News

The decision could upend decades of established Supreme Court precedent, and reopen a definition of cruel and unusual punishment that protects all Americans from unconstitutional treatment in the criminal legal system. Read More

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a federal judge’s finding that San Francisco had likely violated the constitutional rights of homeless people thousands of times in recent years by criminalizing their existence. Read More

The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California opposes Proposition E, a measure on the March 2024 San Francisco ballot. Read More

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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