Blog

A State law that took effect in 2021 gave counties the authority to establish civilian oversight boards to assist supervisors in overseeing sheriffs’ offices. However, the law does not require counties to create civilian boards. That’s why the ACLU of Northern California is helping to educate community members about the fact that this law exists. And we are supporting individual counties that wish... Read More

Every year on Thanksgiving Day, people across the country gather with loved ones to share a special meal. This breaking-of-bread-style holiday is a well-known ritual, but for many of us, continuing to participate in Thanksgiving with integrity means breaking with traditions that rely on fictionalized accounts of history. Read More

For years, ACLU of Northern California has built momentum to ban the use of face surveillance by law enforcement. That’s why we put all our muscle behind a campaign to defeat AB 642, a bill that would have normalized real-time, mass surveillance. Read More

Fifty years ago a modern constitutional right to privacy was added to the state constitution. And for the last five decades, that right has helped to safeguard our homes, our families, our bodies, our thoughts, and our associations from invasion by government and corporate interests. Read More

In Christopher Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer,’ there is a scene where government agents creep outside a gathering of UC Berkeley-affiliated activists to write down the license plates of those parked outside the event. Instead of learning from this history, the City of Berkeley has taken a step towards repeating it.  Read More

The U.S. Supreme Court's affirmation of the Indian Child Welfare Act was a landmark victory for tribal sovereignty and Native families. But despite the law's protections, Native and Black children are much more likely to be removed from their homes and placed in foster care. The government must do more to support struggling families and help them stay together. Read More

Today we launched the California Immigration Detention Database, a new tool to track grievances that immigrants detained in California detention facilities have filed to seek resolutions to conditions of confinement issues. Through data captured in a publicly available, interactive chart, this database aims to document patterns of abuse in detention, and to serve as an advocacy tool. Read More

My name is Job, and I am a current high school junior in Los Angeles, California. Although we have the right in California to wear our tribal, religious, or cultural regalia at graduation, some schools still try to stop Indigenous highschoolers from doing so. Read More

Carlos Sauceda has the right to live in the U.S., but ICE won't let him return. Join the fight to bring Carlos home. Read More

Sixty years after a landmark Supreme Court case guaranteed the right to a free attorney for criminal defendants who can't afford a private lawyer, millions of low-income people are still being denied this basic constitutional right. Read More

How could San Francisco, a purported “progressive” city, authorize deadly police robots? And how do we stop this policy, or something similar, from returning? Read More

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