Blog
We can be pretty sure that each new day will bring two things: new threats to our civil liberties, and new stories of people standing up for their rights and winning. Behind every court ruling is a person. Behind every landmark law is a movement. Read the stories and hear the voices that ground our work.
Why We Vehemently Oppose the Governor’s “CARE Court” Proposal — and So Should You.
Jun 28, 2022
Governor Newsom’s so-called “CARE Court” plan would create a new court system that subjects unhoused people with mental health disabilities to involuntary treatment.
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To Achieve True Reproductive Justice in California, We Must Look Beyond Roe v. Wade
Jun 24, 2022
The ACLU of Northern California fights for Californians’ bodily autonomy and the right to have children, not have children, and parent the children we have with dignity and safety. Although the U.S. Supreme Court has dealt a devastating step back by [dismantling/overturning] Roe v. Wade and nearly 50 years of precedent guaranteeing the constitutional right to abortion, we know that Roe was never e...
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Confronting the Tragic Legacy of Forced Boarding
Jun 22, 2022
In May 2022, the United States Department of the Interior released Volume 1 of the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Report, investigating the centuries-long project that forcibly separated hundreds of thousands of Native American children from their families and tribes. In addition to documenting abuses at these schools, the investigation located 408 schools across 37 states and identifie...
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The Fight to Defend all Californians’ Access to Abortion Continues—No Matter What SCOTUS Decides
May 05, 2022
Californians’ right to bodily autonomy—to make decisions over one’s own life and future—is a deeply held value in our diverse state. This includes the right to abortion. A leaked draft of a U.S. Supreme Court opinion recently revealed the Court’s intention to explicitly overturn Roe v. Wade and nearly 50 years of precedent guaranteeing the constitutional right to abortion.
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Our Vision to Achieve True Public Safety
Feb 17, 2022
We can increase equality, justice, and safety without resorting to criminalization and surveillance.
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Recordings Show the California Highway Patrol’s Aerial Surveillance of Racial Justice Protests
Nov 16, 2021
Our year-long investigation uncovered records that show California Highway Patrol (CHP) spying on protesters for racial justice in cities up and down the state
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Prosecutors Used Rap Lyrics as Evidence in a Murder Trial; that’s Racial Bias
Sep 28, 2021
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.
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Diners Beware: That Meal May Cost You Your Privacy and Security
Jul 27, 2021
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.
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Grassroots Activists are Leading the Fight to Stop Face Recognition. It’s Time for Congress to Step Up, Too.
Jul 17, 2021
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.
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Exploring the ACLU News Archive: The Fight Against Housing Discrimination in California is a Story of Progress and Backlash
Jul 13, 2021
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...
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Exploring the ACLU News Archive: The Intersection of Pride and Police Abuse of Power
Jun 28, 2021
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...
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In George Floyd's Name, the Fight for Justice Marches On
May 25, 2021
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.
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