American Civil Liberties Union - Wikipedia

American Civil Liberties Union - Wikipedia
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Legal advocacy organization in the United States
For the conservative legal aid group founded in the 1990s, see
American Civil Rights Union
"ACLU" redirects here. For the Australian organisation (1980–2004), see
Australian Civil Liberties Union
American Civil Liberties Union
Predecessor
National Civil Liberties Bureau
Formation
January 19, 1920
; 106 years ago
1920-01-19
Founders
Jeannette Rankin
Roger Nash Baldwin
Crystal Eastman
Helen Keller
Walter Nelles
Morris Ernst
Albert DeSilver
Arthur Garfield Hays
Jane Addams
Felix Frankfurter
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn
Type
501(c)(4)
nonprofit organization
Tax ID no.
13-3871360
Purpose
Civil liberties advocacy
Headquarters
125 Broad Street
, New York City, U.S.
Region served
United States
Membership
1.7
million (2024)
President
Deborah Archer
Executive Director
Anthony Romero
Budget
$383
million (2024; combined ACLU and Foundation, excludes affiliates)
: 22–3
Staff
500 staff attorneys
Volunteers
Several thousand attorneys
Website
www
.aclu
.org
The
American Civil Liberties Union
ACLU
) is an American
nonprofit
civil rights
organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50
states
Washington, D.C.
, and
Puerto Rico
. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million.
The ACLU provides legal assistance in cases where it considers
civil liberties
at risk with advocacy from a
secularist stance
against
excessive religious entanglement
over the United States government. Legal support from the ACLU can take the form of direct legal representation or preparation of
amicus curiae
briefs
expressing legal arguments when another law firm is already providing representation. In addition to representing persons and organizations in lawsuits, the ACLU lobbies for policy positions established by its board of directors.
The ACLU's current positions include opposing the
death penalty
; supporting
same-sex marriage
and the
right of LGBTQ+ people to adopt
; supporting
reproductive rights
such as
birth control
and
abortion rights
; eliminating
discrimination
against women,
minorities
, and
LGBTQ+
people;
decarceration in the United States
; protecting
housing
and
employment
rights of
veterans
; reforming
sex offender registries
and protecting housing and employment rights of convicted first-time offenders; supporting the
rights of prisoners
and opposing
torture
; upholding the
separation of church and state
by opposing government preference for religion over
nonbelief in religious doctrine
or for particular faiths over others; and supporting the legality of gender-affirming treatments, including those that are government funded, for transgender youth.
Leadership
edit
The ACLU is led by a president and an executive director,
Deborah Archer
and
Anthony D. Romero
, respectively, as of September 2025.
The president acts as chair of the ACLU's board of directors, leads fundraising, and facilitates policy-setting. The executive director manages the day-to-day operations of the organization.
The board of directors consists of 80 persons, including representatives from each state affiliate and at-large delegates. The organization has its headquarters in
125 Broad Street
, a 40-story skyscraper located in
Lower Manhattan
, New York City.
10
The leadership of the ACLU does not always agree on policy decisions; differences of opinion within the ACLU leadership have sometimes grown into major debates. In 1937, an internal debate erupted over whether to defend
Henry Ford
's right to distribute anti-union literature.
11
In 1939, a heated debate took place over whether to prohibit
communists
from serving in ACLU leadership roles.
12
During the early 1950s and
Cold War
McCarthyism
, the board was divided on whether to defend communists.
13
In 1968, a schism formed over whether to represent
Benjamin Spock
's anti-war activism.
14
In 1973, as the
Watergate Scandal
continued to unfold, leadership was initially divided over whether to call for President
Richard Nixon
's impeachment and removal from office.
15
In 2005, there was internal conflict about whether or not a
gag rule
should be imposed on ACLU employees to prevent the publication of internal disputes.
16
Funding
edit
Amounts reported to IRS as "Contributions, Gifts, Grants and Other Similar Amounts" by ACLU and ACLU Foundation.
17
Graph reflects an increase in donations following U.S. President Trump's January 2017 executive order barring millions of refugees and citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries.
18
The ACLU solicits donations to its charitable foundation. The local affiliates solicit their own funding; however, some also receive funds from the national ACLU, with the distribution and amount of such assistance varying from state to state. At its discretion, the national organization provides subsidies to smaller affiliates that lack sufficient resources to be self-sustaining; for example, the Wyoming ACLU chapter received such subsidies until April 2015, when, as part of a round of layoffs at the national ACLU, the Wyoming office was closed.
19
20
In October 2004, the ACLU rejected $1.5 million from both the
Ford Foundation
and
Rockefeller Foundation
because the foundations had adopted language from the USA PATRIOT Act in their donation agreements, including a clause stipulating that none of the money would go to "underwriting terrorism or other unacceptable activities". The ACLU views this clause, both in federal law and in the donors' agreements, as a threat to civil liberties, saying it is overly broad and ambiguous.
21
22
Due to the nature of its legal work, the ACLU is often involved in litigation against governmental bodies, which are generally protected from adverse monetary judgments; a town, state, or federal agency may be required to change its laws or behave differently, but not to pay monetary damages except by an explicit statutory waiver. In some cases, the law permits plaintiffs who successfully sue government agencies to collect money damages or other monetary relief. In particular, the
Civil Rights Attorney's Fees Award Act of 1976
leaves the government liable in some civil rights cases. Fee awards under this civil rights statute are considered "equitable relief" rather than damages, and government entities are not immune from equitable relief.
23
Under laws such as this, the ACLU and its state affiliates sometimes share in monetary judgments against government agencies. In 2006, the
Public Expressions of Religion Protection Act
sought to prevent monetary judgments in the particular case of violations of church-state separation.
24
The ACLU has received court-awarded fees from opponents; for example, the Georgia affiliate was awarded $150,000 in fees after suing a county demanding the removal of a
Ten Commandments
display from its courthouse;
25
a second Ten Commandments case in the state, in a different county, led to a $74,462 judgment.
26
The
State of Tennessee
was required to pay $50,000, the State of Alabama $175,000, and the State of Kentucky $121,500, in similar Ten Commandments cases.
27
28
In 2024, the ACLU received $268M in grants and donations from supporters.
: 22–3
Policy positions
edit
The ACLU's 2024 annual report states that it engages in legal advocacy in support of civil rights, including abortion rights, LGBTQ equality, immigrants' rights, criminal law reform, free speech, and voting rights.
: 3–4
When the ACLU was formed in 1919, free speech was the civil right that it concentrated on. The ACLU has supported free speech, even when the speech is unpopular or offensive. The ACLU opposes limits on campaign contributions, since such limits generally limit free speech and could be used to restrict the rights of unions.
: 12–13
29
30
The ACLU also opposes state censorship of the
Confederate flag
31
Free speech on college campuses has been the subject of several lawsuits the ACLU has supported.
