Advocates warn about California courts testing unproven technologies on vulnerable residents
For Immediate Release
Advocates warn about California courts testing unproven technologies on vulnerable residents
Comments flag use of public resources for error-prone AI translation.
August 19, 2026 – San Francisco, CA – For the second time this month, legal advocates and community leaders are calling on the Judicial Council of California to suspend the use of automated translation in California courts and fully implement required language access measures. They warn that insufficient oversight over courts’ use of automated technologies is putting Californians’ homes, safety, and livelihoods at risk.
In public comment to the Council’s Advisory Committee on Providing Access and Fairness, 35 organizations—led by California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc. (CRLA), Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (LAFLA), and Mixteco Indígena Community Organizing Project (MICOP)—detail how courts’ widespread failure to meet language access standards locks Californians out of critical legal proceedings that affect their housing, safety, and livelihoods.
Written comments submitted August 3 and 19 marked advocates’ first public reporting of findings based on state court data obtained through Public Records Act requests, which showed serious errors by CA Court Translator, a Voice-to-Text machine translation application (VTT).
“Public resources should not be used to test out experimental technologies on people whose access to justice is already limited,” said Norma Ventura, CRLA Indigenous Justice Program Director. “We urge the Council to investigate how courts were able to use this error-prone technology for six years with so little oversight, and how it can be prevented from happening again before any new contracts are signed with external vendors promising automated interpreting or translation.”
At least 32 county courts at various points from approximately 2020 to 2026 relied on VTT for services outside the courtroom at counters, clerk’s windows, and self-help centers. The machine-based translation application consistently rendered nonsensical messages such as “Sting the judge to reduce a fever,” and translated “DUI” as “IUD.” Errors like these create confusion and cause people to miss court dates and filing deadlines, lose opportunities to reduce fines or avoid points on their driver's licenses, and make uninformed decisions about their cases.
In their written comment, advocates specifically request a thorough review and formal evaluation on the efficacy and impact of the Strategic Plan for Language Access in the California Courts adopted by the Judicial Council in 2015 along with the accompanying and subsequent legislation, policies, rules, and funding allocations.
“Our analysis uncovered on-the-ground stories absent from Judicial Council progress reports,” said Joann Lee, Special Counsel on Language Justice at LAFLA. “These are not isolated incidents; they are patterns — systemic barriers embedded at every level of court operations, inside and outside the courtroom, from judicial officers to clerks to family law facilitators to self-help staff, denying access to justice for many court users.”
“The Judicial Council's 2015 Strategic Plan for Language Access was an important step forward, but its promise remains unrealized,” added Vanessa Terán, Policy Director at MICOP. “More must be done to ensure that everyone, regardless of the language they speak, can fully understand and participate in proceedings that profoundly affect their lives, particularly for the Indigenous immigrant community, who have historically faced vast discrimination in the judicial system due to speaking their native language and not English or Spanish.”
Advocates will provide additional public comment at the Judicial Council Committee meeting Thursday, August 20, 2026, at 12:15 PM. Members of the public can join online at: https://jcc.granicus.com/player/event/4990
Read advocates’ full written comment to the Judicial Council.
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Media Contacts
Mia Murrietta, Director of Communications
California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc.
(559) 606-1924, mmurrietta@crla.org
Elana Eden, Communications Manager
Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles
323.801.7996, eeden@lafla.org
About California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc.
California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc. (CRLA) is a nonprofit, anti-poverty law firm that dismantles unjust systems through community lawyering in California’s historically rural areas. We work with people priced out of private legal representation so they can uphold civil rights in housing, employment, health, and public education. Through our 17 Rural Justice Centers, communities can access a broad range of legal tools, including direct legal services, place-based advocacy to expand equity in civic institutions, and specialized litigation to advance civil rights.
About Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles
Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles is a nonprofit law firm that protects and advances the rights of the most underserved – leveling the playing field and ensuring that everyone can have access to the justice system. Every year, LAFLA’s free, high-quality legal services impact more than 100,000 people living in poverty across Greater Los Angeles. Our unique combination of neighborhood offices, self-help centers at courthouses, and domestic violence clinics puts LAFLA on the front lines in vulnerable communities, and at the forefront of change.
About MICOP
The Mixteco/Indigena Community Organizing Project (MICOP) aims to support, organize, and empower the indigenous migrant communities in California’s Central Coast. We operate over 20 programs across Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo counties, offering a range of social services and community organizing programs, Indigenous Language Interpretation Services (ILIS), and Radio Indigena 94.1 FM. For more information, please visit mixteco.org
