SAN JOSE – The ACLU is suing the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office to obtain a cache of charging data it says it needs to evaluate the county’s compliance with racial-equity legislation , with prosecutors pushing back by warning the data could endanger the privacy rights of thousands of people.

In a lawsuit filed late last month, the ACLU of Northern California asked the county Superior Court to order District Attorney Jeff Rosen and his office to turn over a decade’s worth of records detailing when prosecutors chose to and declined to charge crimes and who made the call, as well as accompanying information such as race and other demographic markers.

The civil-liberties group contends that the data – which it has sought from DA’s offices throughout the state – is necessary

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