
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.
Your Rights with an AB 60 Driver’s License
Jan 15, 2015
In 2013, Governor Jerry Brown signed the bill to that allows all eligible Californians to apply for a driver’s license, regardless of immigration status. AB 60 means that our friends, brothers, sisters, parents, and neighbors will be able to drive without fear of having their cars impounded, being ticketed, or left stranded by the side of the road for not having a license.
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Should Cops Watch Video Footage Before Writing Reports?
Jan 13, 2015
A police officer wearing a body camera shoots a civilian. Afterwards, the officer has to write up a report about the incident. Should the officer be able to view the footage captured by his body camera (or other cameras) before he writes his initial report?
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Cybersecurity Doesn’t Have to Mean Sacrificing Privacy
Jan 13, 2015
Are our work emails, our medical records, and our financial information safe online, or have we been leaving our digital doors unlocked? What will President Obama propose to keep our digital world secure?
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Remembering Al Bendich
Jan 12, 2015
Al Bendich was a young ACLU lawyer in 1957 when he argued the landmark "Howl" case, winning free speech for poet Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti, owner of City Lights bookstore.
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ACLU Responds to Excessive Force Used on Protesters
Jan 12, 2015
Some of the most vigorous and sustained "Black Lives Matter" protests took place in Oakland and Berkeley. While some law enforcement response was called for, there were disturbing signs of a familiar pattern - the use of excessive force against demonstrators.
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Trans TV Show Wins a Golden Globe, Fails to Represent Community
Jan 12, 2015
When the Amazon series Transparent won the Golden Globe award for best comedy series, it was a big deal, but it wasn't enough. With one exception, there were no people of color representing the trans community and no trans women receiving acting awards for playing trans roles.
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Suspicious Activity Reports Go to Court
Jan 09, 2015
Yesterday a federal judge in the Northern District of California held a hearing to determine whether our lawsuit challenging the U.S. government’s domestic surveillance program could proceed.
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Does the Americans with Disabilities Act Apply to Cops?
Jan 08, 2015
People with disabilities face violent and deadly consequences when law enforcement does not take disabilities into account. It is not okay to take a deaf person down for failing to follow verbal orders. It is not okay to attack someone with autism because he is slow to respond to instruction. It is not okay to treat a woman with a mental disability as if she were a dangerous criminal.
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Fort Bragg School District Must Reverse “I Can’t Breathe” Shirt Ban
Dec 29, 2014
Today, we sent a letter to the Fort Bragg Unified School District asking that the District immediately reverse its policy banning participants and spectators at the holiday basketball tournament from wearing t-shirts that say “I Can’t Breathe.”
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Victory! Catholic School Held Accountable for Sex Discrimination
Dec 23, 2014
Emily Herx never imagined that she could lose her job for trying to get pregnant. But after working for more than seven years as a literature and language arts teacher at a Catholic school in Indiana, she was shocked to learn that her teaching contract would not be renewed: All because the in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment she was undergoing in an attempt to have a second child made her a "gr...
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Why Can't I Use the Boys' Bathroom at School?
Dec 22, 2014
My family contacted the ACLU and is working with them to file a complaint with the Department of Justice in order to make Gloucester High School safer and more inclusive to transgender youth while hopefully encouraging other local schools to do the same.
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