News

Today parents and physicians filed an update to the lawsuit against Clovis Unified School District, seeking permission from the court to add new information about how the district’s revised sex education is still out of compliance with California law. Last August the plaintiffs sued the district for violating the state’s comprehensive sex education law. The lawsuit was brought by two parents in th... Read More

Download the Summer 2013 ACLU of Northern California Newsletter and read about our latest events and initiatives. Read More

Oakland city officials yesterday announced that the City Council had taken initial steps toward approving a settlement of a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California and the National Lawyers Guild against the City of Oakland and the Oakland Police Department (OPD) for use of excessive force against Occupy Oakland Protestors in October and November 2011. Read More

The California State Senate Wednesday passed the School Success and Opportunity Act (Assembly Bill 1266), sending the bill that ensures transgender students have the opportunity to succeed in school to Gov. Jerry Brown for his signature. Authored by Assemblymember Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco), the bill passed the Senate with a 21-9 vote (unofficial). The bill passed the California State Assembly ... Read More

The Pentagon revealed plans today that will allow women to move into select combat positions following the repeal of the ban on women serving in combat units. Women will be able to start training for certain positions as soon as next month and will be required to meet the same physical and mental standards as men. Read More

Parents are asking the Clovis Unified School District to reject a proposed high school sex education curriculum, saying that it is inadequate and still contains dangerous misinformation about sexual health. The school board is scheduled to vote this evening on whether to adopt or reject the proposed curriculum. Read More

Today, the California Senate Education Committee passed AB 1266 (Ammiano), the School Success and Opportunity Act, a bill that provides crucial support for transgender students, by a vote of 5-2. The bill will ensure that California public schools understand their responsibility for the success and well-being of all students, including transgender students, and will allow transgender students to f... Read More

The California Assembly’s Committee on Public Safety approved a bill Tuesday that would reform California’s drug sentencing laws for simple possession, significantly reduce incarceration costs for counties and help the state end its ongoing incarceration crisis. S.B. 649, the Local Control in Sentencing Act, authored by Sen. Mark Leno, now moves to the full Assembly for consideration, the final hu... Read More

Today the California Assembly passed AB 154 – the Early Access to Abortion bill – by a vote of 48-24. The bill moves on to the state Senate. Authored by Assembly Majority Leader Toni Atkins, AB 154 would improve abortion access by authorizing nurse practitioners, certified nurse midwives, and physician assistants to perform early abortions safely within the terms of their licenses. Read More

San Francisco – Today the ACLU sued the FBI in a freedom of the press lawsuit on behalf of two editors at a libertarian online magazine. After learning that their Bay Area-based site, Antiwar.com, was the subject of FBI surveillance, Eric Garris and Justin Raimondo sought the documents the government had compiled on both them and the site. After a year, the FBI has failed to produce any ... Read More

The branches of the armed forces are expected to submit plans to the Department of Defense today describing how they will integrate women into combat positions following the repeal of the ban on women serving in combat units. The ACLU filed a lawsuit against the department last year challenging the combat ban on behalf of the Service Women's Action Network and four women who served in Iraq or Afgh... Read More

In a move that leads the nation in reducing barriers and expanding opportunities for voter registration, California’s Secretary of State, Debra Bowen, is designating the state’s new Health Benefit Exchange, Covered California, as a voter registration agency under the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA). In doing so, Covered California will reach millions of Californians who might not otherwise ... Read More