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.

You can also find our amicus brief filings here.

injection needle
Case

ACLU Foundation of Northern California v. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation

Dec 20, 2011
On Nov. 17, 2010, the ACLU Foundation of Northern California filed a suit under the California Public Records Act to demand records from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) about its recent acquisition of sodium thiopental, a controlled substance used as part of California's lethal injection protocol for executing death row inmates.In late September, the CDCR as... Read More
ACLU of Northern CA
Case

Benjamin Brown v. Shasta Union High School District (Student Drug Testing)

Sep 06, 2011
Join the math team, take a drug test. That was the rule at the Shasta Union High School District, which enacted a policy requiring students to submit to random drug testing in order to participate in any school-sponsored activities, including choir, the science bowl, and the mock trial team. Mandatory suspicionless school drug testing, an approach promoted with fervor by the Bush Administration, v... Read More
needle
Case

ACLU Foundation of Northern California and SF Bay Guardian v. Food and Drug Administration

Aug 11, 2011
On January 4, 2011, The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Northern California (ACLU-NC) and The San Francisco Bay Guardian (The Guardian) submitted Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests seeking records related to the federal government’s role in assisting – or failing to oversee – efforts by state corrections agencies to acquire controlled substances. The lethal injection drugs wer... Read More
ACLU of Northern CA
Case

Harris v. LADA (Death Penalty Costs)

May 18, 2011
The office of Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley has failed to disclose public documents on the costs of prosecuting capital cases, according to a lawsuit filed today by The American Civil Liberties Union Foundations of California (ACLU Foundations of California) on behalf of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice (CHHIRJ) at Harvard Law School. The lawsuit is for publ... Read More
ACLU of Northern CA
Case

ACLU Foundation of Northern California and SF Bay Guardian v. Drug Enforcement Administration

May 10, 2011
The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Northern California (ACLU-NC) and The San Francisco Bay Guardian (The Guardian) filed a preliminary injunction motion on April 28, asking the court to order the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to disclose records regarding the worldwide scramble for execution drugs by state prison officials. The ACLU Foundation of Northern California and ... Read More
ACLU of Northern CA
Case

Pacific News Service v. Cate

Sep 29, 2010
The ACLU Foundation of Northern California filed a lawsuit in March 2006 raising a constitutional challenge to California's three-drug execution protocol. The lawsuit states that part of the three-drug regimen used to carry out executions in California acts as a chemical curtain. The drug conceals significant information, violating the First Amendment rights of the press and the public to be fully... Read More
default statue of liberty torch
Case

Perry v. Schwarzenegger

Aug 25, 2010
On July 8, 2009, ACLU Foundation of Northern California, Lambda Legal, and the National Center for Lesbian Rights — representing LGBT community organizations Our Family Coalition, Lavender Seniors of the East Bay, and PFLAG — filed a motion to intervene in Perry v. Schwarzenegger, a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of California's Proposition 8, which eliminated the right of ... Read More
ACLU of Northern CA
Case

Amazon.com v. Kenneth R. Lay

Jun 23, 2010
On June 23, 2010, the National ACLU intervened in a lawsuit filed by Amazon.com against the North Carolina Department of Revenue (NCDOR) for its unreasonable demand for customer purchase information.In December 2009, as part of a tax audit, the NCDOR requested the records of Amazon.com customers in that state for purchases made between August 1, 2003, and February 28, 2010. Amazon compli... Read More
ACLU of Northern CA
Case

ACLU Foundation of Northern California to School District: Students Have First Amendment Right to Wear U.S. Flag

May 10, 2010
The ACLU Foundation of Northern California has written the attached letter to Morgan Hill Unified School District in response to media reports regarding students at Live Oak High School being prohibited from wearing American flag t-shirts to school on May 5, 2010. The letter criticizes the school's censorship of the students' patriotic expression in light of student speech rights under the First A... Read More
ACLU of Northern CA
Case

People v. Gallego

May 05, 2010

Should the police be able to follow you around and collect and analyze your DNA from something you discard, without a warrant or even a reason to believe you have committed a crime? 

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campus protest
Case

ACLU Foundation of Northern California Calls on UC Berkeley to Respect Constitutional Rights in Student Disciplinary Process

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 t... Read More