Lawyers for Black Lives Matter

Today we lie down on the steps of the CA Supreme Court to protest the legal system’s failure to hold accountable the officers that killed Mike Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, and too many others.

Novella Coleman

Your Rights with an AB 60 Driver’s License

In 2013, Governor Jerry Brown signed the bill to that allows all eligible Californians to apply for a driver’s license, regardless of immigration status. AB 60 means that our friends, brothers, sisters, parents, and neighbors will be able to drive without fear of having their cars impounded, being ticketed, or left stranded by the side of the road for not having a license.

officer hand

Cybersecurity Doesn’t Have to Mean Sacrificing Privacy

Are our work emails, our medical records, and our financial information safe online, or have we been leaving our digital doors unlocked? What will President Obama propose to keep our digital world secure?

Internet data

Should Cops Watch Video Footage Before Writing Reports?

A police officer wearing a body camera shoots a civilian. Afterwards, the officer has to write up a report about the incident. Should the officer be able to view the footage captured by his body camera (or other cameras) before he writes his initial report?

Cop by Paul Weiskel

Remembering Al Bendich

Al Bendich was a young ACLU lawyer in 1957 when he argued the landmark "Howl" case, winning free speech for poet Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti, owner of City Lights bookstore.

Al Bendich and Abdi Soltani

ACLU Responds to Excessive Force Used on Protesters

Some of the most vigorous and sustained "Black Lives Matter" protests took place in Oakland and Berkeley. While some law enforcement response was called for, there were disturbing signs of a familiar pattern - the use of excessive force against demonstrators.

Riot police - photo by Thomas Hawk.

Trans TV Show Wins a Golden Globe, Fails to Represent Community

When the Amazon series Transparent won the Golden Globe award for best comedy series, it was a big deal, but it wasn't enough. With one exception, there were no people of color representing the trans community and no trans women receiving acting awards for playing trans roles.

Amazon's Transparent

Suspicious Activity Reports Go to Court

Yesterday a federal judge in the Northern District of California held a hearing to determine whether our lawsuit challenging the U.S. government’s domestic surveillance program could proceed.

ACLU client

Does the Americans with Disabilities Act Apply to Cops?

People with disabilities face violent and deadly consequences when law enforcement does not take disabilities into account. It is not okay to take a deaf person down for failing to follow verbal orders. It is not okay to attack someone with autism because he is slow to respond to instruction. It is not okay to treat a woman with a mental disability as if she were a dangerous criminal.

police car lights