Archive

Panhandling is not a crime
News

Lawsuit Charges that Sacramento County’s Anti-Panhandling Ordinance is Unconstitutional

Jul 17, 2014
The ACLU of Northern California and the Law Office of Mark E. Merin today charged that an ordinance adopted in May by the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors banning panhandling is unconstitutional. A lawsuit filed today in U.S District Court for the Eastern District of California in Sacramento on behalf of the Sacramento Homeless Organizing Committee and two individuals alleges the ordinance v... Read More
Censored ads
Blog

This is What Censorship Looks Like

Jul 15, 2014
A black canvas near Gate 18 in the Sacramento airport’s Terminal B sits in place of a billboards intended to promote healthcare access for immigrants in California. Why? The airport has refused to use the original ads, claiming that they are too political in nature.That, my friends, is exactly what censorship looks like.We all know immigration is a hot topic and that both sides of the debate have ... Read More
Rainbow swash
Blog

An FBI Counterterrorism Agent Tracked Me Down Because I Took a Picture of This

Jul 11, 2014
My name is James Prigoff. I am 86 years old and a retired senior corporate executive. I am also a professional photographer – in fact, I have been a photographer for most of my life. My specialty is photographing murals, graffiti art, and other community public art. Why have my artistic pursuits landed me in a national database potentially linking me to "terrorist" activities? Read More
Case

The Sacramento County Airport and the California Endowment

Jul 11, 2014
The Sacramento International Airport features a wide range of amenities including various restaurants and shops, art displays, and a massage bar. The airport also rents scores of display cases for advertising throughout the terminals, including both static and multi-media displays. One of the advertisement cases is rented by the California Endowment, a non-profit foundation that seeks to expa... Read More
Blog

Why ENDA Doesn’t Cut It for the ACLU

Jul 11, 2014
One year ago Matthew Barrett was offered a job as a food services director at Fontbonne Academy, a college prep high school in Milton, Mass. With 20 years of work in the food services industry, Matthew was clearly well qualified. Read More
SAR photo
News

Lawsuit Challenges Government’s ‘Suspicious Activity Report’ Program

Jul 10, 2014
Civil rights groups filed a lawsuit today on behalf of five Americans who had their information entered into federal law enforcement databases for innocent things like taking pictures, buying computers, or standing in a train station, and were then subjected to investigation. The American Civil Liberties Union of California, the national ACLU, and Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Asian Law Caucus... Read More