Landmark Cases

Academy of Pediatrics vs. Lungren (1997)
The California Supreme Court strikes down the 1987 California law requiring teenagers under 18 to obtain parental or judicial consent to end a pregnancy.

ACLU v. NSA (2006)
The ACLU files a first-of-its-kind lawsuit claiming that the NSA's no-warrant wiretapping program is unconstitutional and that President Bush exceeded his authority by authorizing it.

Benitez v. Montoya (2005)
The Union City School District agrees to destroy all records collected in a “gang” sweep, and not to engage in racial profiling of students.

Bennett v. Livermore Unified School District (1987)
The California Court of Appeals rules that organized graduation prayers are not constitutional.

California First Amendment Coalition (CFAC) v. Calderon (1998)
Witnesses–including the media–are permitted to have full view of entire execution process.

Carpenter v. City and County of SF (1996)
The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rules that San Francisco's Mount Davidson Cross violates the No Preference Clause of the California Constitution.

Cheema v. Thompson (2006)
Baptized Sikh students are permitted to wear symbolic ceremonial knives to school.

Committee to Defend Reproductive Rights v. Myers (1981)
The California Supreme Court rules that the state cannot manipulate poor women's reproductive choices by funding childbirth but not abortion.

Conant v. Walters (1997)
Physicians and patients file a class action suit in response to Prop 215’s threat to punish doctors if they are found to be recommending medical marijuana to their patients.

Fierro v. Gomez (1992)
The State of California is prohibited from using the gas chamber to execute condemned prisoners.

Flores v. Morgan Hill Unified School District (2003)
A historic ruling holds that schools must take steps to eliminate harassment when they learn that lesbian, gay, or bisexual students are abused at school.

Hawaii - R.G., et al. v. Koller, et al. (2005)
Ruling requires policies to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth in juvenile correction facility.

In re Marriage Cases (2008)
On May 15, 2008, the California Supreme Court ruled that it is unconstitutional for the state to ban same-sex couples from civil marriage. The ACLU-NC and co-counsel represent a group of committed lesbian and gay couples as well as two non-profit organizations, Equality California and Our Family Coalition. Our co-counsel are the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Lambda Legal, Heller Ehrman LLP, and the Law Office of David C. Codell.

Johnson v. California (2005)
The Supreme Court says California's policy of separating incoming inmates by race must be halted unless state officials can show the policy is the only way to maintain safety and security.

Local 10, ILWU v. City of Oakland (2004)
The Oakland Police Department agrees to implement sweeping reforms to end the use of less lethal weapons against demonstrators.

McCoy v. Hearst Corp (1986)
The California Supreme Court establishes that the First Amendment requires a higher standard of proof and review to find libel, especially when the respondents are public figures.

Rodriguez v. CHP (2003)
Settlement in racial-profiling case establishes moratorium on California Highway Patrol consent searches.

Williams v. State of California (2005)
A Class-action lawsuit aimed at ensuring equal educational opportunity for all California children.

Yahoo v. La Ligue Contre le racisme et L'antisemitisme (2002)
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal rejects an attempt by the French courts to force Yahoo! to block French users' access to web pages that contain speech related to Nazism. The ACLU-NC filed an influential amicus brief in the case.