32
In the employment realm, the ACLU has supported the rights of employees to engage in free speech.
33
34
Protests outside religious buildings are supported by the ACLU, even when perceived as offensive.
35
Combating discrimination based on race, religion, ethnicity, or gender has been a focus of the ACLU since the civil rights era in the 1960s. The ACLU frequently participates in legal actions in support of the LGBTQ community.
: 14–15
36
37
38
39
Criminal justice has been long-standing goal of the ACLU, focusing on constitutional issues such as excessive punishment and the right to an attorney.
: 18–19
40
41
Immigrant rights, for undocumented immigrants in particular, is an area of the law that the ACLU frequently acts as an advocate.
: 16–17
42
43
44
45
46
Many of the ACLU positions are rooted in the U.S. Constitution, such as the
Second Amendment
: the ACLU opposes any effort to create a national registry of gun owners and has worked with the
National Rifle Association of America
to prevent a registry from being created, and it has favored protecting the right to carry guns under the Second Amendment.
47
48
However, the ACLU also supports some degree of
gun control
49
The ACLU supports women's rights to make health care decisions, including access to abortions.
: 10–11
50
51
52
53
Partisanship
edit
The ACLU has received criticism for its defense of individuals and organizations with offensive or unpopular viewpoints
54
. The most ardent criticisms have come in response to its defense of the
Ku Klux Klan
, neo-Nazis, the
Nation of Islam
, the
North American Man/Boy Love Association
, the
Westboro Baptist Church
or the
Unite the Right rally
55
56
57
The ACLU's official policy is "... [we have] represented or defended individuals engaged in some truly offensive speech. We have defended the speech rights of communists, Nazis, Ku Klux Klan members, accused terrorists, pornographers, anti-LGBTQ activists, and flag burners. That's because the defense of freedom of speech is most necessary when the message is one most people find repulsive. Constitutional rights must apply to even the most unpopular groups if they're going to be preserved for everyone."
58
59
The organization has found legal and financial support from individuals and organizations of disparate political affiliations. Allies of the ACLU in legal actions have included the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
60
the
American Jewish Congress
61
the
National Rifle Association of America
62
Planned Parenthood
63
64
the
Electronic Frontier Foundation
65
and
Americans United for Separation of Church and State
66
In her 2009 book, former board member
Wendy Kaminer
criticized the ACLU's expanded fundraising
67
and accused its leadership of catering to its donors.
68
A nonpartisan stance is avowed by the ACLU,
69
and the ACLU has supported
conservative
figures such as
Rush Limbaugh
70
George Wallace
71
Henry Ford
72
and
Oliver North
73
as well as
liberal
figures such as
Dick Gregory
74
Rockwell Kent
75
and
Benjamin Spock
14
76
However, the ACLU has been accused of partisanship by both liberals and conservatives. Liberals have criticized the ACLU for excluding
communists
from its leadership ranks; defending
Neo-Nazis
; declining to defend
Paul Robeson
; and opposing the passage of the
National Labor Relations Act
77
78
In 2014, an ACLU affiliate supported anti-Islam protesters,
79
and in 2018 the ACLU was criticized when it supported the NRA.
80
81
Conversely, it has been criticized by conservatives, such as when it argued against official prayer in public schools or when it opposed the
Patriot Act
82
83
Organization and state affiliates
edit
Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida, joins in a protest of the
Guantanamo Bay detentions
with
Amnesty International
At the national level, the ACLU consists of two legal entities: the American Civil Liberties Union, a
501(c)(4)
social welfare group; and the ACLU Foundation, a
501(c)(3)
public charity
. Both are non-profit organizations that engage in
civil rights
litigation, advocacy, and education. The two organizations are closely related, and share common goals and some common leadership. Donations to the 501(c)(3) foundation are tax-deductible, but donations to the 501(c)(4) are not. The 501(c)(4) group can engage in unlimited political advocacy (including
lobbying
), but the 501(c)(3) foundation cannot.
84
85
Most of the organization's workload is performed by its local affiliates. There is at least one affiliate organization in each state, as well as one in
Washington, D.C.
, and in
Puerto Rico
California
has three affiliates.
86
The affiliates operate autonomously from the national organization; each affiliate has its own staff, executive director, board of directors, and budget. Each affiliate consists of two non-profit corporations: a
501(c)(3)
corporation–called the ACLU Foundation–that does not perform lobbying, and a
501(c)(4)
corporation–called ACLU–which is entitled to lobby. Both organizations share staff and offices.
87
88
89
ACLU affiliates are the basic unit of the ACLU's organization and engage in litigation, lobbying, and public education. For example, in 2020, the
ACLU's New Jersey chapter
argued 26 cases before the
New Jersey Supreme Court
, about one-third of the total cases heard in that court. They sent over 50,000 emails to officials or agencies and had 28 full-time staff.
90
American Civil Liberties Union state affiliates
edit
State
ACLU state affiliate
Alabama
ACLU of Alabama
Alaska
ACLU of Alaska
Arizona
ACLU of Arizona
Arkansas
ACLU of Arkansas
California
ACLU of Northern California
Wikidata
ACLU of Southern California
91
ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties
Colorado
ACLU of Colorado
Connecticut
ACLU of Connecticut
Delaware
ACLU of Delaware
District of Columbia
ACLU of the District of Columbia
Florida
ACLU of Florida
Wikidata
Georgia
ACLU of Georgia
Wikidata
Hawaii
ACLU of Hawai'i
Idaho
ACLU of Idaho
Wikidata
Illinois
ACLU of Illinois
Wikidata
Indiana
ACLU of Indiana
Iowa
ACLU of Iowa
Kansas
ACLU of Kansas
Wikidata
Kentucky
ACLU of Kentucky
Louisiana
ACLU of Louisiana
Maine
ACLU of Maine
Maryland
ACLU of Maryland
Wikidata
Massachusetts
ACLU of Massachusetts
Michigan
ACLU of Michigan
Wikidata
Minnesota
ACLU of Minnesota
Wikidata
Mississippi
ACLU of Mississippi
Missouri
ACLU of Missouri
Wikidata
Montana
ACLU of Montana
Nebraska
ACLU of Nebraska
Nevada
ACLU of Nevada
Wikidata
New Hampshire
ACLU of New Hampshire
New Jersey
American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey
New Mexico
ACLU of New Mexico
New York
New York Civil Liberties Union
North Carolina
ACLU of North Carolina
Wikidata
North Dakota
ACLU of North Dakota
Ohio
ACLU of Ohio
Wikidata
Oklahoma
ACLU of Oklahoma
Oregon
ACLU of Oregon
Wikidata
Pennsylvania
ACLU of Pennsylvania
Wikidata
Puerto Rico
ACLU of Puerto Rico National Chapter
Rhode Island
ACLU of Rhode Island
South Carolina
ACLU of South Carolina
South Dakota
ACLU of South Dakota
Tennessee
ACLU of Tennessee
Texas
ACLU of Texas
92
Utah
ACLU of Utah
Wikidata
Vermont
ACLU of Vermont
Virginia
ACLU of Virginia
Wikidata
93
Washington
ACLU of Washington
Wikidata
West Virginia
ACLU of West Virginia
Wisconsin
ACLU of Wisconsin
Wyoming
ACLU of Wyoming
History
edit
Main article:
History of the American Civil Liberties Union
The ACLU has undertaken a large number of legal initiatives during its existence. In the chronological history below, ACLU initiatives are described in the decade in which the ACLU
started
advocating for the legal initiative. The description may include events that extended beyond the starting decade.
