SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Bob Britton doesn't look like the kind of guy to be cursing out the American Civil Liberties Union, but there he was outside the state Capitol this week, offering up some choice four-letter words for the civil rights organization.
The ACLU is a leading opponent of Gov. Gavin Newsom's plan to establish civil courts to help treat people with severe mental illnesses. The group says it will lead to "forced treatment" of unhoused people, with police and others given far too much leeway to trample on the autonomy of those who refuse aid.
But as the uncle of someone with severe mental illness — schizophrenia — Britton says that people like his nephew sometimes can't grasp that they need help, and ignoring that medical reality isn't a protection of their civil rights. In fact, it shuts families like his out from the ability to care for their loved ones.
