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.
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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Profiles in Courage: Visionary Black Trans Leaders Fight Racism and Transphobia
May 17, 2021
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.
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California's “Equity” Algorithm Could Leave 2 Million Struggling Californians Without Additional Vaccine Supply
May 06, 2021
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.
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California Suburbs are Banishing RV Residents
Mar 16, 2021
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.
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Exploring the ACLU News Archive: Korematsu v. United States
Feb 19, 2021
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.
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Abortion is Basic Health Care
Dec 16, 2020
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...
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Voters’ Decisions on Propositions 17 and 20 Bring Hope to Criminal Justice Reform in California
Nov 19, 2020
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.
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The People Have Spoken: Joe Biden Elected U.S. President after Record Voter Turnout
Nov 07, 2020
After winning a record number of popular votes – more than 74 million – Joe Biden has been elected the 46th president of the United States.
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