ACLU of Northern California

08/21/2026

We’re raising a glass to our Director of Appellate Advocacy, Neil Sawhney, who has been named one of the Daily Journal’s Top 40 Under 40 rising lawyers in California.

As the federal courts become a more challenging forum for advancing civil rights, Neil and his team are at the forefront of a growing movement of public-interest lawyers litigating constitutional questions in state supreme courts. One example is our challenge to the California death penalty on the basis that racial bias so deeply pervades the system that it violates the state constitution’s equal protection clause.

Neil is also a core member of the team challenging the Trump administration’s mass immigration arrests and detention practices, including arrests at immigration courts.

Congratulations, Neil!

08/14/2026

Headed back to the classroom? Learn about your rights as a student and how to enforce them at www.myschoolmyrights.com

This Know Your Rights hub from the ACLUs of California includes guides in the areas of:
✏️Harassment & bullying
✂️Immigration
🔔Discipline & searches
👔Dress codes
🌈LGBTQ+ rights
✋Sex ed
🚓Police in school.. & much more

As a public school student in California, you have rights at your school. Explore them so you can advocate for yourself and your communities.

08/13/2026

After months of community organizing, canceled contracts, and reports of police abusing these cameras —including to stalk people— Flock is scrambling to save its business model. Its proposed changes fall short.

Follow link in bio to read the full article.

08/13/2026

License plate readers were already a privacy nightmare. Then came SignalTrace, which adds new sensors to existing ALPR cameras. From mobile phones to fitness trackers, from Bluetooth headphones to smartwatches, it picks up signals from any personal device you carry that emits one. Link in bio to read the full blog and learn how to take action in your community.

08/10/2026

You're invited to join this conversation and learn how you can support the people of D.C. living under domestic occupation.

One year after President Trump first deployed the National Guard to our nation's capital, D.C. residents still face troops in their neighborhoods and likely will for three more years. And until D.C. becomes the 51st state, the local democracy in our nation's capital remains vulnerable to harmful federal overreach.

Join us for a timely conversation on the impact of this domestic occupation, featuring Scott Michelman, legal director at ACLU-D.C., Sam O'Hara, an ACLU-D.C. client who was unconstitutionally detained for playing “The Imperial March” while recording National Guard troops in D.C., and Mike Zamore, national director of policy & government affairs. The conversation will be moderated by Monica Hopkins, executive director of ACLU-D.C.

Register to attend this virtual event: https://action.aclu.org/signup/troops-in-the-nation-capital

08/06/2026

Hundreds of thousands of Haitians who have had Temporary Protected Status are at imminent risk of detention and deportation to a country that the State Department has labeled "Do not travel" due to crime, terrorism, and kidnapping.

Communities, families, and crucial industries like health care are being torn apart because of the Trump administration's openly racist mass deportation agenda.

Haitian immigrants and other TPS holders, many of whom have lived in the U.S. for decades, deserve a pathway to citizenship.

A federal judge allowed the Trump administration to terminate temporary protected status for 350,000 Haitians, meaning they are likely to lose their jobs and be at risk of deportation.

08/05/2026

Join us in urging Congress to pass a bill that would create a long overdue pathway to citizenship for millions and defend our immigrant communities from President Trump’s cruel mass deportation agenda.

Help us put pressure on our representatives to pass the Dream and Promise Act at https://action.aclu.org/send-message/pathway-citizenship-now

08/05/2026

We're hiring for multiple positions across our San Francisco, Fresno, and Sacramento offices. Learn more and apply today at www.aclunorcal.org/jobs

08/03/2026

Communities across the country are canceling their contracts with Flock under public pressure. We built a toolkit to help yours be next!!

Because here’s the thing: Flock cameras aren’t normal traffic cameras. They record every car that comes into view, and an algorithm catalogs the make, model, color, and license plate. That information goes into a nationwide database any law enforcement agency with a Flock contract can search — no warrant, and few rules about how that data can be used.

The toolkit walks through how the technology works, answers questions you’re likely to get when you raise this locally, and gives you sample letters you can adapt and send.

Follow link in bio for the complete toolkit.

07/18/2026

SFPD drone footage was accidentally live-streamed onto the open internet for months, available to anyone who happened to stumble upon the link.

Wired broke the story of the leaked drone footage and exposed the shocking extent to which the police are watching the city — and us — from above.

More surveillance doesn’t mean more safety — it just means more can go wrong.