Category: Civil Rights

By Carlos Rico / The San Diego Union-Tribune / October 28, 2025

Teaching and helping innocent people, especially those from underrepresented communities, is the mission and passion of Justin Brooks, a criminal defense attorney, author and law professor at the University of San Diego.

Brooks has spent the last 26 years living in Ocean Beach, after growing up in the Bronx and Puerto Rico, and attending college in Philadelphia and law school in Washington, D.C.

What brought him to San Diego was an innocent Puerto Rican woman from Illinois who was facing the death penalty in 1995. While living and teaching criminal law in Michigan, Brooks read about this woman in a newspaper, drove down to meet her, and with the help of his students got her off death row and all charges dropped of a double homicide.

“As I worked on our case, I realized there are innocent people in prison who need help, and it’s the best way to train these students is to work on real cases,” Brooks said. “So, I told my wife (girlfriend at the time) I’m quitting my tenured faculty position and we’re gonna move to California cause that’s where they need an innocence project the most. It’s the biggest prison system in the United States. It’s got the death penalty, three strikes, mandatory minimums. And so I moved to San Diego and started it here and partnered up with another law professor who was interested in doing it too, and founded the California Innocence Project back in 1999.”

Brooks cofounded the California Innocence Project at the California Western School of Law in San Diego in 1999. He was its director until 2023. Under his leadership, the project freed 40 innocent people from prison, including former NFL player Brian Banks.

Rag Staff Report

The San Diego Community Coalition’s inaugural “Town Hall with a Newsmaker” forum on October 25 was a frank and productive conversation between District 7 City Councilmember Raul Campillo and community leaders from across San Diego.

The Coalition held the event because San Diegans rarely get a chance to engage their representatives in direct face-to-face talks. The unwritten rule at City Hall forums is that elected officials speak at length and on script while their constituents listen and are given scant time to ask questions.

For 90 minutes at the Linda Vista Library, a relaxed Campillo broke that rule and clearly enjoyed the spirited give-and-take.

Here are excerpts.

Scott Case, Middletown: We’re trying to understand where all the proposed and approved Complete Communities projects are. Development Services Department (DSD) told me the City does not make that information public. Perhaps the City Council could direct DSD to do that.

Campillo: If the Mayor wanted to release that information, there would be no problem. It sounds like what you’re looking for is a searchable and understandable database to learn what projects are going into what spots.

Yes, indeed. What if they did hold a hearing to abolish OB’s Historic Cottage District and nobody from Ocean Beach showed up?

Well, that’s exactly what happened October 23 — at last Thursday’s hearing held by the San Diego Historic Resources Board. They were scheduled to discuss and accept a city staff’s recommendation that the Ocean Beach Cottage Emerging Historical District not be a basis to prevent massive developments from being built.

To jog your memory, dear reader, the OB’s Historic District was the reason a project called The Point and consisting of 24 units slated for Point Loma Avenue in south OB was unanimously rejected in August 2024 on appeal by the San Diego Planning Commission. The developers were using a San Diego housing policy called Complete Communities which allows builders exemptions from long-held restrictions if they met certain requirements.

As Rag writer Geoff Page recently reported:

Because there appeared to be a legal conflict between the Complete Communities plan and the Municipal Code, the commissioners approved the appeal. However, here is what Vice Chair Matthew Boomhower, who was chairing the meeting, had to say in his closing remarks:

By Richard Allyn / CBS8 / October 22, 2025

With less than two weeks until California’s special election on Prop 50 [on November 4], a new CBS News poll released on Wednesday reveals that 62% of likely voters support the ballot measure, which would redraw the state’s congressional lines in ways that would make it easier for Democrats to win five districts currently held by Republicans.

The poll, which surveyed more than 1,500 registered California voters, shows a significant jump in support compared to earlier polls that put backing in the low 50s. However, according to Governor Gavin Newsom, the ultimate outcome depends on voter participation.

“Polls don’t vote, people vote. And this is a special election. I’m not naive, it is about turn-out, period, full-stop,” said Newsom.

The CBS News poll reveals starkly different motivations between supporters and opponents of the measure. Among those voting yes, 75% say it is a way to oppose President Donald Trump, and 70% cite opposition to national Republicans.

Associated Press – CBS8 / October 27, 2025

Nearly 42 million Americans who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, referred to as SNAP, will not receive federal benefits next month.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed in a new notice that no SNAP funds will be distributed on Nov. 1. The news puts a strain on families across the country as the government shutdown drags on.

“Bottom line, the well has run dry,” the USDA notice says. “At this time, there will be no benefits issued November 01. We are approaching an inflection point for Senate Democrats.”

The government shutdown, now the second longest in U.S. history, has entered its fourth week with no end in sight. It’s not clear whether the pause in the program will shift anything in the negotiations to reopen the government.

However, the news of the SNAP benefits pause is leaving beneficiaries, states and food banks scrambling for ways to fill the gaps.

From Aguirre & Severson, LLP Law Firm

On Friday, October 24, San Diego County Judge James A. Mangione set the trial date of May 1, 2026, for the San Diego Superior Court lawsuit to void the trash tax San Diego City officials imposed on 224,000 San Diego homeowners. (Brown v. LaCava, case number 25CU025589C). Judge Mangione set the trial at least six days to try all the issues in the case.

San Diego homeowners, represented by attorneys at Aguirre & Severson, LLP, allege that the solid waste collection fee increases imposed by the City of San Diego violate California Constitution Article XIII(D) (The Right to Vote on Taxes Act). The alleged Constitutional violations are:

US Reps Vargas, Peters, Padilla, Jacobs and Levin Refused Entry

by City News Service – Times of San Diego / Oct. 27, 2025

A delegation of legislators representing San Diego County was once again refused entry to the Edward J. Schwartz United States Courthouse on Monday as they attempted to conduct oversight on an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement detention center.

