News & Commentary

Did you know that California pioneered the public defender system in the early 1900s? It's time for our state to step up again.

California incarcerates thousands of people while they await their court dates - simply because they can’t afford to post bail. Meanwhile, wealthy people can easily buy their freedom. 

One disturbing new trend is the increase in immigration arrests at state courthouses across the country. Beyond posing public safety dangers, these arrests also threaten our constitutional rights.

Two weeks ago, a mother of two was driving to church when local police pulled her over. The officer issued a fix-it ticket and within 30 minutes, immigration officers were at her door to deport her. She is now living in hiding. 

While California already has many great laws in place, there's much work to do for civil rights and civil liberties – especially now as the Trump Administration begins its attack on the most vulnerable among us.

Knowing Trayvon Martin's story, and the history of the struggle against racial profiling, helps us to free ourselves from the myths of racism.

When Donald Trump takes the oath of office, he will inherit an unprecedented surveillance state that includes expansive powers and databases filled with information on millions of people.

As of this week, Twitter has made sure that federally funded fusion centers can no longer use a powerful social media monitoring tool to spy on users. After the ACLU of California discovered the domestic spy centers had access to these tools, provided by Dataminr (a company partly owned by Twitter), Dataminr was forced to comply with Twitter’s clear rule prohibiting use of data for surveillance.