Court Cases

The ACLU Foundations of California filed a lawsuit challenging the federal government’s Suspicious Activity Reporting program - a vast expansion of the federal government’s domestic intelligence network. The SAR program targets First Amendment-protected activity, encourages racial and religious profiling, and violates federal law. The plaintiffs are five U.S. citizens whose information has been entered into counterterrorism databases for engaging in lawful conduct.

The ACLU Foundations of California filed suit against Secretary of State Alex Padilla challenging two statutes that prohibit voters from sharing ballot selfies. The suit asks for a temporary restraining order to prohibit the state from enforcing the ban for the November presidential election.

The CA Supreme Court has agreed to review a case that could have allowed people to censor online speech without even giving the website’s owner an opportunity to come to court to defend itself.

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 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.

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.

21 students and alumni filed a federal lawsuit on Feb. 22, 2012 against UC Davis over the University's treatment of protesters during a Nov. 18, 2011 demonstration in which campus police were caught on video dousing seated protesters with pepper spray.