Blog

Remembering Aileen Hernandez, the first woman appointed to the Equal Employment Opportunity Council, co-founder of the National Organization for Women and its second president, and the vice chairperson of the ACLU’s National Advisory Council. Read More

The Departments of Justice and Education just rescinded Obama-era guidance clarifying that trans students are federally protected from discrimination under Title IX. Here's what you should know. Read More

Donald Trump told the American public, repeatedly, that upon taking office his policy agenda will include efforts to identify and immediately deport millions of undocumented immigrants, to track and surveil Muslims throughout the country, and to push for even more aggressive policing against communities of color. He may play fast and loose with facts, but when it comes to his&n... Read More

What is America? From its beginning it has always been a painful paradox, a country founded on violent dehumanization but proclaiming the highest ideals of human kinship. As generations have before us, today millions join together to make it what it must become. Read More

Trump didn’t appear to know that Douglass died 132 years ago. Read More

Last weekend, I was flooded by email and text messages from people contacting me both for legal help for their families stranded at airports and from people contacting me to find out how they can help. Being Iranian-American and working at the ACLU, the incoming messages came from both those worlds that are integral to my life.As we roll up our sleeves for the work ahead, I want to thank the count... Read More

It was 75 years ago that President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 which began the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. Tens of thousands of American citizens were declared dangerous to domestic security and forced to go to internment camps in isolated areas across the Western United States.It’s a time that holds special meaning here at the ACLU of Northern Ca... Read More

January 30 is Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution, established by the California legislature in 2010 to commemorate the ACLU of Northern California’s client who was interned during World War II. Read More

Everyone has a right to safe, clean, affordable drinking water. And the news this week means we’re going to have to shout it from the rooftops. Water is life. Water is a human right.One of Donald Trump’s first actions as president was to issue an executive order to violate the  water rights of the Standing Rock Sioux and advance the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. In the words of ... Read More

When Donald Trump takes the oath of office, he will inherit an unprecedented surveillance state that includes expansive powers and databases filled with information on millions of people. Read More

Fifty-five years ago this January, the ACLU of Northern California was busy filling orders from across the country for copies of its recently produced film, “Operation Correction.” The film was a response to a piece of Red Scare propaganda, “Operation Abolition,” which was produced by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and depicted civil liberties activists in San Francisco as viole... Read More

Finding affordable housing is tough. Finding affordable housing when you’re returning home after serving time is nearly impossible. Last night, the Richmond City Council passed a historic law to protect the rights of people who are re-entering society and find themselves excluded from housing opportunities because of their criminal record.  Many people who have been convicted of a crime fa... Read More