1910s and '20s
edit
Origins
edit
Crystal Eastman
was one of the co-founders of the CLB, the predecessor to the ACLU.
The ACLU developed from the
National Civil Liberties Bureau
(CLB), co-founded in 1917 during
World War I
by
Crystal Eastman
, an attorney activist, and
Roger Nash Baldwin
94
The focus of the CLB was on
freedom of speech
, primarily anti-war speech, and on supporting
conscientious objectors
who did not want to serve in World War I.
95
In 1918, Crystal Eastman resigned from the organization due to health issues.
96
on January 19, 1920, the CLB directors formed an organization under a new name, the American Civil Liberties Union.
Although a handful of other organizations in the United States at that time focused on civil rights, such as the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
NAACP
) and
Anti-Defamation League
(ADL), the ACLU was the first that did not represent a particular group of persons or a single theme.
During the first decades of the ACLU, Baldwin continued as its leader. His charisma and energy attracted many supporters to the ACLU board and leadership ranks.
97
The ACLU was directed by an executive committee and was not particularly democratic or egalitarian. New Yorkers dominated the ACLU's headquarters.
98
Most ACLU funding came from philanthropies, such as the
Garland Fund
99
Free speech era
edit
Norman Thomas
was one of the early leaders of the ACLU.
During the 1920s, the ACLU's primary focus was on freedom of speech in general and speech within the labor movement particularly.
100
Because most of the ACLU's efforts were associated with the labor movement, the ACLU itself came under heavy attack from conservative groups, such as the
American Legion
, the
National Civic Federation
, and Industrial Defense Association and the Allied Patriotic Societies.
101
In addition to labor, the ACLU also led efforts in non-labor arenas, for example, promoting free speech in public schools.
102
The ACLU, working with the
NAACP
, also supported racial discrimination cases.
60
Government officials routinely hounded the
Communist Party USA
, leading it to be the primary client of the ACLU.
103
At the same time, the Communists were very aggressive in their tactics, often engaging in illegal conduct such as denying their party membership under oath. This led to frequent conflicts between the Communists and ACLU.
103
Public schools
edit
Five years after the ACLU was formed, the organization had virtually no success to show for its efforts.
104
That changed in 1925, when the ACLU persuaded
John T. Scopes
to defy Tennessee's anti-
evolution
law in
The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes
Clarence Darrow
, a member of the ACLU National Committee, headed Scopes' legal team.
105
106
The Scopes trial was a phenomenal public relations success for the ACLU.
107
The ACLU became well known across America, and the case led to the first endorsement of the ACLU by a major US newspaper.
108
The most important ACLU case of the 1920s was
Gitlow v. New York
, in which
Benjamin Gitlow
was arrested for violating a state law against inciting anarchy and violence when he distributed literature promoting communism.
109
Although the Supreme Court did not overturn Gitlow's conviction, it adopted the ACLU's stance (later termed the
incorporation doctrine
) that the First Amendment freedom of speech applied to state laws, as well as federal laws.
110
Free speech expansion
edit
The ACLU defended
H. L. Mencken
when he was arrested for distributing banned literature.
Leaders of the ACLU were divided on the best tactics to use to promote civil liberties. Felix Frankfurter felt that legislation was the best long-term solution because the Supreme Court could not mandate liberal interpretations of the Bill of Rights. But
Walter Pollak
Morris Ernst
, and other leaders felt that Supreme Court decisions were the best path to guarantee civil liberties.
111
112
The
Comstock laws
banned the distribution of sex education information based on the premise that it was obscene and led to promiscuous behavior.
113
Birth control activist
Mary Ware Dennett
was fined in 1928 for distributing a pamphlet containing sex education material. The ACLU appealed her conviction and won a reversal.
113
1930s
edit
Although the ACLU deferred to the NAACP for litigation promoting civil liberties for African Americans, the ACLU engaged in educational efforts and published
Black Justice
in 1931, a report which documented
institutional racism
throughout the South, including lack of voting rights, segregation, and discrimination in the justice system.
114
The ACLU participated in the 1937
De Jonge v. Oregon
case, and won a major victory when the Supreme Court ruled that "peaceable assembly for lawful discussion cannot be made a crime."
115
The De Jonge case marked the start of an era lasting for a dozen years, during which Roosevelt appointees (led by
Hugo Black
William O. Douglas
, and
Frank Murphy
) established a body of civil liberties law.
116
In 1938, Justice
Harlan F. Stone
wrote the famous "footnote four" in
United States v. Carolene Products Co.
in which he suggested that state laws which impede civil liberties would – henceforth – require compelling justification.
117
The ACLU regularly tackled police misconduct issues, starting with the 1932 case
Powell v. Alabama
(right to an attorney), and including 1942's
Betts v. Brady
(right to an attorney), and 1951's
Rochin v. California
(involuntary stomach pumping).
118
In the late 1940s, several ACLU local affiliates established permanent committees to address policing issues.
119
Communism and totalitarianism
edit
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn
was voted off the ACLU board in 1940 because of her Communist Party membership but reinstated posthumously in 1970.
The ACLU leadership was divided over whether or not to defend pro-
Nazi
speech in the United States; pro-labor elements within the ACLU were hostile towards Nazism and fascism and objected when the ACLU defended Nazis.
120
The ACLU defended numerous pro-Nazi groups, defending their rights to free speech and free association.
121
The
House Un-American Activities Committee
(HUAC) was created in 1938 to uncover sedition and treason within the United States.
122
When witnesses testified at its hearings, the ACLU was mentioned several times, leading the HUAC to mention the ACLU prominently in its 1939 report.
123
This damaged the ACLU's reputation severely, even though the report said that it could not "definitely state whether or not" the ACLU was a Communist organization.
123
ACLU leadership was split on whether to purge its leadership of Communists.
Norman Thomas
John Haynes Holmes
, and
Morris Ernst
were anti-Communists who wanted to distance the ACLU from Communism; opposing them were Harry F. Ward,
Corliss Lamont
, and
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn
, who rejected any political test for ACLU leadership.
