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An analysis of 2019 data collected under California’s Racial and Identity Profiling Act (RIPA) found that Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office deputies disproportionately stop Black people for traffic violations, a disturbing finding given the number of high-profile, tragic police killings of Black people during traffic stops. Read More

Today civil rights organizations sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission, urging the agency to investigate whether X (formerly Twitter) and Meta are providing surveillance companies that work with law enforcement special access to user data, contrary to the platforms’ official policies and public promises.  Read More

The ACLU of Northern California announced its strong opposition to the recall of Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price, the first Black woman DA in the county’s history. Read More

Since at least 2018, the Fresno City Council has had a Budget Committee that negotiated the city’s annual budget behind closed doors, violating California’s law on open public meetings and depriving the people of their fundamental right to transparency in local government. Read More

The new policy allows a defendant with an active arrest warrant to schedule an initial court appearance through their attorney regardless of their financial means. Someone who can’t afford bail must still appear at the jail for an informal booking. However they won’t be taken into custody. Once in court, a judge makes an individualized determination about whether that person should remain out of c... Read More

The ACLU of Northern California and the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area filed a brief opposing the city of San Francisco's request to reassign the Coalition on Homelessness case to a judge who handled a case regarding the city's response to street homelessness that was dismissed and closed three years ago. Read More

In August, the court asked San Francisco to identify how it has trained staff to ensure the city is following a preliminary injunction preventing it from illegally destroying unhoused residents’ property. The city's only training tool is a brief presentation that does not meaningfully explain the procedures public works employees must follow when handling people's belongings. Read More

- The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) systematically, and illegally, discriminates against immigrants, refugees, and anyone who prison officials suspect is born outside of the United States. Read More

During a hearing on the federal preliminary injunction prohibiting San Francisco from citing and arresting unhoused people who have no access to shelter, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals appeared to reject the city's argument that the injunction prevents San Francisco from maintaining a safe and healthy environment on the streets. The lawsuit, Coalition on Homelessness v. ... Read More

The ACLU of Northern California and the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area sent a letter to San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu asking him to discuss settlement terms that would prioritize developing affordable housing, expanding access to temporary shelter, and providing services to help unhoused San Franciscans get off the streets and back on their feet. Read More

In Santa Clara County, people who want to voluntarily appear in court to address an outstanding arrest warrant must first go to jail if they are too poor to post bail. The ACLU Foundation of Northern California and Criminal Defense Clinic at Stanford Law School have sued Santa Clara County Superior Court over this unconstitutional policy that results in an unequal system of justice. Read More