Archive

Throughout California, thousands of people are not allowed to vote because they are on parole for such statutory felonies as drug offenses and shoplifting. And while African-Americans constitute less than 7% of California's adult population, in 2006 they were approximately 28% of all those disenfranchised as a result of being in prison or on parole for a felony. The ACLU Foundation of Northern Cal... Read More

"Death by Geography" reviews the death-sentencing practices, public safety records, and spending practices of the 24 most populous California counties. The report reveals that while the vast majority of California counties have largely abandoned execution in favor of simply sentencing people to die in prison, just 10 counties continue to aggressively pursue executions, accounting for nearly 85 pe... Read More

"The Hidden Death Tax" is a comprehensive report on the costs of California’s death penalty, analyzing for the first time records of actual costs in California death penalty trials.  The report demonstrates that while California tax payers spend well over $100 million every year on the death penalty, it is unclear just how much money is being spent. At the post-conviction level, California taxp... Read More

'tis the season for private browsing, or so it seems. Apple's Safari Web browser led the pack in introducing a "private browsing mode" in 2005; in recent months, the other browsers on the market have finally followed suit, with Google's recently-released Chrome and beta versions of Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Internet Explorer adding similar features.What does "private browsing" mean, however? F... Read More

Seeking to address years-long delays in the processing of citizenship applications, the ACLU Foundation of Northern California and other civil rights organizations filed a class-action lawsuit against the federal government for its violation of the Constitution and federal law. Ahmadi v. Chertoff sought to enforce federal laws that require the government to decide a citizenship application within ... Read More

The San Francisco Superior Court today struck down a state law requiring that low-income working women must have resided in California for at least six months before they can be eligible to receive prenatal and other medical care services through California's Access for Infants and Mothers (AIM) insurance program. Read More

The San Francisco Superior Court today struck down a state law requiring that low-income working women must have resided in California for at least six months before they can be eligible to receive prenatal and other medical care services through California's Access for Infants and Mothers (AIM) insurance program. Read More

On Dec. 16, 2008, the San Francisco Superior Court struck down a state law requiring that low-income working women must have resided in California for at least six months before becoming eligible to receive prenatal and other medical care services through California's Access for Infants and Mothers (AIM) insurance program. Read More

The ACLU of Northern California (ACLU-NC), in cooperation with national law firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, has filed a lawsuit on behalf of students in the Shasta Union High School District, challenging the District’s newly adopted random and suspicionless drug testing policy. In August 2008 the District adopted a policy requiring that all students who participate in non-athletic compet... Read More

The Berkeley City Council has adopted a resolution calling on the District Attorney of Alameda County to stop pursuing the death penalty and to focus instead on investing public resources in solving homicides, preventing violence, and expanding public safety programs. Read More