124
A bitter struggle ensued throughout 1939, and the anti-Communists prevailed in February 1940 when the board voted to prohibit anyone who supported totalitarianism from ACLU leadership roles. Ward immediately resigned, and – following a contentious six-hour debate – Flynn was voted off the ACLU's board.
12
The 1940 resolution was considered by many to be a betrayal of its fundamental principles. The resolution was rescinded in 1968, and Flynn was posthumously reinstated to the ACLU in 1970.
125
1940s
edit
Separation of church and state
edit
Legal battles concerning the separation of church and state originated in laws dating to 1938, which required religious instruction in school or provided state funding for religious schools.
61
The ACLU led the challenge in the 1947
Everson v. Board of Education
case, in which Justice Hugo Black wrote "[t]he First Amendment has erected a wall between church and state.... That wall must be kept high and impregnable."
61
126
127
It was not clear that the Bill of Rights forbid state governments from supporting religious education, and strong legal arguments were made by religious proponents, arguing that the Supreme Court should not act as a "national school board", and that the Constitution did not govern social issues.
128
However, the ACLU and other advocates of church/state separation persuaded the Court to declare such activities unconstitutional.
128
In 1948, the ACLU prevailed in the
McCollum v. Board of Education
case, which challenged public school religious classes taught by clergy paid for by private funds.
128
The ACLU also won cases challenging schools in New Mexico that were taught by clergy and had crucifixes hanging in the classrooms.
129
World War II
edit
Roosevelt put constant pressure on Attorney General
Francis Biddle
to take legal action against his prominent WW II critics.
130
Partly to appease the president, Biddle finally charged thirty lesser-known individuals for violating the
Smith Act
. Although many of the defendants did not know each other, and most lived in scattered locations in the U.S., they were all tried at once in Washington, D.C., in the Sedition Trial of 1944. Despite efforts by Roger N. Baldwin,
Norman Thomas
Thurgood Marshall
, and others in the leadership to get the ACLU to go on record condemning the trial (Baldwin called it "monstrous"), the board of directors overruled them.
131
The ACLU also had a mixed record on fighting wartime restrictions on the press. It was silent when the U.S. Post Office revoked the second class mailing privileges of
Social Justice
, the magazine of Father
Charles E. Coughlin
. On the other hand, it extended legal aid to the publishers of
the Militant
of the
Socialist Workers Party
and the
Boise Valley Herald
when their mailing rights were revoked. The ACLU was unable to prevent extensive extralegal harassment of the black press by the FBI and other agencies. The ACLU's shortcomings in defending civil liberties inspired the contemporary saying "born in World War I and died in World War II."
132
The ACLU was internally divided when it came to defending the rights of Japanese Americans who had been forcibly relocated to
internment camps
Two months after the
Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
, Roosevelt authorized the creation of military "exclusion zones" with
Executive Order 9066
, paving the way for the detention of all West Coast
Japanese Americans
in inland camps. In addition to the non-citizen
Issei
(prohibited from
naturalization
as members of an "unassimilable" race), over two-thirds of those swept up were American-born citizens.
133
The West Coast offices had wanted a test case to take to court. However, they had a difficult time finding a Japanese American who was both willing to violate the internment orders and able to meet the ACLU's desired criteria of a sympathetic, Americanized plaintiff. Of the 120,000 Japanese Americans affected by the order, only 12 disobeyed, and Korematsu, Hirabayashi, and two others were the only resisters whose cases eventually made it to the Supreme Court.
134
Hirabayashi v. United States
came before the Court in May 1943, and the justices upheld the government's right to exclude Japanese Americans from the West Coast.
135
136
The national office of the ACLU was even more reluctant to defend anti-war protesters. A majority of the board passed a resolution in 1942 that declared the ACLU unwilling to defend anyone who interfered with the United States' war effort.
139
The national organization prohibited local branches from representing the renunciants, forcing Collins to pursue the case independently, although Besig and the Northern California office provided some support.
140
Cold War era
edit
The ACLU chose not to support
Eugene Dennis
or other leaders of the US Communist Party, and they were all imprisoned, along with their attorneys.
Anti-Communist sentiment gripped the United States during the
Cold War
beginning in 1946. Federal investigations caused many persons with Communist or left-leaning affiliations to lose jobs, become blocklisted, or be jailed.
141
The ACLU was internally divided when it purged Communists from its leadership in 1940, and that ambivalence continued as it decided whether to defend alleged Communists during the late 1940s.
142
This ambivalent state of affairs would last until 1954, when the civil liberties faction prevailed, leading to most anti-Communist leaders' resignations.
13
In 1947, President Truman issued
Executive Order 9835
, which created the
Federal Loyalty Program
. This program authorized the Attorney General to create a list of organizations that were deemed to be subversive.
143
144
Although ACLU leadership was divided on whether to challenge the Federal Loyalty Program, some challenges were successfully made.
144
Also in 1947, the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) subpoenaed ten Hollywood directors and writers, the
Hollywood Ten
, intending to ask them to identify Communists, but the witnesses refused to testify. All were imprisoned for
contempt of Congress
. The ACLU supported several artists' appeals but lost on appeal.
145
The ACLU was more successful with an education effort; the 1952 report
The Judges and the Judged
, prepared at the ACLU's direction in response to the blocklisting of actress
Jean Muir
, described the unfair and unethical actions behind the blocklisting process, and it helped gradually turn public opinion against McCarthyism.
146
The federal government took direct aim at the US Communist Party in 1948 when it indicted its top twelve leaders in the
Foley Square trial
147
The case hinged on whether or not mere membership in a totalitarian political party was sufficient to conclude that members advocated the overthrow of the United States government.
147
The ACLU chose not to represent any of the defendants, and they were all found guilty.
147
In a change of heart, the ACLU supported the party leaders during their appeal process. The Supreme Court upheld the convictions in the
Dennis v. United States
decision by softening the free speech requirements from a "clear and present danger" test to a "grave and probable" test.
148
149
The ACLU challenged many loyalty oath requirements across the country, but the courts upheld most loyalty oath laws.
151
The Supreme Court, until 1957, upheld nearly every law which restricted the liberties of Communists.
152
1950s
edit
In 1950, the ACLU board of directors asked executive director Baldwin to resign, feeling he lacked the organizational skills to lead the 9,000 (and growing) member organization. Baldwin objected, but a majority of the board elected to remove him from the position, and he was replaced by
Patrick Murphy Malin
155
Under Malin's guidance, membership tripled to 30,000 by 1955 – the start of 24 years of continual growth leading to 275,000 members in 1974.
156
Malin also presided over an expansion of local ACLU affiliates.
156
The ACLU, controlled by an elite of a few dozen New Yorkers, became more democratic in the 1950s. In 1951, the ACLU amended its bylaws to permit the local affiliates to participate directly in voting on ACLU policy decisions.
