Archive

For more than 20 years, California has maintained a policy of denying financial support to babies born while their families are receiving CalWORKs basic needs grants for older siblings. This policy is known as the Maximum Family Grant (MFG) rule. The only exceptions are for reported rape and incest, and the failure of certain invasive, long-acting contraceptives.For the third consecutive year, the... Read More

Black women like Solange Knowles and lesser known individuals like Malaika Singleton, Ashanté Reese - and even myself - have been targeted wrongly by the TSA. Why? Because of our hair. Read More

The ACLU of Northern California and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) recently reached an agreement following a complaint submitted by the ACLU against unnecessary, unreasonable and racially discriminatory hair searches that single out black women at airports. Read More

San Francisco – An initial progress report released today by the Blue Ribbon Commission on Marijuana Policy, chaired by Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, identifies three key issues related to the possibility of legalizing, taxing and regulating marijuana for adults to which the commission has devoted significant research and analysis during the past 18 months.The report's release also signals the beginning ... Read More

Today the California Senate’s Committee on Public Safety approved the CA Electronic Privacy Act. CalECPA would require police to get a warrant before searching devices or digital data. Read More

Today, a federal judge issued an important ruling for government transparency and accountability. Now the FBI must disclose details about its surveillance of Muslim communities under the Freedom of Information Act according to the ruling. Read More

Recent news of racist and homophobic text messages exchanged by four SFPD officers is troubling, but what's worse is that we don't have a clear picture of how these prejudices actually play out on our streets. Read More

We are very pleased to announce that California Lawyer magazine has honored our own Julia Harumi Mass with a 2015 California Lawyer Attorney of the Year (CLAY) award! Read More

I was born and raised in LA, but sheriffs detained me because they didn’t believe I was an American. I've sued the LA Sheriff’s Department for detaining and harassing me for more than 14 hours after they should have released me. Read More

Today the Calaveras County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to repeal a resolution that promoted one particular religious belief over all others. The vote is a victory for the religious freedom of all Calaveras County residents. Read More