News

CRESCENT CITY – In a unanimous 5-0 vote, the Del Norte County Unified School District Board of Education on Thursday extended a 2009 agreement with the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California resolving allegations of racial discrimination against Native American students. The agreement, which has now been extended through August 2017, provides the district with additional time to ... Read More

SAN FRANCISCO – The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California and the National Center for Youth Law Wednesday charged that school officials in the Humboldt County towns of Eureka and Loleta, home to some of the state’s largest Native American communities, intentionally discriminate against Native American and Black students, and allow pervasive racial and sexual harassment to go unchal... Read More

Today the ACLU of Northern California’s Michael Risher will be arguing in front of an 11-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit in Haskell v. Harris, which challenges California’s mandatory DNA collection at arrest law. “People who have never been charged with a crime shouldn’t have their DNA put in a government database,” said Michael Risher, staff attorney at the ACLU of Northern California. The... Read More

The ACLU and the Center for Popular Democracy today filed a lawsuit to compel the Federal Housing Finance Agency to provide details about its relationship with the financial industry and its efforts to block local municipalities from using eminent domain to prevent foreclosures. Read More

On Sep. 19, 2012, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will rehear the ACLU of Northern California's federal class-action challenge to a California law that mandates that DNA is collected from anyone arrested on suspicion of a felony, whether or not they are ever charged or convicted. The oral argument is scheduled for 10am in Courtroom 1 at the James R. Browning US Courthouse in San Francisco. Read More

The City of Fresno is violating the constitutional rights of homeless people whose personal possessions are being destroyed and confiscated in ongoing raids, according to a lawsuit filed today in federal court by civil rights groups. The groups are seeking a temporary restraining order and a permanent injunction to stop the relentless attacks on Fresno’s homeless residents. The lawsuit was filed i... Read More

The California affiliates of the American Civil Liberties Union announced a settlement today with the State of California that will establish a comprehensive monitoring and enforcement system to ensure school districts do not unlawfully charge fees to students for educational activities. Read More

The California Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that students who attend at least three years of high school in California and who graduate from a California high school are eligible for in-state tuition rates at California public colleges and universities, regardless of their immigration status. The Court found that federal law did not bar California from offering tuition equality to students.... Read More

The California affiliates of the American Civil Liberties Union filed a class action lawsuit against the State of California and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today for allowing school districts throughout the state to charge fees for books and other essential educational supplies. This practice violates the California Constitution which, since 1879, has guaranteed children a free education. Read More

Today the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California (ACLU-NC) and the W. Haywood Burns Institute released a report that explores how racial, ethnic, and gender disparities in access to education, employment, and housing impact the contact people will have with the criminal justice system. The report, "Balancing the Scales of Justice," found that these factors relate to how likely it is... Read More

The ACLU of Northern California (ACLU-NC) has reached a settlement agreement with the Del Norte Unified School District in its class-action lawsuit on behalf of Native American students impacted by the closure of several grades at the only school teaching Yurok language and culture in the district. The suit, filed in 2007, charged that the district's closure of grades 6-8 of the Margaret Keating E... Read More

San Francisco – A lawsuit filed today by the ACLU of Northern California seeks to stop California's policy of mandating that DNA is collected from anyone arrested for a felony, whether or not they are ever charged or convicted. The ACLU opposes this law because it violates constitutional guarantees of privacy and freedom from unreasonable search and seizure, and because of the rmful impact on comm... Read More