News

An analysis of 2019 data collected under California’s Racial and Identity Profiling Act (RIPA) found that Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office deputies disproportionately stop Black people for traffic violations, a disturbing finding given the number of high-profile, tragic police killings of Black people during traffic stops. Read More

- The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) systematically, and illegally, discriminates against immigrants, refugees, and anyone who prison officials suspect is born outside of the United States. Read More

The ACLU of Northern California and the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area sent a letter to San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu asking him to discuss settlement terms that would prioritize developing affordable housing, expanding access to temporary shelter, and providing services to help unhoused San Franciscans get off the streets and back on their feet. Read More

With the eyes of the world watching, California has released a historic report calling for reparations for the descendants of enslaved African Americans. A new ACLU of Northern California video connects the dots between the state's little known slavery past and its legacy of racist policies that have harmed Black people. Read More

In a landmark decision, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected constitutional challenges to the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) in Brackeen v. Haaland. ICWA preserves tribes' right to govern themselves and protects Native children from forced removal from their families, tribes, and culture. Read More

The lawsuit filed in 2022 challenged the legality of civil assessments imposed on low-income Californians. The courts used the unlawful late fees to raise revenue to fund operations. Read More

The Sikh Coalition and the ACLU Foundation of Northern California sent a letter urging the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to revise its discriminatory policy prohibiting full beards to accommodate staff who are either unable to shave due to a medical condition or who must maintain facial hair for religious reasons. Read More

Today, the Board on Geographic Names (BGN) voted to officially rename Sq___ Valley, California, to Yokuts Valley. “Yokuts” means “the people,” and honors the land's first inhabitants, its present community, and welcomes future visitors and residents.  Read More

The ACLU Foundation of Northern California filed an administrative complaint with the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights on behalf of the Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria regarding repeated acts of discrimination against Native American students and students with disabilities in Loleta Union School District. The complaint reveals troubling patterns of racial hostilit... Read More

The Supreme Court is preparing to hear oral arguments this upcoming Wednesday, Nov. 9th in Brackeen v. Haaland, a case that could gut the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) — a law which establishes basic requirements to protect Native American children from continued forced removal from their families, tribes, and tribal culture.  Read More

The ACLU of Northern California releases the third episode of Gold Chains, our podcast about California’s hidden history of slavery. It connects the dots between an early California law that allowed white settlers to enslave Indigenous children and a current U.S. Supreme Court case Read More

The Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) — which establishes basic requirements to protect Native American children from continued forced removal from their families, tribes, and tribal culture — is slated to be reviewed by the Supreme Court this fall via Brackeen v. Haaland. Read More