157
A bi-annual conference, open to the entire membership, was instituted in the same year; in later decades, it became a pulpit for activist members, who suggested new directions for the ACLU, including abortion rights, death penalty, and rights of the poor.
157
McCarthy era
edit
In the 1950s, the ACLU chose not to support
Paul Robeson
and other leftist defendants, a decision that would later be heavily criticized.
During the early 1950s, the ACLU continued to steer a moderate course through the Cold War. When singer
Paul Robeson
was denied a passport in 1950, even though he was not accused of any illegal acts, the ACLU chose not to defend him.
158
The ACLU later reversed their stance and supported
William Worthy
and
Rockwell Kent
in their passport confiscation cases, which resulted in legal victories in the late 1950s.
159
In response to communist witch-hunts, many witnesses and employees chose to use the
fifth amendment
protection against
self-incrimination
to avoid divulging information about their political beliefs.
160
The national ACLU was divided on whether to defend employees who had been fired merely for pleading the fifth amendment, but the New York affiliate successfully assisted teacher
Harry Slochower
in his Supreme Court case, which reversed his termination.
161
The fifth amendment issue became the catalyst for a watershed event in 1954, which finally resolved the ACLU's ambivalence by ousting the anti-communists from ACLU leadership.
162
In 1953, the anti-communists, led by
Norman Thomas
and
James Fly
, proposed a set of resolutions that inferred guilt of persons that invoked the fifth amendment.
157
Anti-communist leaders refused to accept the results of the vote and brought the issue up for discussion again at the 1954 bi-annual convention.
164
ACLU member
Frank Graham
, president of the
University of North Carolina
, attacked the anti-communists with a counter-proposal, which stated that the ACLU "stand[s] against guilt by association, judgment by accusation, the invasion of privacy of personal opinions and beliefs, and the confusion of dissent with disloyalty".
164
165
The anti-communists finally gave up and departed the board of directors in late 1954 and 1955, ending an eight-year ambivalence within the ACLU leadership ranks.
166
The period from the 1940 resolution (and the purge of Elizabeth Flynn) to the 1954 resignation of the anti-communist leaders is considered by many to be an era in which the ACLU abandoned its core principles.
167
The Supreme Court handed the ACLU two key victories in 1957, in
Watkins v. United States
and
Yates v. United States
, both of which undermined the
Smith Act
and marked the beginning of the end of communist party membership inquiries.
168
1960s
edit
Supreme Court justice
Hugo Black
often endorsed the ACLU's position on the separation of church and state.
During the decade from 1954 to 1964, ACLU membership rose from 30,000 to 80,000, and by 1965 it had affiliates in seventeen states.
169
170
During the ACLU's bi-annual conference in Colorado in 1964, the Supreme Court issued rulings on eight cases involving the ACLU; the ACLU prevailed on seven of the eight.
171
The ACLU played a role in Supreme Court decisions reducing censorship of literature and arts, protecting freedom of association, prohibiting racial segregation, excluding religion from public schools, and providing due process protection to criminal suspects.
169
In the 1960s, the ACLU, in response to member insistence, turned its attention to the in-class promotion of religion.
172
In 1962, the ACLU published a policy statement condemning in-school prayers, observation of religious holidays, and Bible reading.
172
The Supreme Court concurred with the ACLU's position when it prohibited New York's in-school prayers in the 1962
Engel v. Vitale
decision.
173
Cities across America routinely banned movies because they were deemed to be "harmful", "offensive", or "immoral" – censorship which was validated by the 1915
Mutual v. Ohio
Supreme Court decision which held movies to be mere commerce, undeserving of first amendment protection.
174
The ACLU lost an
important press censorship case
when, in 1957, the Supreme Court upheld the obscenity conviction of publisher
Samuel Roth
for distributing adult magazines.
175
As late as 1953, books such as
Tropic of Cancer
and
From Here to Eternity
were still banned.
176
But public standards rapidly became more liberal through the 1960s, and obscenity was notoriously difficult to define, so by 1971, obscenity prosecutions had halted.
171
176
Racial discrimination
edit
Several civil liberties organizations worked together for progress on the
civil rights movement
, including the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP), the ACLU, and the
American Jewish Congress
177
The NAACP took primary responsibility for Supreme Court cases (often led by lead NAACP attorney
Thurgood Marshall
), with the ACLU focusing on police misconduct, and supporting the NAACP with
amicus briefs
177
In 1954, the ACLU filed an
amicus brief
in the case of
Brown v. Board of Education
, which led to the ban on racial segregation in US
public schools
178
Southern states instituted a McCarthyism-style witch-hunt against the NAACP, attempting to force it to disclose membership lists. The ACLU's fight against racism was not limited to segregation; in 1964, the ACLU provided key support to plaintiffs, primarily lower-income urban residents, in
Reynolds v. Sims
, which required states to establish the voting districts following the "one person, one vote" principle.
179
Police misconduct
edit
During the 1950s and 1960s, the ACLU was responsible for substantially advancing the legal protections against police misconduct.
180
Some of the most notable ACLU successes came in the 1960s when the ACLU prevailed in a string of cases limiting the power of police to gather evidence; in 1961's
Mapp v. Ohio
, the Supreme court required states to obtain a warrant before searching a person's home.
183
The
Gideon v. Wainwright
decision in 1963 provided legal representation to indigents.
184
In 1964, the ACLU persuaded the Court, in
Escobedo v. Illinois
, to permit suspects to have an attorney present during questioning.
185
And, in 1966,
Miranda v. Arizona
federal decision required police to notify suspects of their constitutional rights, which was later extended to
juveniles
in the following year's
in re Gault
(1967) federal ruling.
186
Civil liberties revolution
edit
The 1960s was a tumultuous era in the United States, and public interest in civil liberties underwent explosive growth.
189
Civil liberties actions in the 1960s were often led by young people and often employed tactics such as
sit ins
and marches. Protests were often peaceful but sometimes employed militant tactics.
190
The ACLU played a central role in all major civil liberties debates of the 1960s, including new fields such as
gay rights
prisoner's rights
, abortion, rights of the poor, and the death penalty.
189
Membership in the ACLU increased from 52,000 at the beginning of the decade to 104,000 in 1970.
191
In 1960, there were affiliates in seven states, and by 1974 there were affiliates in 46 states.
191
192
During the 1960s, the ACLU underwent a major transformation in tactics; it shifted emphasis from legal appeals (generally involving
amicus briefs
submitted to the Supreme Court) to direct representation of defendants when they were initially arrested.
191
At the same time, the ACLU transformed its style from "disengaged and elitist" to "emotionally engaged".
193
The ACLU published a breakthrough document in 1963, titled
How Americans Protest
, which was borne of frustration with the slow progress in battling racism, and which endorsed aggressive, even militant protest techniques.
194
After four African-American college students
staged a sit-in
in a segregated North Carolina department store, the
sit-in movement
gained momentum across the United States.
