Court Cases

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.

The ACLU Foundation of Northern California is asking Del Norte, Fresno, Mendocino, Tuolumne, Mariposa, Tulare, Madera, and Shasta counties to reverse their policies of requiring payment in advance of traffic court dates, or face possible legal action. These counties are currently withholding the right to contest a traffic citation until the fines and fees for the citation are paid in full. This practice is a clear violation of due process.

All adult citizens have a right to vote in California except while they're "imprisoned or on parole for conviction of a felony" or are mentally incompetent. But the CA Secretary of State has expanded this exclusion to include people who are on forms of community supervision created by the 2011 Criminal Justice Realignment Act. Over 58,000 Californians were wrongfully disenfranchised.