Archive

In a late-night raid in April 1852, three formerly enslaved black men who had built a lucrative business hauling mining supplies during the California Gold Rush, were rousted from their cabin by armed white men. They were forcibly taken before a justice of the peace in Sacramento County who ordered them deported to their former “owner,” a white man in Mississippi. Read More

SACRAMENTO — A partial company list published today in an expose by Buzzfeed confirms that Immigration and Customs Enforcement and at least one California law enforcement agency have teamed up with Clearview AI to run people’s faces against the company’s shadily-assembled database of billions of photos. In fact, according to Buzzfeed, ICE agents have run more than 8,000 searches from about 60 acco... Read More

SAN FRANCISCO – Under a proposed settlement announced today between the California Department of Transportation (“Caltrans”) and a class of homeless people whose property was taken by Caltrans crews in sweeps of their encampments, Caltrans will establish a $1.3 million fund to compensate people for the loss of property that was destroyed in the sweeps. In addition, Caltrans will be required to ado... Read More

SAN FRANCISCO – The City of San Francisco has agreed to financially compensate seven black men and women who were purportedly arrested for selling small amounts of drugs by the San Francisco Police Department, which targeted them for federal criminal prosecution because of their race, while ignoring people of other races engaged in the same activity. In a $225,000 settlement, the City of San Fr... Read More

In the last few weeks, a company called Clearview has been in the news for marketing a reckless and invasive facial recognition tool to law enforcement. The company claims the tool can identify people in billions of photos nearly instantaneously. And Exhibit A in support of their claim to law enforcement that their app is accurate? An “accuracy test” that Clearview boasts was modeled on the ACLU’s... Read More

SAN FRANCISCO — As the ACLU celebrates 100 years of landmark civil rights work nationwide, the ACLU of Northern California is simultaneously releasing the digital archives of our membership newsletter, in partnership with the California Historical Society. This treasure trove of civil liberties history, including every issue of the ACLU News newsletter dating back to 1936, will now be digitally... Read More

As we approach the 47th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade, we have much to be proud of in California. While states around the country pass laws banning or restricting access to abortion, California enacted a landmark law last year, requiring public universities to provide medication abortion at their student health centers. California has the distinction of being the onl... Read More

SACRAMENTO — The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Northern California along with its other California affiliates, and the law firms Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP and Paul Hastings LLP have settled a lawsuit brought against the State of California and Fresno County. The settlement is a considerable step toward ensuring that the Sixth Amendment right to counsel is upheld throughout all of C... Read More

In March of 2018, two Bay Area fathers who had been detained for over six months at the Contra Costa West County Detention Facility in Richmond, California sued the federal government in a class action lawsuit challenging their unlawful and prolonged detention. Complaint is here.  On June 5, 2018, a federal judge ruled that people who have been detained under 8 U.S.C. 1231(a)(6) cannot be held ... Read More

It's vital to know how your state legislature operates in order to hold your elected officials accountable in an effective manner. Read More