Blog
We can be pretty sure that each new day will bring two things: new threats to our civil liberties, and new stories of people standing up for their rights and winning. Behind every court ruling is a person. Behind every landmark law is a movement. Read the stories and hear the voices that ground our work.
Victory! California Senate Tells Cops to Get a Warrant
Jun 03, 2015
The California Senate on June 3, 2015 took a powerful stand for privacy, voting overwhelmingly to approve the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act (CalECPA).
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Call Her Caitlyn - Not Your Typical Trans Story
Jun 01, 2015
Today Caitlyn Jenner introduced herself to the world in a fabulous Vanity Fair spread. “Call me Caitlyn,” she tells the public in this latest cover story and through her recently launched @Caitlyn_Jenner Twitter handle. It is important that people do actually call her Caitlyn.
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ACLU on the Oakland Protest Curfew: Let the People March
May 29, 2015
Across the country communities are rising up to protest police violence and to assert that Black Lives Matter. We stand in solidarity with #BlackLivesMatter and with the recent #SayHerName demonstrations about police violence against Black women.In a powerful and inspiring recent display of non-violent civil disobedience, Black women blocked traffic in downtown San Francisco during the morning rus...
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New Bill Will Strengthen Sex Education in California
May 29, 2015
The California Healthy Youth Act (AB 329), by Assemblymember Shirley Weber, will update and strengthen existing requirements for HIV prevention education and sexual health education to ensure that students receive education that is accurate, comprehensive, and inclusive.
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A Plug-and-Play Model Policy for Police Body Cameras
May 21, 2015
A growing chorus of elected officials, law enforcement, and community leaders settled on an answer to the senseless deaths of unarmed people of color at the hands of law enforcement: body cameras. And one in four police agencies have already started using them.
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California’s Death Penalty: All Cost, No Justice
May 20, 2015
Since the death penalty was reinstated in California in 1978, taxpayers have spent over $4 billion to prop up the defunct system. There are currently 750 men and women on death row. Most die of old age, not execution. We hope that California’s leaders will finally tackle this monstrous problem and replace the death penalty with life in prison without the possibility of parole.
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CA Chief Justice Agrees: Traffic Courts Can’t Charge Fees in Advance of Trial
May 19, 2015
Across California, traffic courts are withholding the right to contest a traffic citation until the fines and fees for the citation are paid in full. This unfair practice violates constitutional guarantees of due process and unfairly impacts low-income people. But now there’s been an exciting development that could put an end to this practice once and for all. Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye has dire...
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Can We Legalize Marijuana and Keep Our Kids Safe?
May 19, 2015
Today, the Blue Ribbon Commission on Marijuana Policy will host a public forum in Oakland, on the need to protect the health and well-being of youth if marijuana is legalized, taxed, and regulated in California.
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VICTORY! Clergy Can’t be Shut Out of Immigration Court Anymore
May 15, 2015
Building security at the San Francisco Immigration Court was forbidding pastors, who participated in the peaceful vigils outside the court, from accompanying families to their immigration court hearings in what we saw as blatant retaliation, even though both activities are strongly protected by the First Amendment. This carried with it serious constitutional implications and took an emotional toll...
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TSA Makes Improvements to Get Out of Hairy Mess
May 13, 2015
Earlier this year, I shared my experiences and that of my client, Malaika Singleton, Ph.D. In my case, a TSA agent suddenly grabbed by hair without any warning and squeezed it from top to bottom after I had passed through the advanced imaging technology (AIT) body scanner at the airport. But this did not happen to me just once. In fact, I was selected for hair pat-downs during three out of four tr...
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A Mother’s Wish: Dignity for My Black Son
May 08, 2015
Another unarmed black person will soon be killed by the police. Take a stand for police reform in CA. Every mother deserves safety for her children - no matter their skin color.
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VICTORY! Santa Clara County Abandons Plans to Purchase a Stingray
May 06, 2015
We just learned that Santa Clara County will not be moving forward to purchase an invasive Stingray mobile tracking system.
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