The ACLU Foundation of Southern California undertakes litigation when doing so is the most effective way to advance a civil liberties concern. We file lawsuits that will have an impact on people’s rights by setting a legal precedent or affecting the policies and actions of public officials. We both provide direct legal representation to people and file amicus (friend-of-the-court) briefs addressing civil liberties issues in cases initiated by others. All of the ACLU SoCal’s legal work is on a pro bono basis; we never charge for our legal services.
In the City of Lancaster, instead of solving houselessness with housing, officials criminalize people who are unhoused. The punishment for simply being unhoused includes citations that carry fines far...
The horrific conditions in the shelters, as well as punishment for merely objecting to them, are not...
Police officers’ legal authority to kill underwent a key change in California on January 1, 2020, when a new law stated that lethal force was justifiable only “when necessary in defense of human life.”...