Archive

Grants Pass v. Johnson involves an Oregon town that passed ordinances barring people from sleeping outside in public using a blanket, pillow, or even a cardboard sheet to lie on. Last year, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that criminally punishing unhoused people violates the Eighth Amendment “if there are no other public areas or appropriate shelters where those individuals can sleep.” Read More

Acta Valores de California (SB 54) garantiza que no se utilicen recursos estatales o locales para ayudar a hacer cumplir la ley de inmigración federal. La ley entró en vigor en enero de 2018. Read More

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A federal district court issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting the San Francisco Sheriff’s Office (SFSO) from requiring that individuals agree to unconstitutional “four-way” searches and GPS location data-sharing as conditions of pretrial release on electronic monitoring absent a court order. Read More

Automatic license plate readers collect and store highly sensitive information that can reveal where we work, live, worship, or seek reproductive health services. Sharing any ALPR information with out-of-state or federal law enforcement agencies has been forbidden in California since 2016. Read More

Companies and legislators are using misleading test scores to justify the expansion of facial recognition into our communities. That flawed approach understates the threat this dangerous technology poses to civil rights. Read More

In a brief filed in federal district court, plaintiffs in Coalition on Homelessness v. City of San Francisco argued that the case should proceed while the U.S. Supreme Court reviews Grants Pass v. Johnson. Read More

This guide is designed to assist people detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) who do not have a lawyer to complete and file a “petition for writ of habeas corpus.” Read More

Although one of thirteen claims directly builds on the findings in the Grants Pass case, the San Francisco lawsuit also deals with separate issues affecting unhoused individuals including the City’s destruction of property and failure to make reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities. Read More

The decision could upend decades of established Supreme Court precedent, and reopen a definition of cruel and unusual punishment that protects all Americans from unconstitutional treatment in the criminal legal system. Read More