News

Today the ACLU of Northern California filed a lawsuit charging two state agencies with leaving defendants with disabilities to languish in jail, denying them treatment and their right to due process. Read More

SAN DIEGO – The 4th District Court of Appeal, in a stunning rebuke to San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, today ruled that Proposition 47’s sentencing reclassification provisions apply equally to children and adults.San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis had sought to deprive juvenile offenders of the retroactive relief the initiative provides. Her office argued that juv... Read More

San Francisco – The Blue Ribbon Commission on Marijuana Policy released an extensive report detailing the complexities of marijuana legalization in California today. The report includes fifty-eight recommendations for policy makers and the public to consider before California decides to legalize recreational marijuana for production, sale and adult use.The panel of leading legal, academic, law enf... Read More

The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, the ACLU’s Criminal Law Reform Project, and the law firm Paul Hastings LLP filed a lawsuit against Fresno County and the state of California, seeking an overhaul of the county’s deficient public defense system. Because public defenders do not receive the resources necessary to represent their clients, thousands of Fresno County residents a... Read More

Today Assembly Bill 953, Law Enforcement: Racial Profiling, made it out of the Senate Committee on Public Safety. AB 953, one of over 20 police reform laws proposed this year, was introduced by Assemblymember Shirley Weber (D-San Diego) to curb racial and identity profiling in California. Read More

Privacy for All is a new coalition formed to battle a proposed "bathroom policing" ballot initiative that would target people who don't fit gender stereotypes for interrogation and exclusion. Read More

Today the state Assembly approved a police reform bill that would collect basic information about encounters the police have with Californians. Assembly members voted 41 to 23 to pass Assembly Bill 953, Law Enforcement: Racial Profiling. Read More

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SALINAS, Calif. – Lawyers for all parties in Hernandez v. County of Monterey announced today that they have reached a preliminary comprehensive settlement in the class action lawsuit filed in May 2013 in federal court in San Jose regarding conditions at the Monterey County Jail.  The settlement was approved by the Monterey County Board of Supervisors, California Forensic Medical Group (CFMG),... Read More

A Fresno County Superior Court judge has ruled that a lawsuit brought against the Clovis Unified School District was justified because the District’s sex education curriculum was out of compliance with California state law. The suit, American Academy of Pediatrics, et al. v. Clovis Unified School District, was brought on behalf of parents, physicians and the Gay-Straight Alliance Network by the AC... Read More

Current policies in some CA counties unfairly target low-income people and violate due process rights. So the ACLU is taking action for economic justice. Read More