrew the measure. The two cases are Matt v. Ronan School District 30, Lake County, Montana and Alden v. Board of County Commissioners of Rosebud County, Montana. The plaintiffs in Matt v. Ronan School District 30 are Clayton Matt and Jeannine Padilla, both of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. The plaintiffs Alden v. Board of County Commissioners of Rosebud County are Charlene Alden, Fred Belly Mule, Holda Roundstone, Danny Sioux, Wilbur Spang, James Walks Along, Phillip Whiteman, Jr., Florence Whiteman, all members of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, and Lynette Two Bulls, who is Sioux. They are represented by attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union and the Indian Law Resource Center. The ACLU's complaints are available online: http://www.aclu.org/court/gibson_complaint.html http://www.aclu.org/court/alden_complaint.html ----------------------------------------------------------------- ACLU Urges Attorney General to Adopt Panel's Opposition to Mass DNA Testing Statement of Barry Steinhardt, Associate Director American Civil Liberties Union FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, July 6, 1999 NEW YORK -- The American Civil Liberties Union applauds the recommendation of a federal panel to oppose the expanded use of DNA tests on everyone who is arrested, and we join the panel in urging Attorney General Janet Reno to adopt this policy. Last March, Reno asked the National Commission on the Future of DNA Evidence to study the legality of taking DNA samples from everyone arrested instead of just the convicted sex offenders and violent felons as currently permitted by law. In testimony (http://www.aclu.org/library/ncfde.html) before the commission, I urged the commissioners to consider the dangers to civil liberties such a proposal raises and also pointed out the impracticality of collecting DNA from the more than 15 million people who are arrested each year. But while the commission reportedly based its recommendations on the current impracticality of mass DNA testing, it did not address the crucial civil liberties issues. The ACLU urges the commission to give the constitutional questions serious consideration at its next meeting on July 25. The ACLU continues to believe that the wholesale collection of DNA from people who are arrested -- many of whom will never be convicted of any crime -- is an intrusive, unreasonable search made without the individualized suspicion required by the Fourth Amendment and similar state laws. To find otherwise is to equate arrest with guilt and to empower police officers, rather than judges and juries, to force people to provide evidence that harbors many of their most intimate secrets as well as those of their blood relatives. Given the rapid growth of technology, the practicality problems with testing may be solved in the next few years. But the constitutional problems with mass DNA testing will remain for as long as this country calls itself a democracy. ----------------------------------------------------------------- ACLU of Ohio Sues to Prevent State From Censoring Last Words of Death Row Prisoners FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, July 6, 1999 COLUMBUS -- The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio filed suit today in federal court, seeking to overturn a corrections department regulation that would effectively silence condemned inmates during their final moments. The regulation, which governs the conduct of executions at the Southern Ohio Correctional facility in Lucasville, would require death row inmates to submit their last words to the warden in writing six hours before execution. The warden could then, at his sole option, read some, none, or all of the inmate's dying statement to the press following the execution. In legal papers filed with the court, the ACLU said that regulations allowing officials to censor speech in advance of its release, or to edit the content of a speakers message, run afoul of the First Amendment. Kevin Francis O'Neill, Assistant Professor of Law at Cleveland Marshall College of Law, and a cooperating attorney for the ACLU, said that the state's attempt to silence prisoners at the moment of execution goes against a legal tradition stretching back to before the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. "For nearly 700 years, condemned prisoners in England and America have been afforded the modest dignity of being able to speak their last words uncensored," he said. The ACLU is seeking a court order to prevent the governor, the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, and the Warden at Lucasville from putting the regulation in force. "Cases such as this, where a government official can stop or alter the speech before it becomes public, are a classic First Amendment violation long recognized in American law," said Raymond Vasvari, Legal Director of the ACLU of Ohio. The condemned inmates named in the case are Fred Treesh and Melvin Bonnell. ----------------------------------------------------------------- 07-06-99 -- ACLU Will Defend Five Sued for Libel By Football Coach in Ohio School Prayer Case http://www.aclu.org/news/1999/n070699c.html 07-02-99 -- Wiccan Priestess Granted License to Preside Over Wedding Ceremonies http://www.aclu.org/news/1999/n070299a.html 07-01-99 -- With House Engaged in Privacy Battle, Congress Must Protect Medical, Financial Information http://www.aclu.org/news/1999/n070199a.html 06-30-99 -- ACLU of Iowa Sues to Stop Unlawful Tax Searches http://www.aclu.org/news/1999/n063099e.html 06-30-99 -- ACLU to Defend Iowa Farm Families In Lawsuits Against Hog Factories http://www.aclu.org/news/1999/n063099c.html 06-30-99 -- ACLU Defends Iowa Community Activist Sued for Speaking Out at City Council Meeting http://www.aclu.org/news/1999/n063099d.html 06-30-99 -- House Passes Bill to Override State Laws On Young Women's Access to Abortion http://www.aclu.org/news/1999/n063099b.html 06-30-99 -- VA Court Dismisses Libel Lawsuit Against Anonymous Website Author http://www.aclu.org/news/1999/n063099a.html 06-28-99 -- ACLU Sues Ohio School District Over Football Team Prayers http://www.aclu.org/news/1999/n062899c.html 06-28-99 -- Janet Scott Joins ACLU as Leader of Development Team http://www.aclu.org/news/1999/n062899b.html 06-25-99 -- GA Journalism Professor Victim of Backlash From University Officials, ACLU Charges http://www.aclu.org/news/1999/n062599a.html ----------------------------------------------------------------- ONLINE RESOURCES FROM THE ACLU NATIONAL OFFICE ----------------------------------------------------------------- ACLU Freedom Network Web Page: http://www.aclu.org. 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