Archive

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

Today parents and physicians filed an update to the lawsuit against Clovis Unified School District, seeking permission from the court to add new information about how the district’s revised sex education is still out of compliance with California law. Last August the plaintiffs sued the district for violating the state’s comprehensive sex education law. The lawsuit was brought by two parents in th... Read More

The U.S. Supreme Court today rejected a request from the state of California for a stay of the federal court order that the state reduce its prison capacity to 137.5 percent of capacity.The following statement was issued this afternoon by the ACLU of California:"Today's Supreme Court ruling makes plain that state leaders can no longer avoid the urgent need to enact the kinds of reforms that will c... Read More

Many of us get a little nostalgic for high school sometimes: long summers off, overnight trips for sports competitions, pep rallies, and football games. For many, it brings back fond memories of a time with fewer responsibilities and a faster metabolism. But unfortunately, for some students, the memories they make in high school aren't so warm.Meet AshtonMeet Ashton, a 16-year-old who is an aspiri... Read More

The ACLU of Northern California today urged the Oakland City Council to put the brakes on a proposed $11 million surveillance center because it would enable the City to engage in widespread warrantless surveillance of Oakland residents. (Read our letter here.)The so-called Domain Awareness Center (DAC) would consolidate a vast network of surveillance data. It would pull in over 1,000 cameras and s... Read More

The feeling of freedom that comes from driving down California's sunny open roads is at risk—and rising gas prices are not to blame. Our investigations show that at least twenty Northern California law enforcement entities as well as the California Highway Patrol track the whereabouts of millions of Californians using automated license plate readers (ALPR), and some apparently even share rec... Read More

Download the Summer 2013 ACLU of Northern California Newsletter and read about our latest events and initiatives. Read More

As the mother of an African-American boy, the tragic, unnecessary death of Trayvon Martin and the trial and subsequent acquittal of George Zimmerman have me heartbroken and filled with unanswerable questions. Does this verdict mean that some people view my son's (or my husband's or my father's) life as disposable? And how do parents like me protect our sons from people whose perceptions, unconscio... Read More

As a black man living in Oakland, I'm not immune to racist policing. I've experienced it repeatedly. Fruitvale Station reminded that like Oscar Grant, I may never come home. Read More

I received an email from AT&T today. Did you? It turns out that AT&T is revising its privacy policy to make it "easier to understand" and by the way, also to let us know that they want us to pay them with our money and our privacy, too. Unless we opt out, the company is going to start selling information about where we go, what we search for, what apps we use, and what we watch, to other businesse... Read More