Lawsuit Challenges Authorities Which Used Drones to Photograph Homes Without Warrants

A lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) over drones photographing people’s homes without warrants has forced a California county to overhaul how it conducts aerial surveillance.

In June of 2025, the ACLU Foundation of Northern California filed a lawsuit against Sonoma County in California on behalf of three longtime residents over a runaway drone surveillance program in which code enforcement inspectors spied on residents’ homes and the areas surrounding them without first getting a warrant.

The lawsuit was also filed against Sonoma Code Enforcement’s parent agency, Permit Sonoma, and key officials who operated the program. It argued that using drones to photograph residents’ properties violated the California Constitution.

According to the ACLU’s lawsuit, Sonoma County Code Enforcement (CE) officers had been using low-flying drones to monitor and record people’s homes, fenced-in yards, swimming pools and hot tubs, mostly without their knowledge.

The footage was then used as evidence to target people for a wide range of alleged code violations, resulting in millions of dollars in fines.

‘A Government Drone Might Be Watching’

According to the lawsuit, plaintiff Nichola Schmitz, who is Deaf, learned in 2023 that a county drone had hovered over her rural farm home without a warrant. Unable to hear the drone, she only discovered it when someone else on her property pointed it out. She later worried that the drone may have captured images of her while she was undressed.

The county went on to fine her thousands of dollars over alleged code violations and placed a lien on her property, based in part on evidence gathered during the unwarranted drone flight.

“No one should have to be afraid to open their blinds or step into their own backyard because a government drone might be watching,” Schmitz says.

The ACLU’s lawsuit alleged that a drone initiative launched six years earlier to target unpermitted cannabis grows in hard-to-access rural areas had gotten out of control, violating residents’ right to privacy in their homes.

According to a press release last week, the ACLU Foundation of Northern California has now settled the lawsuit against Sonoma County. Under the settlement, the CE will now be barred from warrantless drone surveillance of homes or the areas surrounding them except in certain limited situations, such as emergencies or when the property owner consents. This is expected to drastically reduce the number of drone flights over people’s homes.

“Today’s settlement agreement will protect everyone’s right to privacy in and around their homes,” Nick Hidalgo, a senior attorney with the ACLU of Northern California, says in a statement. “For too long, the county concealed these unlawful searches from the people they spied on, the community, and the media.”

As a result of the settlement, Permit Sonoma must now notify residents if their home has been surveilled with a drone. The county also agreed to stop stockpiling images of people’s homes. Drone footage will now be deleted 30 days after images are collected, unless it is part of an investigation, in which case it will be deleted 30 days after the investigation closes. The county also agreed not to share images of a home or its surrounding areas with third parties unless required to do so by law.

In addition, the county must put several transparency measures in place to make sure residents understand how the government uses drones. That includes presenting a revised drone use policy to the Board of Supervisors for public comment and producing drone flight logs to the ACLU for two years.

According to the ACLU, 40 years ago, the California Supreme Court prohibited the government from conducting aerial surveillance of people’s homes and surrounding areas without a warrant. The settlement reaffirms that constitutional protection, which the ACLU says is more important than ever as high-powered drones make it easier for government agencies to conduct aerial surveillance of private property.

The news comes after numerous reports about home insurance companies in the U.S. secretly taking photos of private residences using drones, surveillance balloons, and even manned planes to find reasons to drop customers.

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