Court Cases

On April 27, 2023, incarcerated and formerly incarcerated Californians sued the state prison system for illegally discriminating against people suspected of being born outside the U.S. The lawsuit claims that the California prison system unlawfully discriminates against hundreds of people each year by referring people in custody to ICE for detention and deportation after they have served their time in prison, contributing to a dual system of justice that targets immigrants, refugees, and anyone that prison officials unilaterally, and often incorrectly, assume was born outside the U.S.

Nine people detained at the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center in Bakersfield, Calif., and the Golden State Annex in McFarland, Calif., filed a class action lawsuit against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and GEO Group, the for-profit prison company that owns and operates the detention centers. They alleged that they and other detained people faced retaliation, including threats of solitary confinement and bans on family visitation, for engaging in a collective hunger strike to demand their release from immigration custody and the shutdown of both facilities.

On March 16, 2022, the ACLU Foundation of Northern California (“ACLU”) filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Fresno, urging the court to strike down a city ordinance that targets unhoused people, and puts unconstitutional restrictions on advocates, organizers, and reporters who try to draw attention to how the unhoused are treated during encampment sweeps. In February 2022, city officials amended an existing ordinance to create a buffer zone around abatement activity, like encampment sweeps, taking place on public property. Anyone who enters the off-limits area “without express authorization” from the city can now be charged with a misdemeanor or fined up to $250. This outrageously broad ordinance is a direct assault not just on our plaintiffs’ constitutional rights, but on everyone’s rights. The ACLU and the California Homeless Union, represented by the Law Offices of Anthony D. Prince, filed the complaint in the United States District Court, Eastern District of California on behalf of Dez Martinez, a longtime advocate who was once unhoused, Robert McCloskey, a reporter and activist, the Fresno Homeless Union, and Faith in the Valley. The lawsuit seeks to stop the ordinance from going into effect on March 31 and ultimately to get it voided altogether. On March 30, 2022, the ACLU and the California Homeless Union filed a motion for preliminary injunction to ask the Court to prohibit the City of Fresno from enforcing the ordinance and conducting nuisance abatements under the ordinance. In response, the City of Fresno moved to dismiss the lawsuit. The Court has scheduled a hearing on the preliminary injunction for Wednesday, May 11.

A California Public Records Act lawsuit seeking to compel production of documents and information reflecting collaboration between the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and ICE.

The ACLU Foundation of Northern California has filed a lawsuit to protect the constitutional rights of defendants with psychiatric and intellectual disabilities in California.

The ACLU of Northern California has filed a lawsuit to compel the city of Vallejo to release public records that contain information about officers in the Vallejo Police Department who allegedly bent their badges after on-duty shootings as a badge of honor.

On July 14, 2021, the ACLU Foundation of Northern California, the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley, Disability Rights Advocates, King & Spalding LLP, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise filed a class action complaint against the City of Mountain View for enacting two ordinances that, together, severely restricted when and where “oversized vehicles” (OSVs) could park in the City.

The California Racial Justice Act (“RJA”) prohibits the State from pursuing convictions or sentences based upon race, ethnicity, or national origin. The law also permits challenges when such outcomes show racial bias or disparities. The ACLU of Northern California works to force prosecutorial transparency, engaging in a statewide effort to access information to develop and pursue potential RJA claims.

The ACLU Foundation of Northern California, Disability Rights Advocates, Legal Aid of Sonoma County, and California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc. filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Sebastopol for enacting an ordinance that prohibits vehicles “designed or altered for human habitation” from parking anywhere within city limits during the day.