News

The American Civil Liberties Union of California and the law firm Morrison & Foerster LLP today announced they would dismiss a class action lawsuit filed against the state of California on behalf of public school students who had been charged fees as a condition of taking academic courses. The announcement follows Gov. Jerry Brown’s Saturday signing of Assembly Bill 1575 (AB 1575), a bill authore... Read More

One year after the implementation of California's historic prison realignment plan, the state has failed to adopt the kinds of reforms necessary to ensure its success and a lasting reduction both in the number of people behind bars and recidivism rates, the American Civil Liberties Union of California said in a new assessment released today. Read More

Today attorneys for 21 UC Davis students and recent alumni announced the details of their settlement of the federal class-action lawsuit against UC Davis over the shocking incident in which campus police repeatedly doused seated, non-violent student demonstrators with military grade pepper spray at close range. The lawsuit charged that the police violated state and federal constitutional protectio... Read More

Several of the state’s leading reproductive rights groups applauded Governor Brown for signing SB 623, an important bill authored by Senator Christine Kehoe (D-San Diego) that will allow the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), to continue evaluating the safety, effectiveness and satisfaction rates of early abortions performed by nurse practitioners, certified nurse midwives, and physic... Read More

On Sep. 19, 2012, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will rehear the ACLU of Northern California's federal class-action challenge to a California law that mandates that DNA is collected from anyone arrested on suspicion of a felony, whether or not they are ever charged or convicted. The oral argument is scheduled for 10am in Courtroom 1 at the James R. Browning US Courthouse in San Francisco. Read More

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of California today announced its endorsement of Proposition 30, the Schools and Local Public Safety Protection Act. Read More

Parents and physicians sued the Clovis Unified School District today over its high school abstinence-only-until-marriage sex education. The lawsuit charges that the district is violating California law and putting teens’ health at risk by teaching students misinformation and denying them critical instruction about condoms and contraception. The textbook that Clovis Unified uses for high school sex... Read More

Major civil rights organizations have reached a settlement agreement with the Dinuba Unified School District (DUSD) to ensure that young English learners have an equal chance to succeed. The agreement, which was finalized at a school board meeting last week, comes as the result of a lawsuit filed in May by Dinuba parents and teachers. The plaintiffs are represented by the ACLU of Southern Californ... Read More

The San Diego U.S. Attorney is treading dangerous legal ground with a legal opinion that seems to be threatening Del Mar city employees with prosecution if they comply with an ordinance on medical marijuana up for a vote in November. In a letter sent today, the ACLU of California called on Laura Duffy, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California, to assure voters that the federal govern... Read More

Download the Summer 2012 ACLU of Northern California Newsletter and read about our latest events and initiatives. Read More

Yesterday afternoon, the California State Senate approved the TRUST Act (AB 1081-Ammiano) with a vote of 21-13. Assemblymember Tom Ammiano is the bill's author; Sen. Kevin de León served as floor manager for the vote and presented the bill to the Senate. Read More

California’s budget negotiations are an exercise in high stakes tradeoffs. And as legislators accept deep cuts to education and the safety net, the ACLU is challenging Californians to acquire a real-time sense of how the state’s bottom line would fare if prisons and jails were placed at the center of the chopping block. Read More