natasha is the death penalty policy director for the american civil liberties union of northern california. she previously worked as a deputy public defender in alameda county, and was a staff attorney with the california task force on criminal instructions. she is also working on the effort to abolish the death penalty in california and pursuing the goal of reforming capital sentencing procedure. before we start with the first question, we have a short video. i have been told that this is a video from the former warden of the mississippi prison. >> it is clear that the execution will take place and something happens. they may not come out and say that they did this, but they will tell the victim -- i am sorry. and then they say, i did this. and i leaned down to whisper in his ear, and i thought i could reach them because i wanted to make certain that he is at peace with themselves. i said it is not important for you to confess to this crime and is not important for anyone in this room. the only thing that is important is that you let your god know the truth. and he looked at me and he sai

these issues defined by the september 13 hearing and subsequent report, most notably the american civil liberties union and the asian law caucus. thank you. i would be remiss if i did not think the members of the public who participated and spoke at the september 138 jersey meeting and are also here tonight to listen to this status report. the subject of this hearing is one of the most significant issues in this country today. it addresses two of the fundamental principles established by the constitution, a common defense and civil rights for all people in big u.s. eric holder, in comments at an annual dinner in san francisco, stated, "communities we serve must see and fully understand that we are defining civil rights that are bigger than public safety." he went on to say the relationships between the arab, muslim, and asian communities are critical to ensuring public safety and civil rights. this is a follow-up to the hearing held that thehrc -- held at the hrc earlier. there was a report from february 4, 2011. it is critical to understand that the hearing and the creation of this report was a joint

. >> i'm john crew for the american civil liberties union and rather than take too much time, i want to just echo the thanks that veena already offered. briefly ac knowledge -- acknowledge chief suhr. we really appreciate you trying to dive into this issue so quickly and also comblations -- congratulations to your new command staff. i'm particularly pleased to echo also the comments made by director sparks, by both the commissioners up here. good news again is that we're all on the same page. we share the same goal. no one wants sfpd officers to be under the complete control of the f.b.i. what we need to do is to collectively find a solution that will actually achieve that goal, we're not there yet, we really appreciate this opportunity and your time. i'll try to be quick. to outline for you the elements of the solution. but first i need to briefly update you on how we got here. i don't want to focus on the path, i want to focus on the future, about we need to briefly understand what your predecessors have done that got us higher. and build on their success. we gave you in your packet

the american nurses association , the american civil liberties union, the american congress of obstetricians and gynecologists, cathols for choice, the equal health network, the human rights campaign, the national association of nurse practitioners, and the national organization of women, the national women's law center, people for the american way, the union for reform judism. the united church of christ, the united methodist church and the ywca, plus numerous others. madam speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time the gentleman from texas. mr. smith: madam speaker, i yield one minute to the gentleman from michigan, mr. amash. the speaker pro tempore:he gentleman from michigan is recognized for one minute. mr. amash: thank you, madam speaker. free societies are founded on a corset of rights, rights that are beyond the reach of government and that no other person or group can take away. the founders created our government to secure these unalienable rights and chief among them is the right to life. presidents

san francisco senator yee drafted sb 602 which is supported by the american civil liberties union. will now go to the assembly. >>> to the state's ongoing budget mess. we have two major updates here which could be game changers. state senate president pro tem daryl steinberg is sponsoring a bill which allows local governments like the cities and counties to extend taxes in areas ranging from income taxes to school taxes. this can raise up to $13 billion annually but it is controversial. also we have updated numbers. the state could gain as much as $6 billion more dollars in revenue than previously expected. so two major story lines. joined by our political analyst, larry gershwin. power to the people locally, but it could be dangerous in terms of school districts like palo alto, more affluent districts might outraise. >> it can establish great differences between cities and counties and school districts, no question about it. look, his office by the way i called his office. what's the story with the bill you want to raise $13 billion, which is the amount that governor brown wants.

spend a fair bit of time in the book talking about how if you move from groups like the american civil liberties union to law school clinics and programs in adjacent areas, you find a whole lot of overlap. you find cooperation, you find sometimes a revolving door of highly-qualified personnel, you find that the publications and the round tables and so forth are constantly informing many of the key academics as to what the aclu has been thinking this week and vice versa. you have tremendous cooperation. would we actually want that cooperation between groups that are the ideological opposite members of the aclu, or would that just make law schools yet more polarized and ideological? i have my doubts that they should jump headlong into an equally cozy relationship with conservative or libertarian think tanks or much less with groups that might have lobbying agendas which would really be potentially disastrous. and, so the question is, therefore, should we tell them, you know, stop seeing the aclu four times a month, at least date around. [laughter] i don't want them to feel married to any of them, though

we didn't go there to make kabul safe for the american civil liberties union. killed th ed thaed murderer. and the notion that we would uproot every last terrorist there, even if we did -- >> the president says we'll begin the drawdown of troops this july. that's coming upon us very closely. you don't think we ever should have had the increase? >> the drawdown, you had this great discussion of opportunity. people need to understand this. given our need to reduce the deficit, not to zero, but to bring it down, either we substantially reduce meerks worldwide military commitment $150 billion a year for afghanistan and iraq, over and above the 500 and some odd billion pentagon budget or we cut medical care. that's the opportunity cost. so staying in afghanistan is not a free good. >> what would you do in afghanistan? would you leave -- vice president biden -- to a certain extent, vice president biden early on in the president's debate about what our policy should be articulated what you're saying now. saying send in covert troops, have a much slimmer force, do no go

the american nurses association , the american civil liberties union, the american congress of obstetricians and gynecologists, catholics for choice, the equal health network, the human rights campaign, the national association of nurse practitioners, and the national organization of women, the national women's law center, people for the american way, the union for reform judism. the united church of christ, the united methodist church and the ywca, plus numerous others. madam speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas. mr. smith: madam speaker, i yield one minute to the gentleman from michigan, mr. amash. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan is recognized for one minute. mr. amash: thank you, madam speaker. free societies are founded on a corset of rights, rights that are beyond the reach of government and that no other person or group can take away. the founders created our government to secure these unalienable rights and chief among them is the right to life. presi

the american nurses association , the american civil liberties union, the american congress of obstetriciansnd gynecologists, catholics for choice, the equal health network, the human rights campaign, the national association of nurse practitioners, and the national organization of women, the national women's law center, people for the american way, the union for reform judism. the united church of christ, the united methodist church and the ywca, plus numerous others. madam speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas. mr. smith: madam speaker, i yield one minute to the gentleman from michigan, mr. amash. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan is recognized for one minute. mr. amash: thank you, madam speaker. free societies are founded on a corset of rights, rights that are beyond the reach of government and that no other person or group can take away. the founders created our government to secure these unalienable rights and chief among them is the right to life. preside

private law firm of cobblins, patch, duffy and bass, and later as a staff attorney at the american civil liberties union. in 2001, he was appointed to be a united states magistrate judge for the northern district of california, and he has served in that capacity for the past ten years. so today judge chen is a solid, tested and respected judge with over a decade of experience on the federal bench. in these ten years as a judge, he has written more than 350 published opinions, and i would point out that not one of those opinions has been criticized by anyone in the 20 months that this nomination has been awaiting action in the senate. nor has there been any criticism of any of his published opinions. in fact, there's broad consensus among those who have reviewed his judicial record that he is indeed a very good judge. he was recommended to me by a bipartisan judicial advisory committee. that committee reviewed his record, spoke with judges, attorneys and litigants who knew his work as a judge. the committee unanimously recommended that i forward his name to the president, and i did. the san francisco bar