Scales of Justice in Courtroom

Legal Docket

For decades, the ACLU Foundation of Northern California has used the courts to protect and expand the rights of all Californians. From fighting against the internment of Japanese Americans, to suing California Highway Patrol for targeting Black and Latinx drivers, the ACLU is building a more just state one lawsuit at a time.

ACLU of Northern CA
Case

Martinez et al v. The City of Fresno

May 09, 2022
On March 16, 2022, the ACLU Foundation of Northern California (“ACLU”) filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Fresno, urging the court to strike down a city ordinance that targets unhoused people, and puts unconstitutional restrictions on advocates, organizers, and reporters who try to draw attention to how the unhoused are treated during encampment sweeps. In February 2022, city officials am... Read More
ACLU of Northern CA
Case

Echeveste v. Jones (Unlawful ICE Transfers)

Nov 16, 2021
On Nov. 15, 2021, our organization, along with co-counsel Conrad | Metlitzky | Kane LLP , sued Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones and Sacramento County for unlawfully transferring immigrants to ICE custody. Internal documents show that sheriff’s officials illegally transfer immigrants to ICE after they have completed their county jail sentences, rather than releasing them to their families and ... Read More
California Police Surveillance Art
Case

Lagleva v. Doyle (License Plate Surveillance)

Oct 14, 2021
Community activists are suing Marin County Sheriff Robert Doyle for his practice of illegally sharing millions of local drivers’ license plate numbers and location data with hundreds of federal and out-of-state agencies Read More
ACLU of Northern CA
Case

Mark S., et al. v. State of California, et al. (Education Equity)

Sep 13, 2021
Two students, two parents of former students, and a current teacher, filed a claim in Contra Costa County Superior Court, against the State Board of Education, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, the State of California, and Pittsburg Unified School District. The complaint alleges the state and district’s unlawful practices harm thousands of its most marginalized students, pr... Read More
ACLU of Northern CA
Case

Solano v. ICE (Illegal Immigration Arrests by Private Contractors)

Sep 01, 2021
The ACLU Foundation of Northern California and Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Asian Law Caucus filed a class-action lawsuit demanding that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement stop its illegal practice of using third-party contractor G4S Secure Solutions to arrest people at jails and prisons to transfer them to ICE for deportation. Read More
People play chess in the early evening along Market St in the Tenderloin neighbourhood, near the intersection with Turk and Mason Streets. San Francisco, California, USA.
Case

San Francisco's Attempt To Ban 28 Individuals from the Tenderloin

Apr 22, 2021
In September 2020, the City of San Francisco filed a series of shockingly unprecedented lawsuits against 28 Bay Area residents. The City is seeking to use California’s public nuisance and Unfair Competition Law (“UCL”) statutes to banish individuals from the San Francisco's Tenderloin District for allegedly engaging in a few instances of street-level drug dealing. Read More
ACLU of Northern CA
Case

ACLU of Northern California et al. v. ICE

Apr 13, 2021
The ACLU of Northern California, the Immigrant Defense Project, Just Futures Law, and Mijente sued the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Customs and Border Protection under the Freedom of Information Act seeking records of their use of Clearview AI’s face surveillance system. Read More
Claimants Pham, Victorio, Bukle, and Alcides
Case

Damages Claims Against Governor Newsom, State Prison Officials for ICE Transfers

Dec 11, 2020
Advocates filed damages claims against Governor Newsom and California prison officials on behalf of four people who were transferred to the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), instead of being released back to their loved ones and allowed to reenter society after serving their time. Read More
A photograph of surveillance camera in the foreground with a heat map of a gathered crowd in the background.
Case

Williams v. City and County of San Francisco (Illegal Surveillance)

Oct 07, 2020
In late May and early June 2020 during mass demonstrations following George Floyd's murder, the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD), in defiance of a 2019 city ordinance backed by the ACLU and other civil rights organizations, illegally tapped into a sprawling private camera network to conduct live mass surveillance of protesters. SFPD did so without first going through a legally... Read More