Blog

Rap lyrics are protected free speech under the First Amendment. But all too often in trial after trial of Black men, prosecutors introduce this form of artistic expression to secure convictions for serious crimes carrying long prison sentences. Simply put, rap is unfairly seen in the courts, not as an art form, but as inherently incriminating evidence. Read More

Scanning QR codes instead of ordering from a physical menu is a way for companies to insert all the machinery of the online advertising ecosystem between you and your food. Read More

Tech companies and police forces would like us to believe that there is nothing we can do to stop harmful surveillance technologies like face recognition. We reject that narrative. Read More

The ACLU News archive, dating back to 1945, documents the various forms of legalized housing discrimination leveled at Black people in Northern California, and also charts severe backlash to progress, whenever it was made. It provides a snapshot of the ways that businesses, the state, and individuals partnered to exclude Black people from the accumulation of wealth through dispossession and the de... Read More

Pride began as a protest against police brutality. Fifty-two years ago today, transgender women of color led an uprising against the New York Police Department following its violent raid of the Stonewall Inn. According to journalist Dick Leitsch, who has been identified as one of the first to report on the events at Stonewall after witnessing them first-hand, the uprising came on the heels of poli... Read More

We must continue the fight to ensure that Floyd’s death has not been in vain. We renew our commitment to overhauling the role of policing in American society—in the memory of Floyd, and in the memory of the incalculable other Black lives lost to police violence. Read More

The ACLU of Northern California salutes two of our movement partners Ms. Janetta Johnson of the TGI Justice Project and Janelle Luster of Trans Heartline. These fierce, unapologetic Black trans women have been visionary leaders in the fight against the over-policing of their community. Read More

As most Californians become eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, California is rightly centering equity in distributing doses to communities that have been hardest hit. But our analysis of the state’s most recent plans suggests that the Department of Public Health’s vaccine-distribution algorithm may fall short, leaving millions of the neediest Californians without additional supply. Read More

Get out of town, or we’ll bury you in debt and seize your home - that's how Pacifica has decided to address RV dwellers. Read More

Thanks to a partnership between the ACLU of Northern California and the California Historical Society, every issue of the ACLU News has been digitized and is now available to read online. This blog is the first in a series that examines the archive’s contents. Read More

Once again, the Trump administration is abusing its power to attack access to reproductive health care. It has already gone after insurance coverage for contraception and federal funding for family planning and tried to allow health care institutions and providers to deny patients information and treatment based on personal religious or moral beliefs. Now the administration has set its sights d... Read More

This election cycle, Californians were presented with two propositions on their ballots—17 and 20—that are of major significance in the quest for true criminal justice reform. Read More