Archive

Insurmountable financial obstacles are key contributors to the rise in jail populations. For one, low-income defendants are often trapped by their inability to afford bail. Bail should not be used to punish people, and incarcerating people solely because they cannot pay for their release violates the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause. Read More

The debate over cell phone surveillance comes to the heart of Silicon Valley on Feb. 24, when the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors will consider a proposal to purchase a Stingray. Unfortunately, the public wasn't told about it. Read More

On Feb. 20, 2015, federal district court Judge Richard Seeborg denied a government motion to dismiss the ACLU's case challenging the U.S. government’s Suspicious Activities Reporting program, Gill v. Department of Justice. As we’ve written before, this program relies on local law enforcement, security guards, shopkeepers, and neighbors to report any "suspicious activities" they observe. Read More

I am not a distraction. I am a woman, and I shouldn't be fired for being who I am. That's why the ACLU filed a lawsuit on my behalf arguing that firing me because I am transgender is illegal sex discrimination. Read More

Former director of the ACLU of Northern California's Racial Justice Project, Michelle Alexander directed and coordinated the Project’s litigation, media, lobbying, and grassroots organizing work. Read More

Seven transgender women that we know of have been murdered in this country since 2015 started. At least five were women of color. It's a horrifying litany already, and it's only February. Read More

Less than a year after the ACLU released a pressing report on the dangerous militarization of American police, law enforcement agencies in California—including school police—continue to use military-grade equipment against the communities they are supposed to protect. Read More

The killing of Alex Nieto, and other black and brown males, such as Tamir Rice and Ezell Ford, seems all too familiar. But would Nieto and others of color still be alive if they were white? Read More

In the heart of the Central Valley, there is a dream that refused to die. In 1908, Colonel Allen Allensworth had a vision for an 800-acre plot of land in the Central Valley: to build a thriving Black community rooted in cultivating the dignity of the human spirit while creating a haven from discrimination. Read More

The ACLU of Northern California today filed a lawsuit against the county of Calaveras, charging the board of supervisors with passing a resolution last summer that unconstitutionally promotes one particular set of religious beliefs over all others. Read More