Legal Docket

In May and July of last year, the ACLU Foundations of California submitted requests under the California Public Records Act (CPRA) with the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department and the Anaheim Police Department, seeking documents related to the use of StingRays – highly invasive surveillance devices that allow law enforcement to track a suspect’s cell phone and, in the process, obtain a wide var... Read More

The ACLU Foundation of Northern California is asking Del Norte, Fresno, Mendocino, Tuolumne, Mariposa, Tulare, Madera, and Shasta counties to reverse their policies of requiring payment in advance of traffic court dates, or face possible legal action. These counties are currently withholding the right to contest a traffic citation until the fines and fees for the citation are paid in full. This pr... Read More

The ACLU Foundation of Northern California filed a religious-liberty lawsuit seeking injunctive relief to end the Fresno County Sheriff's policy that denies people held in Fresno County jails access to food that complies with their religious dietary restrictions. Read More

All adult Californians have a constitutional right to vote except while they are “imprisoned or on parole for conviction of a felony” or are mentally incompetent. But the California Secretary of State has expanded this exclusion to include people who are neither imprisoned nor on parole but are on new forms of community supervision created by California’s 2011 Criminal Justice Realignment Act. As ... Read More

The ACLU Foundation of Northern California sued a local school district so a Native American high school senior could display an eagle feather on his cap during the graduation ceremony for religious and spiritual reasons.

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A settlement in ACLU Foundation of Northern California's federal class action lawsuit sets new standards for the medical and mental health care provided to inmates in the Monterey County Jail. It will also expand accessibility for inmates with disabilities. Read More

The ACLU Foundation of Northern California filed suit against a public school district over abstinence-only-until-marriage sex education in it's high schools. The lawsuit charges that the district is violating California law and putting teens' health at risk by giving students misinformation and denying them critical instruction about condoms and contraception. Read More

ACLU Foundations of California amicus brief arguing that denying juveniles’ petitions for Prop 47 resentencing and reclassification relief incorrectly ignores the initiative’s legislative intent, violates juveniles’ equal protection rights, and results in harmful collateral consequences for these young people. Read More

The Calaveras County Board of Supervisors violated the California Constitution’s requirement that the government remain neutral on matters of religion when it passed a resolution recognizing a local Christian ministry for, among other things, its “advocacy and education” “to enlighten and strengthen the lives of women and young women in Calaveras County by inviting them to test and see for themsel... Read More

TSA employees at two different airports subjected Malaika Singleton to unreasonable, discriminatory searches of her hair within a week - because she is black. Read More

The ACLU Foundation of Northern California filed a lawsuit in federal court on Oct. 7, 2009 seeking to stop California's policy of mandating that DNA is collected from anyone arrested for a felony, whether or not they are ever charged or convicted. The policy is a result of Proposition 69, which was enacted by voters in 2004 and went into effect on Jan. 1, 2009. Under this new law, people who a... Read More

The ACLU filed a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act to compel the Federal Housing Finance Agency to provide details about the its relationship with the financial industry and its efforts to block municipalities from using eminent domain to prevent foreclosures. Read More