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.

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
Signage at entrance of Foothills Park
Case

NAACP of San Jose/Silicon Valley et al. v. City of Palo Alto (Racial & Economic Justice)

Sep 16, 2020
Foothills Park is a 1,400-acre public green space located in the city of Palo Alto. For decades, the city has kept the park exclusive to Palo Alto residents under an ordinance that threatens non-residents who enter the park with jail time and a hefty fine unless they enter as guests of a city resident. This ordinance is a vestige of Palo Alto's history of racial discrimination. The ACLU Foundation... Read More
Woman operating mobile application standing atop scooter
Case

Sanchez v. Los Angeles Department of Transportation (Data Surveillance)

Sep 11, 2020
Renting an electric scooter should not give the government the right to trace your every move — where you start, where you end, and all stops, twists, and turns in between. But that's the situation in the City of Los Angeles where electric scooter rental companies are required to provide real-time and historic GPS tracking data to city officials. Beginning in late 2017, communities across Calif... Read More
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Case

Sigma Beta Xi v. County of Riverside (Youth Probation)

Jul 09, 2020
In July 2018, the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation and the ACLU Foundations of Southern California, Northern California, and San Diego and Imperial Counties, along with the law firm of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP and the National Center for Youth Law, sued the County of Riverside on behalf of students and the non-profit mentoring organization Sigma Beta Xi. The lawsuit argu... Read More
Black Lives Matter Banner
Case

Unitarian Universalist v. Orth (Free Speech)

Jun 23, 2020
The Unitarian Universalist Church in Fresno has displayed Black Lives Matter Banners on its property since the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville in 2017—part of Unitarian Universalism’s national Side With Love campaign. The banners were on display when Unitarian Universalist Church served as a polling place during the June 2018 elections. But prior to the November 2018 elections, Fres... Read More
ACLU of Northern CA
Case

Zepeda Rivas v. Jennings (Immigration Detention)

Apr 24, 2020
The ACLU Foundations of California and legal partners filed a federal class action lawsuit seeking the immediate release of detainees at Yuba County Jail and Mesa Verde Detention Facility. The overcrowded and unsanitary conditions at the ICE jails endanger our plaintiffs' lives in the midst of the global coronavirus pandemic. Read More
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Case

Aleman Gonzalez v. Sessions (Immigration Detention)

Jan 10, 2020
In March of 2018, two Bay Area fathers who had been detained for over six months at the Contra Costa West County Detention Facility in Richmond, California sued the federal government in a class action lawsuit challenging their unlawful and prolonged detention. Complaint is here.  On June 5, 2018, a federal judge ruled that people who have been detained under 8 U.S.C. 1231(a)(6) cannot be held ... Read More
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Case

Fresno Unified District Complaint (Racial Harassment)

Oct 10, 2019
The ACLU Foundation of Northern California filed a discrimination complaint under the Uniform Complaint Procedures (UCP), on behalf of two black Bullard High School students in the Fresno Unified District, for failure to comply with the California Education Code and Fresno Unified School Board’s requirements pertaining to racially hostile environments and bullying. The UCP covers alleged violation... Read More
Back of ICE Official
Case

Madera County Administrative Complaint (Unlawful ICE Transfer)

Jun 26, 2019
On December 28, 2018, the Madera County Jail re-imprisoned Ivan Santos Cuevas and unlawfully transferred him into U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody. Santos Cuevas had been arrested the previous night, and was scheduled for release in the early morning. However, at the time of his release, Madera County Jail re-detained him, and held him until ICE agents arrived. On June 26, 2019,... Read More
Woman in handcuffs
Case

Liborio Ramos v. G4S Secure Solutions (Detainee Transport)

May 15, 2019
In July 2018, the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Northern California filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit demanding records related to the treatment of immigrants detained by ICE, particularly transportation by contractor G4S Secure Solutions. In regions throughout the country, ICE subcontracts with G4S to transport immigrants in its custody. The private contractor ha... Read More