Blog

Comedian and actor David Moss fell into hard times with a drug addiction that immediately became a struggle he couldn’t overcome. Addiction had landed him in a cycle of arrests – not just one or two times, but a whopping 14 times for the same charge: being under the influence of a narcotic. Read More

Today marks the 37th anniversary of the Hyde Amendment, which in 1976 stripped poor women of Medicaid coverage for abortion, turning a legal right into something that is out of reach for many. Read More

Students in all of California’s public schools deserve at least these basic necessities for educational opportunity. The plaintiffs in the historic Williams v. California lawsuit fought for this principle, and on September 29, 2004, when legislation implementing the settlement agreement was signed into law, they helped to usher in a new era for public education in California. Read More

By all accounts Kyle Thompson is a typical kid from Michigan, but after a misunderstanding with his teacher, Kyle was led from school in handcuffs, was expelled and had to spend the year under house arrest. Read More

For years, we at the ACLU have been warning that the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative – a vast information sharing program that encourages the collection and sharing of “suspicious activity” among private parties and local, state and federal law enforcement – would lead to violations of our privacy, racial and religious profiling, and interference with constitutionally... Read More

Yesterday morning the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit heard oral argument in the ACLU of Northern California’s lawsuit with the Electronic Frontier Foundation against Proposition 35. I told the court that Proposition 35 is too broad and violates the First Amendment. As the federal district court has already held, it affects too much protected speech, on too many websites, by too many p... Read More

Oakland police are arresting school-age African American youth at shockingly high rates, contributing to a burgeoning education crisis for students of color, according to a new report released today by the Black Organizing Project, ACLU of Northern California, and Public Counsel. The report, "From Report Card to Criminal Record: The Impact of Policing Oakland Youth," reveals disturbing trends abou... Read More

Yesterday, the Education Department's Office of Civil Rights dismissed three complaints that had been filed against the University of California, on the grounds that the complaints were based on constitutionally protected speech. The complaints had alleged that the activities of students critical of Israel's policies had created a hostile environment for Jewish students at the Berkeley, Santa Cruz... Read More

The American Civil Liberties Union of California is encouraged by Sen. Darrell Steinberg's proposal, announced today, to reject Gov. Jerry Brown's call for prison expansion and to instead seek lasting solutions to California's overincarceration crisis that will also make our communities safer. As several members of the Senate Democratic Caucus acknowledged at a press conference this morning, mass ... Read More

It's been fifty years since the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, and 150 years after the Emancipation Proclamation. There are still many steps in this country's long march from slavery toward equality and racial justice.As we reflect on the legacy of the March on Washington, we also should remember that Dr. King didn't just have a dream, he also had a 17,000 page FBI file. Before... Read More

SB 397 would allow the California DMV to issue Enhanced Driver's Licenses embedded with computer chips called RFIDs that can be read from 30 feet away without your knowing. The country's largest electronics industry group warned against using this technology for security reasons. SB 397 lacks the basic safeguards necessary to protect our privacy and security. Enhanced Driver's Licenses just aren't... Read More

Taxpayers spend more on the criminal justice system than what it would cost to educate every young person in California. AB 420 addresses the school-to-prison pipeline and will keep more kids in front of a blackboard instead of behind bars. Read More