FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:Friday, May 15, 2009

CONTACT: Peter Simonson, ACLU of New Mexico (505) 266-5915 x1002; or ACLU Volunteer Attorney, Mike Lilley (575) 524-7809

LAS CRUCES—The ACLU of New Mexico sued officers of the New Mexico Motor Transportation Division (MTD) for targeting vehicles driven by African Americans for inspections, searches and detentions at the MTD port of entry in Lordsburg, New Mexico.  The lawsuit stems from an August 15, 2008 incident in which MTD officer Ben Strain stopped and cited truck driver Curtis Blackwell for the alleged violation of carrying alcohol in a commercial vehicle, even though the containers were unopened.  After receiving contact from Blackwell, ACLU volunteer attorneys Michael Lilley and Michael Stout uncovered evidence that MTD officers in the Lordsburg division stopped and booked a disproportionately high number of African American truck drivers compared to the general population of truck drivers passing through the port of entry.

“For years we’ve suspected that race played an improper role in vehicle inspections at the Lordsburg station,” said Lilley.  “Mr. Blackwell’s experience confirmed our suspicions and gave us reason to look into the matter in depth.  What we discovered was a clear and consistent pattern of racial disparity favoring the booking of African American truck drivers.”
Data the attorneys obtained through Hidalgo County Detention Center records shows that, between April 2005 and March 2008, 20 percent of all bookings by MTD agents at the detention center were African American, while African Americans represented only 2 percent of bookings by other law enforcement agencies.  Most of the MTD bookings were truck drivers.

Legal papers filed by the ACLU claim that “virtually every truck driver charged criminally in federal court who was arrested by an MTD officer stationed in Lordsburg is African American/Black.”

“Targeting motorists on the basis of race is a lose-lose proposition,” said ACLU Executive Director Peter Simonson.  “Not only does it breed resentment and mistrust towards police in the community, but it also fails as a method of police investigation.  Studies of traffic stops and searches show that people of color are no more likely to be involved in criminal activity than whites.”

In addition to charges of discrimination, the ACLU lawsuit alleges that Officer Strain and the citation violated Blackwell’s due process rights by pressuring him to sign his guilt on the citation under threat of arrest and seizure of his vehicle.  Blackwell agreed to pay the penalty and signed the citation.
Filed in federal court, the lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages, expungement of the citation from Blackwell’s record, and a declaration that the citation is unconstitutional.

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The mission of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico is to maintain and advance the cause of civil liberties within the state of New Mexico, with particular emphasis on the freedom of religion, speech, press, association, and assemblage, and the right to vote, due process of law and equal protection of law, and to take any legitimate action in the furtherance and defense of such purposes. These objectives shall be sought wholly without political partisanship.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:Tuesday, April 28, 2009
CONTACT: Peter Simonson, ACLU of New Mexico (505) 266-5915 x1002; or Paul Cates, National ACLU LGBT Project (212) 549-2569, Cell (917) 566-1294
ALBUQUERQUE – In response to a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, New Mexico has agreed to provide retirement health insurance to the domestic partners of state employees.
“We are very pleased that the state has agreed to settle this litigation and provide the insurance.  It wasn’t fair that the state forced lesbian and gay employees to pay the high cost of health care for often inferior health insurance for their families when they worked just as hard as their straight colleagues,” said Peter Simonson of the ACLU of New Mexico.  “I’m sure this will be welcome news to all lesbian and gay state employees, but especially to those who have retired or are planning to do so soon.”
The ACLU brought the lawsuit on February 5, 2007 on behalf lesbian and gay state employees and their domestic partners.  The lawsuit charged that it was a violation of the state constitution’s equal protection guarantees for the state to treat lesbian and gay employees differently from its straight employees.  The settlement will reached with the state will cover both gay and straight employees and their domestic partners.
“This is fantastic news.  We can finally start planning our retirement,” said Havens Levitt, who has been a teacher for the Albuquerque public school for 25 years.  “Until now, our only option was for me to keep working because my partner’s employment doesn’t provide insurance for her and private insurance was just too expensive.  It means a lot that the state has acknowledged I should be treated the same as my straight colleagues.”  Levitt and her partner, Rebecca Dakota, have been partners for 13 years.  Dakota is a self-employed consultant to non-profits and an independent filmmaker.
Pursuant to the settlement, the state has agreed to develop a process for enrolling those interested during the next open enrollment period, which comes this fall.
The legal team for the ACLU in Levitt and Dakota  v. New Mexico is George Bach, staff attorney with the ACLU of New Mexico, Ken Choe, a senior staff attorney with the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Project of the ACLU, and cooperating attorney Maureen Sanders of Sanders & Westbrook, P.C.
Additional information about the case including a Q&A and the legal papers is available at http://www.aclu.org/lgbt/relationships/28241res20070205.html.

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The mission of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico is to maintain and advance the cause of civil liberties within the state of New Mexico, with particular emphasis on the freedom of religion, speech, press, association, and assemblage, and the right to vote, due process of law and equal protection of law, and to take any legitimate action in the furtherance and defense of such purposes. These objectives shall be sought wholly without political partisanship.

Statement of Peter Simonson, ACLU of New Mexico Executive Director
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Friday, March 13, 2009 CONTACT: Whitney Potter (505) 507-9898 or [email protected]
SANTA FE—Today, legislation replacing the death penalty with life in prison without parole (HB 285) sponsored by Democrat Gail Chasey, of Bernalillo County, passed the New Mexico Legislature. The bill cleared its final hurdle in the State Senate today by a vote of 24 to 18. The House voted 40 to 28 in favor of HB 285 on February 11, 2009. The bill now goes to the Governor’s desk for his consideration.
Statement:
The ACLU of New Mexico praises lawmakers today for voting to end capital punishment in the state of New Mexico. We hope it will generate momentum in the campaign to end capital punishment nationwide.
The death penalty is the ultimate denial of civil liberties. In the past 35 years, 130 inmates were found to be innocent and released from death row. State officials and opinion leaders have acknowledged what advocates have said for years: the death penalty is a public policy disaster that is expensive, discriminatory, cruel and immoral.
We acknowledge the tireless work of death penalty opponents, including the remarkable leadership of the New Mexico Coalition to Repeal the Death Penalty, and ACLU members from across New Mexico who lobbied their legislators in support of abolition.
If signed by Governor Bill Richardson, New Mexico will become the 15th state with no death penalty. The ACLU strongly urges the Governor to sign this historic piece of legislation.

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The mission of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico is to maintain and advance the cause of civil liberties within the state of New Mexico, with particular emphasis on the freedom of religion, speech, press, association, and assemblage, and the right to vote, due process of law and equal protection of law, and to take any legitimate action in the furtherance and defense of such purposes. These objectives shall be sought wholly without political partisanship.