News

Amazon today announced a one-year moratorium on its sale of face recognition technology to law enforcement. The American Civil Liberties Union two years ago revealed that the company is secretly selling this technology to police, and has since led a coalition effort calling on the company to stop fueling police abuses and civil rights violations with the sale of this technology to law enforcement. Read More

This afternoon a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction in response to a class action legal challenge by immigrants detained at two California immigration detention centers where conditions are rife for the spread of COVID-19. Read More

The California Court of Appeal ruled that the Department of Motor Vehicles cannot suspend the licenses of drivers who fail to appear in court unless the DMV receives a notification of a willful failure to appear. Read More

Today, the ACLU Foundation of Northern California sent a letter to the counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo, and Napa as well as the cities of Palo Alto and San Francisco, demanding that they immediately rescind or substantially restrict the curfew orders that they imposed over the last three days. These sweeping measures, allowing police to arrest anyone outside from the early evening hou... Read More

Santa Cruz Mayor Cummings and Police Chief Mills are hosting an online community meeting to discuss police policies in the wake of national protests over the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and many others at the hands of the police. Read More

Today, Governor Newsom issued an executive order to ensure that Californians can exercise their right to vote in a safe, secure and accessible manner during the upcoming election. Read More

The slew of hastily announced “curfews” enacted in cities across California lack clarity as to their scope and duration. This is the wrong way to handle disruptions to what have been otherwise peaceful protests, and they are far broader than necessary to address any problems that have arisen or may arise. Read More

Today, the ACLU Foundation of Northern California filed a class action lawsuit to compel Alameda County Sheriff Gregory Ahern to release all medically vulnerable people in custody at Santa Rita or in rare circumstances transfer them to home confinement. Three of our plaintiffs are inmates who suffer from respiratory illnesses and hypertension – chronic medical conditions that the CDC says make t... Read More

Today, the ACLU Foundation of Northern California prevailed in obtaining a unanimous California Supreme Court opinion that will help ensure that access to electronic records, such as police body camera footage, is not dependent on the requester’s wealth. Read More

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The California Supreme Court today rejected a lawsuit that would have forced the governor to halt the transfer of individuals from state prisons and county jails to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers that are potential death traps due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Read More

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