Blog

We've seen a wave of voter suppression laws across the country in recent years, which many have rightly characterized as a cynical attempt by politicians to manipulate the rules of the game.Yesterday, however, we heard directly from voters in three states, who overwhelmingly voted in favor of a system free from barriers, fairly administered, and equally accessible to all.Montanans faced a ballot m... Read More

It appears the Federal Aviation Administration may have fallen into the "constitutional sinkhole" that is Ferguson, Missouri. Earlier this week, the Associated Press released an alarming set of documents revealing the FAA's decision to approve a no-fly zone over Ferguson – a no-fly zone requested by local police in order to muzzle media coverage of protests in the wake of the killing of unarmed bl... Read More

As the 2014 California legislative session came to an end, you may have seen headlines about California passing a “first-in-the-nation law.” While these headlines covered issues such as the statewide plastic-bag ban, they also applied to landmark civil liberties and civil rights legislation sponsored by the ACLU of California. Read More

Accessing medicine prescribed by a doctor should never be a crime, but Shasta County’s Measure A would make some medical marijuana cultivation a misdemeanor offense. Sick people should not be criminalized for their efforts to grow the medicine necessary to deal with the pain of debilitating diseases. Read More

Filmmaker Laura Poitras, director of CITIZENFOUR, met with Anthony Romero, ACLU executive director, to discuss her film, the surveillance state, and Edward Snowden. Read More

California leaders have concluded another legislative session bringing significant new rights and opportunities to the state's 10 million immigrants. Read More

Today the ACLU, along with a coalition of partner organizations, went to Facebook to urge it to fix its flawed “real name” policy and provide users meaningful due process.During that meeting Facebook apologized for the harm that the current policy has caused users, especially those in the LGBTQ community, and promised to improve its reporting, enforcement, and appeals processes.This is an importan... Read More

Today the ACLU is joining a broad coalition at Facebook’s headquarters and urging the social network to allow users to speak in their chosen voice by fixing its flawed “real name” policy. Read More

When students at Glendale Unified School District learned through news reports last year that their Facebook and other social media accounts were being monitored by the district through a third-party company known as Geo Listening, students and parents were shocked, and so were we. Many saw the monitoring as invading student privacy and chilling off-campus speech. In response, Assembly Member M... Read More

California had the chance to be a leader in requiring police to get a warrant to use surveillance technology. But Gov. Brown vetoed a bill, AB 1327, that would have done just that for police drones.This is a big disappointment and Gov. Brown missed the mark with this veto.AB 1327 would have provided basic statewide protections against abuse by police drones. Without it, cities and counties are lef... Read More

ACLU of Northern California report confirms Latino community's experience with racial profiling by California Highway Patrol in Fresno County. Read More

On a visit to the ACLU office in San Francisco, my sons Cyrus and Juno, age 11 and 7, stood in the hallway. Come in my office, I asked them. But they wouldn’t budge. I stepped back in the hallway to see what had their attention. It was the giant “Banned Books” poster mounted on the wall. On the poster are some of their favorite books, including A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein. Read More