Legal Docket

The ACLU Foundation of Northern California filed a religious-liberty lawsuit seeking injunctive relief to end the Fresno County Sheriff's policy that denies people held in Fresno County jails access to food that complies with their religious dietary restrictions. Read More

All adult Californians have a constitutional right to vote except while they are “imprisoned or on parole for conviction of a felony” or are mentally incompetent. But the California Secretary of State has expanded this exclusion to include people who are neither imprisoned nor on parole but are on new forms of community supervision created by California’s 2011 Criminal Justice Realignment Act. As ... Read More

The ACLU Foundation of Northern California sued a local school district so a Native American high school senior could display an eagle feather on his cap during the graduation ceremony for religious and spiritual reasons.

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A settlement in ACLU Foundation of Northern California's federal class action lawsuit sets new standards for the medical and mental health care provided to inmates in the Monterey County Jail. It will also expand accessibility for inmates with disabilities. Read More

The ACLU Foundation of Northern California filed suit against a public school district over abstinence-only-until-marriage sex education in it's high schools. The lawsuit charges that the district is violating California law and putting teens' health at risk by giving students misinformation and denying them critical instruction about condoms and contraception. Read More

ACLU Foundations of California amicus brief arguing that denying juveniles’ petitions for Prop 47 resentencing and reclassification relief incorrectly ignores the initiative’s legislative intent, violates juveniles’ equal protection rights, and results in harmful collateral consequences for these young people. Read More

The Calaveras County Board of Supervisors violated the California Constitution’s requirement that the government remain neutral on matters of religion when it passed a resolution recognizing a local Christian ministry for, among other things, its “advocacy and education” “to enlighten and strengthen the lives of women and young women in Calaveras County by inviting them to test and see for themsel... Read More

TSA employees at two different airports subjected Malaika Singleton to unreasonable, discriminatory searches of her hair within a week - because she is black. Read More

The ACLU Foundation of Northern California filed a lawsuit in federal court on Oct. 7, 2009 seeking to stop California's policy of mandating that DNA is collected from anyone arrested for a felony, whether or not they are ever charged or convicted. The policy is a result of Proposition 69, which was enacted by voters in 2004 and went into effect on Jan. 1, 2009. Under this new law, people who a... Read More

The ACLU filed a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act to compel the Federal Housing Finance Agency to provide details about the its relationship with the financial industry and its efforts to block municipalities from using eminent domain to prevent foreclosures. Read More

In May 2014, the County of Sacramento adopted an ordinance making it a crime to panhandle except when soliciting donations for charitable purposes. The ACLU Foundation of Northern California sued to stop the enforcement of the new law, which prohibits free speech. Read More

The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation and the ACLU Foundations of Oregon, Southern California, Northern California, and New Mexico have filed a legal challenge on behalf of ten U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents who cannot fly to or from the United States or over U.S. airspace because they are on the "No Fly List"—a component of the government's watch list system. None ... Read More