Reps. Juan Vargas and Scott Peters, both San Diego Democrats, were refused entry a week ago. On Monday, they were joined by fellow Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla,, Rep. Sara Jacobs, and Rep. Mike Levin, and were again refused entry, the lawmakers said.

“As members of Congress, we have the right and the responsibility to enter detention sites in order to conduct oversight without prior authorization,” Vargas said.

“Today, we were again blocked from entering. If nothing is wrong here, why are we not allowed in? What is ICE hiding? We came here to confirm that the law is being followed.

By Joni Halpern

It is helpful growing old. The piling of decades of lived history and knowledge obtained over time gives a person a more holistic view of our national character. It becomes easier to see in today’s tapestry of American life the threads of earlier inclinations that resemble what we are now.

Today we are “cavalier,” a word that describes someone haughty or arrogant, someone with a careless disregard for serious matters.

We might have been described that way in our past as we annihilated the Native Americans; enslaved and brutalized Africans and their American-born descendants; exploited the Asian, European and Latin American immigrants who lived in poverty while staffing our factories and farms, or when we engaged in certain wars against
nations not out of necessity but out of our own hubris.

From San Diego 350

Young people called on lawmakers, including SD Council President LaCava, to pass the Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act to protect schools and communities.

On Friday, October 24, over 1,000 students from 19 schools across San Diego and thousands from 50 California middle schools, high schools, and colleges walked out of class in a coordinated statewide action demanding that oil and gas companies be held accountable for the damage caused by their pollution.

Organized by youth climate groups and advocacy organizations including Youth v. Oil and SanDiego350 in partnership with the Make Polluters Pay campaign, the walkouts spanned San Diego County — with major events at Hilltop High School, Pacific Beach Middle School, University City High School, Eastlake High School, La Jolla High School, and Otay Ranch High School.

“Californians are already reeling from wildfires, floods, and extreme heat. We’re taking to the streets to demand passage of the Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act to send a clear message that we won’t let Big Oil continue to destroy our futures,” said Diego Sandoval, senior at Eastlake HS in Chula Vista.

By Kate Callen

At an October 23 celebration of its legal win to suspend a 186-unit A Street project, the Golden Hill community received more good news: a 28th Street canyon parcel slated for development will remain open parkland.

The private owner has agreed to donate the property to Preserve Greater Golden Hill (PGGH), now incorporated as a 501c3. In exchange, he will receive a charitable tax deduction. San Diego Canyonlands is already working with the non-profit on a long-term rehabilitation and management plan to preserve the habitat.

More than 80 jubilant Golden Hill residents cheered the announcement at a PGGH fundraiser at Matteo’s at 30th and Juniper. Six months ago, as the Rag reported on May 22, the community felt blindsided by the two high-impact projects. Now, the canyon parcel is safe, and the eight-story complex is stalled.

In the wake of a Superior Court ruling that halted further construction at 2935-2961 A Street, PGGH will insist that Chicago-area developer CEDARst scale back the project to comply with the Greater Golden Hill Community Plan.

“The opposing counsel said the developer is open to negotiation,” said PGGH President Richard Santini. “We’re holding firm. We want three stories with 10 percent of the units affordable and some benefit to the community, like frontage and trees.”

Judge Joel Wohlfeil’s issuance of a temporary restraining order struck at the heart of Mayor Todd Gloria’s “Complete Communities” program, which allows massive “transit-oriented development” where planned transit stops do not yet exist and have not even secured actual funding.

By David Greenwald / Vanguard / October 21, 2025

SAN FRANCISCO – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has moved to reconsider one of its most consequential rulings of the year, signaling potential full-court review in State of Oregon and City of Portland v. Donald J. Trump et al., a case testing the limits of presidential power to federalize a state’s National Guard over its governor’s objection.

On Monday, October 20, Circuit Judge Sidney R. Thomas, acting as En Banc Coordinator, issued an order stating that “a judge of this Court has sua sponte requested a vote on whether this case should be reheard en banc.”

The order directs all parties to file simultaneous supplemental briefs by midnight Pacific Time on Wednesday, October 22, 2025, addressing whether the case should be reheard before the full court. Each brief must not exceed 14,000 words.

The procedural move followed a divided three-judge panel’s decision earlier in the day lifting a lower court’s temporary restraining order that had blocked the Trump administration from deploying 200 federalized members of the Oregon National Guard to Portland.

From La Prensa San Diego News Desk / October 22-23, 2025

A local Superior Court Judge has ordered the City of Chula Vista to pay over $500,000 to the law firm that represented La Prensa San Diego in its successful lawsuit over the release of videos recorded by police drones.

The lawsuit, filed in May 2021 seeking the release of Chula Vista Police Department drone videos, was upheld for the second time by the California Supreme Court on August 14th, ending over four years of litigation.

On October 9th, San Diego Superior Court Judge Katherine Bacal awarded attorney Cory Briggs all of the legal fees and costs his firm incurred in the case since May 2021, when the lawsuit was filed, plus she granted Briggs a 1.5 multiple on his fees as reimbursement for having taken the case on contingency.

Bacal also weighed the fact that the case created a new precedent as a matter of “first impression” that went before both the Court of Appeals and the California Supreme Court.

In 2018, Chula Vista’s police department became the first law enforcement agency in the country authorized by the FAA to fly drones beyond visual line-of-sight of the operator as part of a pilot program to help create a safe process for drones to be used as first responders to reduce emergency response times and increase officer safety.

Three years after the program launched, LPSD requested copies of police drone videos from just one month —March 2021— for an article on how the program was going and, specifically, to see how CVPD was using their drones.

Chula Vista’s then-City Attorney, Glen Googins, rejected the request for videos,