News
Our lawyers and advocates are among the nation's leading experts on civil liberties and constitutional freedoms. Read the latest on the ACLU of Northern California’s work. To schedule a press interview, call (415) 621-2493 or contact press@aclunc.org.
Letter Demands City of Sacramento Drop Charges Against 72 Protesters for Violating Curfew
Jun 15, 2020
The ACLU Foundation of Northern California and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area submitted a demand letter to the City of Sacramento this morning urging the City to drop all charges against individuals for violating the City’s June 1 curfew order. Seventy-two individuals were arrested and charged for violating the order, which imposed a sweeping ban on public as...
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ACLU Statement on Microsoft Face Recognition Moratorium
Jun 11, 2020
In January 2019, the ACLU led a coalition of over 80 civil rights groups calling on Amazon, Google, and Microsoft to stop selling face recognition technology to law enforcement. Google heeded these calls early on. Microsoft instead responded with a legislative effort in multiple states to legitimize law enforcement use of the technology. The ACLU, together with a coalition of groups, earlier this ...
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ACLU Statement on Amazon Face Recognition Moratorium
Jun 10, 2020
Amazon today announced a one-year moratorium on its sale of face recognition technology to law enforcement. The American Civil Liberties Union two years ago revealed that the company is secretly selling this technology to police, and has since led a coalition effort calling on the company to stop fueling police abuses and civil rights violations with the sale of this technology to law enforcement.
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Judge Orders ICE to Maintain Pandemic Protections at Detention Centers
Jun 09, 2020
This afternoon a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction in response to a class action legal challenge by immigrants detained at two California immigration detention centers where conditions are rife for the spread of COVID-19.
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Court of Appeal Ruling Could Invalidate Thousands of Driver’s License Suspensions
Jun 05, 2020
The California Court of Appeal ruled that the Department of Motor Vehicles cannot suspend the licenses of drivers who fail to appear in court unless the DMV receives a notification of a willful failure to appear.
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ACLU Demands Suspension of Curfews
Jun 03, 2020
Today, the ACLU Foundation of Northern California sent a letter to the counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo, and Napa as well as the cities of Palo Alto and San Francisco, demanding that they immediately rescind or substantially restrict the curfew orders that they imposed over the last three days. These sweeping measures, allowing police to arrest anyone outside from the early evening hou...
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ACLU Calls on Mayor Cummings to Reject Attempts to Water Down Surveillance Accountability Ordinance
Jun 03, 2020
Santa Cruz Mayor Cummings and Police Chief Mills are hosting an online community meeting to discuss police policies in the wake of national protests over the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and many others at the hands of the police.
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ACLU of California Statement on the Governor’s Executive Order on the November General Election
Jun 03, 2020
Today, Governor Newsom issued an executive order to ensure that Californians can exercise their right to vote in a safe, secure and accessible manner during the upcoming election.
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ACLU Calls for an End to Curfews that Can Lead to the Abuses that are Being Protested
Jun 01, 2020
The slew of hastily announced “curfews” enacted in cities across California lack clarity as to their scope and duration. This is the wrong way to handle disruptions to what have been otherwise peaceful protests, and they are far broader than necessary to address any problems that have arisen or may arise.
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Lawsuit Demands Immediate Release of Santa Rita Inmates at High Risk for a Fatal COVID-19 Infection While Living in Unsafe Conditions
May 29, 2020
Today, the ACLU Foundation of Northern California filed a class action lawsuit to compel Alameda County Sheriff Gregory Ahern to release all medically vulnerable people in custody at Santa Rita or in rare circumstances transfer them to home confinement.
Three of our plaintiffs are inmates who suffer from respiratory illnesses and hypertension – chronic medical conditions that the CDC says make t...
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California Supreme Court Rules Against the City of Hayward and its Police Department in Public Records Case
May 28, 2020
Today, the ACLU Foundation of Northern California prevailed in obtaining a unanimous California Supreme Court opinion that will help ensure that access to electronic records, such as police body camera footage, is not dependent on the requester’s wealth.
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