For Immediate Release: Apr 08, 2010
Media Contact: press@aclunc.org, (415) 621-2493
ACLU of Northern CA
On April 8, 2010, the ACLU of Northern California and the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area filed an amicus brief with the Alameda County Superior Court opposing a proposed gang injunction in Oakland. If granted, the gang injunction would give the Oakland Police Department wide discretion to label people gang members without having to present any evidence to a judge or even charge them with a crime. The individuals impacted would not be provided with an attorney or given the opportunity to defend themselves.
Apr 06, 2010

On April 6, 2010, the ACLU Foundation of Northern California sent a letter to U.C. Berkeley, criticizing its handling of discipline against students involved in on-campus protests on December 11, 2009.

Students were issued overbroad suspensions that limited even their off-campus communications with members of the University community, in violation of the rights to free association and speech, and the University’s disciplinary procedures fell short of constitutionally-required due process.

For Immediate Release: Mar 30, 2010
Media Contact: press@aclunc.org, (415) 621-2493
ACLU of Northern CA
As the United States moves away from death sentences to permanent imprisonment, California – particularly Los Angeles County – lags behind, according to a new report on the death penalty by the ACLU of Northern California (ACLU-NC). In 2009, the number of new death sentences nationwide reached the lowest level since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. The Golden State, however, sent more people to death row last year than in the seven preceding years. At the close of 2009, California's death row was the largest and most costly in the United States.
Mar 25, 2010
The ACLU filed an amicus brief yesterday to the Supreme Court in the case of City of Ontario v. Quon. At stake in this case is whether public employees have a reasonable expectation of privacy for the text messages they send on devices owned by their employers. But at stake more broadly is the balance between employer access and employee privacy in a world where communications via computers, emails and text messages play a crucial and rapidly expanding role.
For Immediate Release: Mar 23, 2010
Media Contact: press@aclunc.org, (415) 621-2493
ACLU of Northern CA
Federal Judge Vaughn Walker ruled yesterday that the ACLU and Equality California must turn over campaign documents, including internal e-mails and memos, even though the groups are not parties to the legal challenge brought by Ted Olson and David Boies seeking to strike Prop 8.
Mar 18, 2010

We spent the last few days in the middle of the exciting whirlwind of the South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) festival in Austin, Texas. The festival is one of the largest and most influential gatherings of technology and new media players in the world, and we thought that it would be an important and receptive audience for our online privacy message.

Were we ever right!

Mar 15, 2010

Many people are surprised to learn that it costs more to sentence someone to execution than permanent imprisonment, also known as life without parole. This page highlights key findings from the ACLU-NC's report The Hidden Death Tax: The Secret Cost of Seeking Executions in California to answer some frequently asked questions about the costs of California's death penalty system.

Subscribe to