News

The Public Policy Institute of California today released a report 'Public Safety Realignment and Crime Rates in California.' The report shows that California can reduce its reliance on incarceration without jeopardizing public safety. 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

Expressing strong concern that California’s healthcare marketplace is not offering required voter registration opportunities to the thousands enrolling in healthcare coverage, the American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter to the executive director of the state’s health benefit exchange, Covered California, demanding concrete steps toward compliance with the National Voter Registration Act. Read More

Download the Fall 2013 ACLU of Northern California Newsletter and read about our latest events and initiatives. Read More

Four servicewomen and the Service Women’s Action Network filed an amended complaint today in their lawsuit against the Department of Defense for its ongoing blanket exclusion of women from thousands of ground combat positions. The four servicemembers have all done tours in Iraq or Afghanistan – some deploying multiple times – where they served in combat or led female troops who went on missions wi... Read More

Today, ACLU attorneys sent a letter demanding Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) stop its deeply troubling practice of arresting people at Kern County Courthouses. Over the past year, ICE agents have taken advantage of unsuspecting individuals who were attempting to pay fines, appear for court appearances, get married or obtain restraining orders. Read More

The ACLU of California announced Thursday that Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom will chair a blue ribbon panel that will study the complex legal and policy issues that must be resolved as California considers legalizing, taxing and regulating marijuana for adults. Read More

Gov. Jerry Brown today vetoed SB 744, authored by Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Long Beach) and which would have limited the circumstances in which students can be transferred to alternative schools, ensured appropriate educational placements and created ways for students sent to these schools to transfer back to mainstream schools. Read More

Gov. Jerry Brown today vetoed a bill that would have modestly reformed California’s drug sentencing laws for simple possession, significantly reduced incarceration costs for counties and helped the state end its ongoing incarceration crisis. Read More

Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation on Oct. 9, 2013 that would increase access to safe, early abortion for California women. The bill, AB 154 was authored by Assembly member Toni Atkins (D-San Diego). AB 154 improves access by authorizing trained and qualified nurse practitioners, certified nurse midwives and physicians assistants to perform early abortions. Read More

The ACLU of California applauds Governor Brown for signing AB 4, the TRUST Act, a bill authored by Assemblymember Tom Ammiano. The TRUST Act creates a clear standard for when local law enforcement will respond to federal immigration detainer requests that result from the Secure Communities program (S-Comm). S-Comm requires local law enforcement to share the fingerprints of anyone they arrest with ... Read More