Archive

Yesterday, the Education Department's Office of Civil Rights dismissed three complaints that had been filed against the University of California, on the grounds that the complaints were based on constitutionally protected speech. The complaints had alleged that the activities of students critical of Israel's policies had created a hostile environment for Jewish students at the Berkeley, Santa Cruz... Read More

The American Civil Liberties Union of California is encouraged by Sen. Darrell Steinberg's proposal, announced today, to reject Gov. Jerry Brown's call for prison expansion and to instead seek lasting solutions to California's overincarceration crisis that will also make our communities safer. As several members of the Senate Democratic Caucus acknowledged at a press conference this morning, mass ... Read More

It's been fifty years since the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, and 150 years after the Emancipation Proclamation. There are still many steps in this country's long march from slavery toward equality and racial justice.As we reflect on the legacy of the March on Washington, we also should remember that Dr. King didn't just have a dream, he also had a 17,000 page FBI file. Before... Read More

SACRAMENTO – Today the California Senate passed AB 154 – the Early Access to Abortion bill – by a vote of 25-11. The bill will soon move to Gov. Brown. Authored by Assembly Majority Leader Toni Atkins (D-San Diego), AB 154 would improve abortion access across the state for women who need it. The bill would authorize trained nurse practitioners, certified nurse midwives, and physician assistants to... Read More

SB 397 would allow the California DMV to issue Enhanced Driver's Licenses embedded with computer chips called RFIDs that can be read from 30 feet away without your knowing. The country's largest electronics industry group warned against using this technology for security reasons. SB 397 lacks the basic safeguards necessary to protect our privacy and security. Enhanced Driver's Licenses just aren't... Read More

Today, 51 leading legal scholars issued a detailed letter to California Governor Jerry Brown regarding the TRUST Act, a bill that seeks to limit deportations and rebuild community confidence in law enforcement.In the letter, the experts urge the Governor to uphold a key feature of the bill as currently written by ensuring that prior brushes with the nation's broken immigration system do not cause ... Read More

Taxpayers spend more on the criminal justice system than what it would cost to educate every young person in California. AB 420 addresses the school-to-prison pipeline and will keep more kids in front of a blackboard instead of behind bars. Read More

California must follow the Attorney General’s lead. We must abandon the failed and costly policies of the past that have left far too many people locked up for far too long who don’t need to be kept behind bars to keep our families and communities safe. Now is the time to focus on front end sentencing reforms, especially for low-level, nonviolent drug crimes, that will reduce wasteful spending on ... Read More

On Aug. 12, 2013, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed the historic School Success and Opportunity Act into law, ensuring transgender youth have the opportunity to fully participate and succeed in schools across the state. Assembly Bill 1266—which goes into effect on January 1, 2014—was authored by Assemblymember Tom Ammiano and passed the California State Senate and Assembly earlier this summer. Th... Read More

Solitary confinement completely isolates immigration detainees: They are generally confined to a small jail cell for twenty-three hours a day, with little to no human contact, and a slot in the door through which officers pass their meals. In some Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities, their one hour of daily “rec” time takes place in a human-size cage or in a narrow concrete yard o... Read More