News

The ACLU today appealed a ruling that the government can collect the private records of three Twitter users as part of its investigation related to WikiLeaks. The ruling further held that the users cannot learn which other Internet companies were ordered to turn over information about them to the government. Read More

A U.S. District Court Judge ruled yesterday that the California Department of Transportation's equal opportunity program for contracting businesses can continue its mission to ensure that minority and women-owned businesses have equal ground to compete for federal stimulus funds and other federal contracts. Read More

Concerned Californians from across the region gathered at the State Capitol on Monday, March 21, to urge the California Legislature to protect critical social services – including education programs and drug treatment – by cutting the Corrections budget. One simple reform would free up $450 million dollars. That's the amount California taxpayers spend to lock up adults who were convicted of non-vi... Read More

Today, California Assemblymember Tom Ammiano will introduce a comprehensive bill that tackles school bullying by providing California schools with specific tools to prevent and address the pervasive problem in order to create a safe school environment for all students. Read More

The American Civil Liberties Union submitted testimony today for Representative Peter King's congressional "radicalization" hearing objecting to the House Homeland Security Committee's scrutiny of the American Muslim community and its level of cooperation with government anti-terrorism efforts. Read More

The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), Equality California, American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California (ACLU-NC) and Lambda Legal jointly filed an amicus brief on March 1 in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals asking the court to lift the temporary stay in the federal court challenge to Proposition 8. Read More

The ACLU of Northern California and Amnesty International USA will urge the San Francisco Police Commission at its meeting tonight to prioritize implementation of a new crisis intervention program instead of acquiring Tasers. Both groups point to the Commission's recent adoption of the "Memphis Model" of crisis intervention training for the police force as a crucial step that should be fully imple... Read More

Tenants will have the right to display political signs on any part of the premises of their rented homes or apartments if a bill, SB 337, introduced yesterday by Senator Christine Kehoe and backed by the ACLU passes in the California legislature and is signed by Governor Jerry Brown. Read More

In a letter to sheriffs, the ACLU of Northern California (ACLU-NC) called on sheriffs across California to cease costly and harmful practices that target immigrant communities. The call accompanies a report highlighting personal stories, cost data and proposals to protect public safety while reducing the fiscal and human costs of local enforcement practices that target immigrants. Read More

Today, the ACLU of Northern California posted new records handed over by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) on its global "secret mission" to acquire lethal injection drugs, as well as additional records provided by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). These new records come to light as Federal Judge Jeremy Fogel tours San Quentin's new execution chamber, built a... Read More

Today four groups announced the 2011 Develop for Privacy Challenge (www.develop4privacy.org), a new competition for mobile application developers to address privacy concerns surrounding mobile phones and other portable devices. Sponsoring the challenge are the ACLU of Northern California, the ACLU of Washington, and the Tor Project, with the assistance of the Ontario Information and Privacy Commis... Read More

In December, 2010, officials at a Sacramento-area high school suspended a student for posting to Facebook a message describing one of his teachers as a "fat ass who should stop eating fast food, and is a douche bag." But this week, officials at the school moved quickly to expunge the suspension after a lawyer from the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California put forth this civics less... Read More