California Declares Marriage Equality for All

Today is the day we’ve been working for—a watershed for basic fairness and human dignity. The California Supreme Court has recognized that equality means that everyone must be free to marry the person they love.

Profound social change starts in California, and does not end here. It influences the rest of the nation. Today’s decision means that Californians will extend the franchise of fairness to gay and lesbian couples who enter into the committed, loving relationship we call “marriage.” And this decision will take its rightful historic place alongside those that have formally recognized what we, as Americans, have always aspired to: a more perfect, more egalitarian union of free people, free to choose our destiny, including whom to marry. Read More »

Victory for Homeless Residents of Fresno
A U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of California has ruled that the City of Fresno’s practice of immediately seizing and destroying the personal possessions of homeless residents violates the constitutional right of every person to be free from unreasonable search and seizure. During oral argument on April 25, 2008, Judge Oliver W. Wanger declared that, “…the practice of announce, strike, seize [and] destroy immediately is against the law.” The class action lawsuit is brought by ACLU-NC, The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, and the firm of Heller, Ehrman, LLP. Read More »

FBI Withdraws Unconstitutional Nat'l Security Letter
The FBI has withdrawn an unconstitutional national security letter (NSL) issued to the Internet Archive after a legal challenge from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the American Civil Liberties Union. As the result of a settlement agreement, the FBI lifted the gag order associated with the NSL and agreed to the unsealing of the case, finally allowing the Archive’s founder and president to speak out for the first time about his battle against the surveillance demand. Read More »
Suit Protecting Native American Students Advances
The ACLU-NC’s class action lawsuit on behalf of Native American middle schoolers in the small town of Klamath advanced in April when a federal judge rejected the school district’s motion to have the suit dismissed. The ACLU-NC brought suit against the school district after it closed the sixth to eighth grades at the only school in the district where a majority of students are Native American children. The closure has meant that these students must be bused for approximately three hours, round-trip, to another school. Read More »