News

The ACLU of California, joined by members of the Community Vaccine Advisory Committee and numerous other equity, health access, and community organizations called on Governor Newsom and the California Department of Public Health to immediately prioritize people in congregate living environments for vaccine access. Read More

In California and across the country, there is a statistically verified pattern of discrimination against Black students by teachers and administrators. This resource provides students and parents with clear information about their rights and methods they can employ to confront efforts to thwart their self-expression. Read More

Today, we celebrate the Biden Administration’s swift action to repeal the Muslim and African “Travel” Bans—the result of the advocacy, drive, and resilience of impacted communities. Over four years, and after a series of legal challenges by advocates including the ACLU Foundation of Northern California, former-President Trump pushed forward various iterations of the Muslim and African Bans that tr... Read More

A revised municipal ordinance opening Foothills Park to all people has become effective under law, ending Palo Alto’s 55-year history of keeping the public land exclusive to city residents. Read More

Today, the ACLU Foundation of Northern of California released Failing Grade: The Status of Native American Education in Humboldt County, a report revealing vast and troubling disparities in education outcomes for Indigenous students in Humboldt County. The report exposes a system that fails Native American students by not providing the skills they need to succeed in school and the workforce. Read More

Local activists sued San Francisco today over the city police department’s illegal use of a network of more than 400 non-city surveillance cameras to spy on them and thousands of others who protested as part of the Black-led movement against police violence. Read More

The ACLU of Northern California is neutral on Prop. 25, which asks voters to uphold or repeal Senate Bill 10. SB 10 is deeply flawed. Although it would eliminate the predatory commercial bail industry, it would replace it with a risk assessment-based system that perpetuates racial disparities in pretrial detention, and it would grant judges and pretrial service agencies wide discretion to detain b... Read More

The ACLU Foundation of Northern California and co-counsel Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP filed a lawsuit today to compel the city of Palo Alto to remove an unconstitutional residents-only restriction at Foothills Park—a legacy of the city’s history of racial discrimination. Read More

In recognition of this fact, today, the ACLU Foundation of Northern California released a Know Your Rights guide designed specifically for people of color. It contains critical information they need to know about their constitutional rights during a police stop. It further provides important tips for interacting with law enforcement, whether someone is stopped while they are on foot, in their vehi... Read More

California state law is clear: Secretary of State Alex Padilla has the discretion to take measures to ensure that the Arabic- and Somali-speaking voters of Fresno and San Diego Counties, respectively, can cast their ballots in the November 2020 election. Despite testimony from these communities showing that they have been unable to participate in elections due to language barriers, Secretary Padil... Read More

Today, the ACLU Foundation of Northern California sent a letter to Facebook demanding information about what caused Facebook to delete the Black Zebra Productions page, a Black-led independent journalism outlet that provides critical resources and information to thousands of people fighting state violence against Black people. The sudden and unwarranted removal of this page was an affront to the o... Read More

The American Civil Liberties Union Foundations of Southern and Northern California today sent a letter to the Greenfield Union School District in Bakersfield, expressing deep concern that “the district has created a hostile environment for Black students and staff in its schools by subjecting them to differential treatment and degrading, off-handed comments.” Read More