News

Today the American Civil Liberties Union of California released a policy brief, Civil Asset Forfeiture: Profiting from California’s Most Vulnerable, examining civil asset forfeiture abuse by California law enforcement agencies, a practice that greatly impacts communities of color and low-income Californians. Read More

On May 13, 2016 Gov. Jerry Brown released the May Revision to his proposed 2016-17 state budget. Read More

The ACLU and MergerWatch today released reports that reveal that one in six hospital beds in the U.S. is in a facility that prohibit a range of health care services even when a woman’s life or health is in jeopardy. Read More

The California Medical Association, representing more than 41,000 doctors, filed to join the ACLU’s suit against Dignity Health for using religious directives to deny patients basic reproductive health care. Read More

The ACLU of Northern California today asked the CA Department of Fair Employment and Housing to open a probe into a Fresno bar for civil rights violations after the bar refused service to two women who seemed to be the only Black people in the bar. Read More

A Fresno judge has ruled against the state of California in its effort to avoid responsibility for ensuring that people who can’t afford to hire their own lawyers are provided with effective counsel.The lawsuit filed by the ACLU of Northern California, the ACLU’s Criminal Law Reform Project, and Paul Hastings LLP against the state and Fresno County for violating defendants’ right to counsel, due p... Read More

With a 5-1 vote in the Senate’s Public Safety Committee today, Senator Mark Leno’s Senate Bill 1286 will advance in the California Legislature. The bill gives the public access to crucial information about how police departments handle the most serious uses of force and confirmed instances of officer misconduct. Read More

SACRAMENTO–Nearly two hundred ACLU members and allies rallied at the steps of the Capitol alongside state Senator Holly Mitchell (D-Los Angeles) today in support of legislation to curb police abuse in California, specifically Senate Bill 443 (Mitchell) and Senate Bill 1286 (Leno).“Police abuse can take many forms,” said Norma Chavez-Peterson, Executive Director of the ACLU of San Diego and Imperia... Read More

Media Contact for GSA Network: Brittaney Carter, Communications Manager, (415) 612‐2402, bcarter@gsanetwork.org(Clovis, CA, April 5, 2016) On Wednesday, April 6, the Clovis Unified School District Governing Board will convene to vote on removing gendered provisions of its student dress code. Tomorrow’s meeting follows a vote on January 27, 2016, where the Board unexpectedly kept in place an outdat... Read More

Download the Spring 2016 ACLU of Northern California Newsletter and read about our latest events and initiatives. Read More

This equation of anti-Semitism and “anti-Zionism” threatens free speech principles. In the area of free speech, clarity and specificity are essential to preserve the free flow of ideas. Read More

Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice urged local courts nationwide to put an end to policies that penalize people simply for being poor – including the practice of suspending driver’s licenses when individuals miss payments on fines. This practice is all too common in California traffic courts, and is not prevented by amnesty policies that went into place last year.Today, a coalition of legal... Read More