EthnicMajority

(CNN) The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down as unconstitutional an ordinance in a southern California town that prevented day laborers on public sidewalks from soliciting work from passing drivers.

"Because the ordinance is not narrowly tailored to achieve the city's goals, it is facially unconstitutional," the court said in a 9-2 decision.

The Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, MALDEF, called the decision "precedent-setting."

It affirmed a trial court's decision favoring the day laborer group Comite de Jornaleros in its lawsuit against the city of Redondo Beach.

The civil rights group said the court ruling sets "a strong precedent on day laborer rights."

The ruling was an en-banc decision — a previously ruled-upon case reheard by the panel of 11 circuit court judges — after civil rights attorneys successfully challenged the earlier 2-1 panel decision that had upheld the controversial ordinance, MALDEF said.

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(NY Times) Mario G. Obledo, who slept on the floor with 12 siblings as the child of illegal immigrants and went on to become the founder and leader of major Hispanic-American organizations, a top state official in California and an acid critic of stereotypical treatment of Mexicans, died Wednesday in Sacramento. He was 78.

The cause was a heart attack, his wife, Keda Alcala-Obledo, said.

Mr. Obledo’s overarching accomplishment was to help usher Hispanics toward the center of the American political discussion, declaring they would no longer “take a back seat to anyone.” Known just as Mario, in the manner of his ally Jesse Jackson, he helped forge alliances with other minorities and build political power by registering hundreds of thousands of Hispanics to vote.

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