195
During 1960–61, the ACLU defended black students arrested for demonstrating in North Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana.
196
The ACLU also provided legal help for the
Freedom Rides
in 1961, the
integration of the University of Mississippi
, the
Birmingham campaign
in 1963, and the 1964
Freedom Summer
196
In 1964, the ACLU opened up a major office in Atlanta, Georgia, dedicated to serving Southern issues.
200
Much of the ACLU's progress in the South was due to
Charles Morgan Jr.
, the charismatic leader of the Atlanta office. Morgan was responsible for desegregating juries (
Whitus v. Georgia
), desegregating prisons (
Lee v. Washington
), and
reforming election laws
201
In 1966, the southern office successfully represented African-American congressman
Julian Bond
in
Bond v. Floyd
, after the
Georgia House of Representatives
refused to admit Bond into the legislature on the basis that he was an admitted pacifist opposed to the ongoing Vietnam War.
202
Vietnam War
edit
The ACLU contends that the Bill of Rights protects individuals who burn the U.S. flag as a form of expression.
The ACLU was at the center of several legal aspects of the Vietnam war: defending
draft resisters
, challenging the constitutionality of the war, the
potential impeachment of Richard Nixon
, and the use of national security concerns to preemptively
censor
newspapers. David J. Miller was the first person prosecuted for burning his
draft card
. The New York affiliate of the ACLU appealed his 1965 conviction (367 F.2d 72:
United States of America v. David J. Miller
, 1966), but the Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal. Two years later, the Massachusetts affiliate took the card-burning case of David O'Brien to the Supreme Court, arguing that the act of burning was a form of symbolic speech, but the Supreme Court upheld the conviction in
United States v. O'Brien
, 391 US 367 (1968).
204
Thirteen-year-old Junior High student Mary Tinker wore a black armband to school in 1965 to object to the war and was suspended from school. The ACLU appealed her case to the Supreme Court and won a victory in
Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District
. This critical case established that the government may not establish "enclaves" such as schools or prisons where all rights are forfeited.
204
The ACLU defended Sydney Street, who was arrested for burning an American flag to protest the reported assassination of civil rights leader
James Meredith
. In the
Street v. New York
decision, the court agreed with the ACLU that encouraging the country to abandon one of its national symbols was a constitutionally protected form of expression.
205
Non-war-related free speech rights were also advanced during the Vietnam war era; in 1969, the ACLU defended a
Ku Klux Klan
member who advocated long-term violence against the government, and the Supreme Court concurred with the ACLU's argument in the landmark decision
Brandenburg v. Ohio
, which held that only speech which advocated
imminent
violence could be outlawed.
206
A major crisis gripped the ACLU in 1968 when a debate erupted over whether to defend
Benjamin Spock
and the Boston Five against federal charges that they encouraged draftees to avoid the draft. The board finally agreed to a compromise solution that permitted the ACLU to defend the anti-war activists without endorsing the activist's political views. Some critics of the ACLU suggest that the ACLU became a partisan political organization following the Spock case.
14
After the
Kent State shootings
in 1970, ACLU leaders took another step toward politics by passing a resolution condemning the Vietnam War. The resolution was based on various legal arguments, including civil liberties violations and claiming that the war was illegal.
207
1970s
edit
Watergate era
edit
The ACLU was the first national organization to call for the impeachment of
Richard Nixon
The ACLU supported
The New York Times
in its 1971 suit against the government, requesting permission to publish the
Pentagon Papers
. The court upheld the
Times
and ACLU in the
New York Times Co. v. United States
ruling, which held that the government could not preemptively prohibit the publication of classified information and had to wait until after it was published to take action.
208
On September 30, 1973, the ACLU became first national organization to publicly call for the impeachment and removal from office of President
Richard Nixon
209
Six civil liberties violations were cited as grounds: "specific proved violations of the rights of political dissent; usurpation of Congressional war-making powers; establishment of a personal secret police which committed crimes; attempted interference in the trial of Daniel Ellsberg; distortion of the system of justice and perversion of other Federal agencies".
210
Enclaves and new civil liberties
edit
The decade from 1965 to 1975 saw an expansion of civil liberties. Administratively, the ACLU responded by appointing
Aryeh Neier
as executive director in 1970. Neier embarked on an ambitious program to expand the ACLU; he created the ACLU Foundation to raise funds and created several new programs to focus the ACLU's legal efforts. By 1974, ACLU membership had reached 275,000.
211
During those years, the ACLU worked to expand legal rights in three directions: new rights for persons within government-run "enclaves", new rights for members of what it called "victim groups", and privacy rights for citizens in general.
212
At the same time, the organization grew substantially. The ACLU helped develop the field of constitutional law that governs "enclaves", which are groups of persons that live in conditions under government control. Enclaves include mental hospital patients, military members, prisoners, and students (while at school). The term enclave originated with Supreme Court justice
Abe Fortas
's use of the phrase "schools may not be enclaves of totalitarianism" in the
Tinker v. Des Moines
decision.
213
As early as 1945, the ACLU had taken a stand to protect the rights of the mentally ill when it drafted a model statute governing mental commitments.
214
In the 1960s, the ACLU opposed involuntary commitments unless it could be demonstrated that the person was a danger to himself or the community.
214
In the landmark 1975
O'Connor v. Donaldson
decision, the ACLU represented a non-violent mental health patient who had been confined against his will for 15 years and persuaded the Supreme Court to rule such involuntary confinements illegal.
214
Before 1960, prisoners had virtually no recourse to the court system because courts considered prisoners to have no civil rights.
215
That changed in the late 1950s, when the ACLU began representing prisoners subject to
police brutality
or deprived of religious reading material.
216
In 1968, the ACLU successfully sued to desegregate the Alabama prison system; in 1969, the New York affiliate adopted a project to represent prisoners in New York prisons.
217
Victim groups
edit
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
co-founded the ACLU's Women's Rights Project in 1971.
218
She was later appointed to the
Supreme Court of the United States
by President
Bill Clinton
During the 1960s and 1970s, the ACLU expanded its scope to include what it referred to as "victim groups", namely women, the poor, and homosexuals.
219
Heeding the call of female members, the ACLU endorsed the
Equal Rights Amendment
in 1970
220
and created the Women's Rights Project in 1971. The Women's Rights Project dominated the legal field, handling more than twice as many cases as the
National Organization for Women
, including breakthrough cases such as
Reed v. Reed
Frontiero v. Richardson
, and
Taylor v. Louisiana
221
ACLU leader
Harriet Pilpel
raised the issue of the rights of homosexuals in 1964, and two years later, the ACLU formally endorsed
gay rights
. In 1972, ACLU cooperating attorneys in Oregon filed the first federal civil rights case involving a claim of unconstitutional discrimination against a gay or lesbian public school teacher. The US District Court held that a state statute that authorized school districts to fire teachers for "immorality" was unconstitutionally vague, and awarded monetary damages to the teacher.
