Court Cases

The ACLU is challenging a Fresno County ban on the cultivation and storage of medical marijuana in the California Supreme Court. The ban is inconsistent with California’s 1996 voter-approved Compassionate Use Act, which allows seriously ill patients and caregivers to grow medical marijuana.

Lawsuit Seeks Information on FBI Activities in Northern CA Muslim Communities; Demand to comply with FOIA request stems from reports of community anxiety and fear over surveillance tactics. Following reports of anxiety and fear over FBI surveillance tactics in Muslim communities, the ACLU Foundation of Northern California joined with the Asian Law Caucus and the San Francisco Bay Guardian in 2010 to file a Freedom of Information Act request in order to understand the scope of the FBI's activities, including the infiltration of Muslim communities and mosques through the use of informants.

In April 2013, the ACLU Foundation of Northern California submitted a FOIA request to the Department of Justice to enforce the public's right to information about the federal government’s use of a surveillance tool commonly known as a StingRay. StingRays simulate a cell tower and trick all wireless devices on the same network in the vicinity to communicate with the device. 

Four servicewomen and the Service Women's Action Network, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU Foundation of Northern California and the law firm Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP, filed an amended complaint in their lawsuit against the Department of Defense for its ongoing blanket exclusion of women from thousands of ground combat positions. 

The ACLU Foundation of Northern California has settled a lawsuit against the Alameda County Sheriff over a policy that required mandatory pregnancy testing at Alameda County jails.

A class action lawsuit filed on behalf of thousands of immigrants fleeing persecution who have faced months of detention while they await reasonable fear determinations.

A federal class-action lawsuit brought by the ACLU Foundation of Northern California to block implementation of unconstitutional provisions of a ballot measure that restricts the protected speech of sex offenders registered in California.