Blog

When I moved into a sleepy Southern home in Montgomery, Alabama, that was so redolent with history, I imagined it to be the perfect place for inspiration. But I found living in a house where key civil rights leaders had once gathered to be far more sobering than inspiring.As an aspiring racial justice lawyer, the historical heart of the civil rights movement appeared to be an ideal place to start ... Read More

This is it – the end game in the longstanding campaign to win the freedom to marry for same-sex couples nationwide is upon us. The U.S. Supreme Court has just announced it will hear freedom-to-marry cases in all four states in the Sixth Circuit- Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee and Michigan. We're thrilled to be co-counsel in the Kentucky and Ohio cases.With today's SCOTUS announcement we are entering wh... Read More

Today we lie down on the steps of the CA Supreme Court to protest the legal system’s failure to hold accountable the officers that killed Mike Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, and too many others. Read More

In 2013, Governor Jerry Brown signed the bill to that allows all eligible Californians to apply for a driver’s license, regardless of immigration status. AB 60 means that our friends, brothers, sisters, parents, and neighbors will be able to drive without fear of having their cars impounded, being ticketed, or left stranded by the side of the road for not having a license. Read More

A police officer wearing a body camera shoots a civilian. Afterwards, the officer has to write up a report about the incident. Should the officer be able to view the footage captured by his body camera (or other cameras) before he writes his initial report? Read More

Are our work emails, our medical records, and our financial information safe online, or have we been leaving our digital doors unlocked? What will President Obama propose to keep our digital world secure? Read More

Al Bendich was a young ACLU lawyer in 1957 when he argued the landmark "Howl" case, winning free speech for poet Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti, owner of City Lights bookstore. Read More

Some of the most vigorous and sustained "Black Lives Matter" protests took place in Oakland and Berkeley. While some law enforcement response was called for, there were disturbing signs of a familiar pattern - the use of excessive force against demonstrators. Read More

When the Amazon series Transparent won the Golden Globe award for best comedy series, it was a big deal, but it wasn't enough. With one exception, there were no people of color representing the trans community and no trans women receiving acting awards for playing trans roles. Read More

Yesterday a federal judge in the Northern District of California held a hearing to determine whether our lawsuit challenging the U.S. government’s domestic surveillance program could proceed. Read More

People with disabilities face violent and deadly consequences when law enforcement does not take disabilities into account. It is not okay to take a deaf person down for failing to follow verbal orders. It is not okay to attack someone with autism because he is slow to respond to instruction. It is not okay to treat a woman with a mental disability as if she were a dangerous criminal. Read More

Today, we sent a letter to the Fort Bragg Unified School District asking that the District immediately reverse its policy banning participants and spectators at the holiday basketball tournament from wearing t-shirts that say “I Can’t Breathe.” Read More