222
The rights of the poor were another area that the ACLU expanded.
However, the ACLU played a key role in the 1968
King v. Smith
decision, where the Supreme Court ruled that welfare benefits for children could not be denied by a state simply because the mother cohabited with a boyfriend.
223
Reproductive Freedom Project
edit
The ACLU founded the Reproductive Freedom Project in 1974 to defend individuals the government obstructs in cases involving access to abortions, birth control, or sexual education. According to its mission statement, the project works to provide access to reproductive health care for individuals.
224
The project also opposes
abstinence-only sex education
, arguing that it promotes an unwillingness to use contraceptives.
225
226
227
In 1980, the Project filed
Poe v. Lynchburg Training School & Hospital
which attempted to overturn
Buck v. Bell
, the 1927 US Supreme Court decision which had allowed the Commonwealth of Virginia to legally sterilize persons it deemed to be mentally defective without their permission. Though the Court did not overturn
Buck v.Bell
, in 1985, the state agreed to provide counseling and medical treatment to the survivors among the 7,200 to 8,300 people sterilized between 1927 and 1979.
228
In 1977, the ACLU took part in and litigated
Walker v. Pierce
, the
federal circuit court case
that led to federal regulations to prevent
Medicaid
patients from being sterilized without their knowledge or consent.
229
edit
The
right to privacy
is not explicitly identified in the
US Constitution
, but the ACLU led the charge to establish such rights in the indecisive
Poe v. Ullman
(1961) case, which addressed a state statute outlawing contraception. The issue arose again in
Griswold v. Connecticut
(1965), and this time the Supreme Court adopted the ACLU's position and formally declared a right to privacy.
230
The New York affiliate of the ACLU pushed to eliminate
anti-abortion laws
starting in 1964, a year before
Griswold
was decided; in 1967 the ACLU itself formally adopted the
right to abortion
as a policy.
231
The ACLU led the defense in
United States v. Vuitch
(1971), which expanded the right of physicians to determine when abortions were necessary.
232
These efforts culminated in one of the most controversial Supreme Court decisions,
Roe v. Wade
(1973), which legalized abortion throughout the United States.
233
The ACLU successfully argued against state bans on
interracial marriage
, in the case of
Loving v. Virginia
(1967).
234
Related to privacy, the ACLU engaged in several battles to ensure that government records about individuals were kept private and to give individuals the right to review their records. The ACLU supported several measures, including the 1970
Fair Credit Reporting Act
, which required credit agencies to divulge credit information to individuals; the 1973
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act
, which provided students the right to access their records; and the
1974 Privacy Act
, which prevented the federal government from disclosing personal information without good cause.
235
Allegations of bias
edit
In the early 1970s, conservatives and
libertarians
began to criticize the ACLU for being too political and too liberal.
236
Legal scholar Joseph W. Bishop wrote that the ACLU's trend to partisanship started with its defense of Spock's anti-war protests.
237
Critics also blamed the ACLU for encouraging the Supreme Court to embrace
judicial activism
238
Critics claimed that the ACLU's support of controversial decisions like
Roe v. Wade
and
Griswold v. Connecticut
violated the
intention of the authors
of the Bill of Rights.
238
The ACLU became an issue in the
1988 presidential campaign
, when Republican candidate
George H. W. Bush
accused Democratic candidate
Michael Dukakis
(a member of the ACLU) of being a "card carrying member of the ACLU".
239
Skokie case
edit
Main article:
National Socialist Party of America v. Village of Skokie
In 1977, the
National Socialist Party of America
, led by
Frank Collin
, applied to the town of
Skokie, Illinois
, for a permit to hold a demonstration in the town park. Skokie at the time had a majority population of Jews, totaling 40,000 of 70,000 citizens, some of whom were survivors of
Nazi concentration camps
. Skokie refused to grant the NSPA a permit and passed ordinances against hate speech and military wear, in addition to requiring an insurance bond. Skokie's Village Council ordered
village attorney
, Harvey Schwartz, to seek an injunction to stop the demonstration. The ACLU assisted Collin and appealed to federal court, eventually prevailing in
NSPA v. Village of Skokie
240
The Skokie case was heavily publicized across America, partially because Jewish groups such as the
Jewish Defense League
and
Anti Defamation League
strenuously objected to the demonstration, leading many members of the ACLU to cancel their memberships.
78
The Illinois affiliate of the ACLU lost about 25% of its membership and nearly one-third of its budget.
241
242
243
244
The financial strain from the controversy led to layoffs at local chapters.
245
After the membership crisis died down, the ACLU sent out a fund-raising appeal which explained their rationale for the Skokie case and raised over $500,000 ($2,656,507 in 2025 dollars).
246
247
1980s
edit
Reagan era
edit
The ACLU defended
Oliver North
in 1990, arguing that his conviction was tainted by coerced testimony.
The
Arkansas
1981 creationism statute, which required schools to teach the biblical account of creation as a scientific alternative to evolution. The ACLU won the case in the
McLean v. Arkansas
decision.
248
In 1982, the ACLU became involved in a case involving the distribution of
child pornography
New York v. Ferber
). In an amicus brief, the ACLU argued that child pornography that violates the
three prong obscenity test
should be outlawed. However, the law was overly restrictive because it banned artistic displays and non-obscene material. The court did not adopt the ACLU's position.
249
During the
1988 presidential election
, Vice President
George H. W. Bush
noted that his opponent
Massachusetts Governor
Michael Dukakis
had described himself as a "card-carrying member of the ACLU" and used that as evidence that Dukakis was "a strong, passionate liberal" and "out of the mainstream".
250
The phrase subsequently was used by the organization in an advertising campaign.
251
1990s
edit
Free speech
edit
In 1997, ruling unanimously in the case of
Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union
, the Supreme Court voided the anti-
indecency
provisions of the
Communications Decency Act
(the CDA), finding they violated the freedom of speech provisions of the
First Amendment
. In their decision, the Supreme Court held that the CDA's "use of the undefined terms 'indecent' and 'patently offensive' will provoke uncertainty among speakers about how the two standards relate to each other and just what they mean."
252
2000s
edit
In 2006, the ACLU of Washington State joined with a pro-gun rights organization, the
Second Amendment Foundation
, and prevailed in a lawsuit against the North Central Regional Library District (NCRL) in Washington for its policy of refusing to disable restrictions upon an adult patron's request. Library patrons attempting to access pro-gun web sites were blocked, and the library refused to remove the blocks.
253
In 2012, the ACLU sued the same library system for refusing to disable temporarily, at the request of an adult patron, Internet filters which blocked access to
Google Images
254
In 2006, the ACLU challenged a Missouri law prohibiting picketing outside veterans' funerals. The ACLU filed the suit in support of the
Westboro Baptist Church
and
Shirley Phelps-Roper
, who were threatened with arrest.
255
256
The Westboro Baptist Church is well known for its picket signs that contain messages such as "God Hates Fags", "Thank God for Dead Soldiers", and "Thank God for 9/11". The ACLU issued a statement calling the legislation a "law that infringes on Shirley Phelps-Roper's rights to religious liberty and free speech."
257
The ACLU prevailed in the lawsuit.
258
In 2009, the ACLU filed an
amicus brief
in
Citizens United v. FEC
, arguing that the
Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act
of 2002 violated the First Amendment right to free speech by curtailing political speech.
259
This stance on the landmark
Citizens United
case caused considerable disagreement within the organization, resulting in a discussion about its future stance during a quarterly board meeting in 2010.
260
LGBTQ issues
edit
In 2000, the ACLU lost the
Boy Scouts of America v. Dale
case, which had asked the Supreme Court to require the
Boy Scouts of America
to drop their policy of prohibiting homosexuals from becoming Boy Scout leaders.
262
In March 2004, the ACLU, along with
Lambda Legal
and the
National Center for Lesbian Rights
, sued the state of California on behalf of six same-sex couples who were denied marriage licenses. That case,
Woo v. Lockyer
, was eventually consolidated into
In re Marriage Cases
, the
California Supreme Court
case which led to same-sex marriage being available in that state from June 16, 2008, until
Proposition 8
was passed on November 4, 2008.
263
The ACLU,
Lambda Legal
and the
National Center for Lesbian Rights
then challenged Proposition 8 and won.
264
265
In 2011, the ACLU started its
Don't Filter Me
project, countering
LGBTQ
-related
Internet censorship
in
public schools
in the United States.
266
On January 7, 2013, the ACLU settled with the federal government in
Collins v. United States
that provided for the payment of full separation pay to servicemembers discharged under "
don't ask, don't tell
" since November 10, 2004, who had previously been granted only half that.
267
2010s
edit
In 2012, the ACLU filed suit on behalf of the
Ku Klux Klan
of Georgia, claiming that the KKK was unfairly rejected from the state's "
Adopt-a-Highway
" program. The ACLU prevailed in the lawsuit.
268
Allegations of prioritizing civil rights over civil liberties
edit
Some have claimed the ACLU is reducing its support of unpopular free speech (specifically, by declining to defend speech made by
conservatives
) in favor of
identity politics
political correctness
, and
progressivism
269
Instead, critics contend that the organization has become a progressive advocacy organization intensely focused on
identity politics
270
One basis of these allegations was a 2017 statement the ACLU president made to a reporter after the death of a counter-protester during the
2017 Unite the Right rally in Virginia
, where Romero told a reporter that the ACLU would no longer support legal cases of activists that wish to carry guns at their protests.
271
Some analysts viewed this as a retreat from the ACLU's historically strong support of First Amendment rights, regardless of whether minorities were negatively impacted by the speech, citing the ACLU's past support for certain KKK and Nazi legal cases.
273
274
275
276
277
The ACLU responded to the criticisms by denying that they are reducing their support for unpopular First Amendment causes and listing 27 cases from 2017 to 2021 where the ACLU supported a party holding an unpopular or repugnant viewpoint.
2020s
edit
Anti-terrorism issues
edit
The ACLU represented
Internet service provider
Nicholas Merrill
in
a 2004 lawsuit
which challenged the government's right to gather information about Internet access secretly.
After the
September 11 attacks
, the federal government instituted a broad range of new measures to combat
terrorism
, including the passage of the
Patriot Act
. The ACLU challenged many of the measures, claiming that they violated rights regarding
due process
, privacy, illegal searches, and
cruel and unusual punishment
During the ensuing debate regarding the proper balance of civil liberties and security, the membership of the ACLU increased by 20%, bringing the group's total enrollment to 330,000.
280
The growth continued, and by August 2008 ACLU membership was greater than 500,000. It remained at that level through 2011.
281
The ACLU has been a vocal opponent of the
Patriot Act
of 2001, the
PATRIOT 2
Act of 2003, and associated legislation made in response to the threat of domestic terrorism. In response to a requirement of the USA PATRIOT Act, the ACLU withdrew from the
Combined Federal Campaign
charity drive.
282
In 2004, the ACLU sued the federal government in
American Civil Liberties Union v. Ashcroft
on behalf of
Nicholas Merrill
, owner of an
Internet service provider
. Under the provisions of the Patriot Act, the government had issued
national security letters
to Merrill to compel him to provide private Internet access information from some of his customers.
283
284
285
In January 2006, the ACLU filed a lawsuit,
ACLU v. NSA
, in a federal district court in Michigan, challenging government spying in the
NSA warrantless surveillance (2001–2007)
controversy.
286
On August 17, 2006, that court ruled that the warrantless wiretapping program was unconstitutional and ordered it ended immediately.
287
The ACLU represented a
Muslim-American
who was detained but never accused of a crime in
Ashcroft v. al-Kidd
, a civil suit against former Attorney General
John Ashcroft
290
In January 2010, the
American military
released the names of 645 detainees held at the
Bagram Theater Internment Facility
in Afghanistan, modifying its long-held position against publicizing such information. This list was prompted by a
Freedom of Information Act
lawsuit filed in September 2009 by the ACLU, whose lawyers had also requested detailed information about conditions, rules, and regulations.
291
292
Trump administration
edit
Abdi Soltani, executive director of Northern California ACLU, speaks at a San Francisco protest of the U.S. immigration ban.
Following
Donald Trump
's election as president on November 8, 2016, the ACLU responded on Twitter by saying: "Should President-elect Donald Trump attempt to implement his unconstitutional campaign promises, we'll see him in court."
293
On January 27, 2017, President Trump signed an
executive order
indefinitely barring "Syrian refugees from entering the United States, suspended all refugee admissions for 120 days and blocked citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries, refugees or otherwise, from entering the United States for 90 days: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen".
294
The ACLU responded by filing a lawsuit against the ban on behalf of Hameed Khalid Darweesh and Haider Sameer Abdulkhaleq Alshawi, who had been detained at JFK International Airport. On January 28, 2017, District Court Judge
Ann Donnelly
granted a temporary injunction against the immigration order,
295
saying it was difficult to see any harm from allowing the newly arrived immigrants to remain in the country.
296
In response to Trump's order, the ACLU raised more than $24 million from more than 350,000 individual online donations in two days. This amounted to six times what the ACLU normally receives in online donations in a year. Celebrities donating included
Chris Sacca
(who offered to match other people's donations and ultimately gave $150,000),
Rosie O'Donnell
Judd Apatow
Sia
John Legend
, and
Adele
297
298
The number of members of the ACLU doubled in the time from the election to end of January to 1 million.
298
Grants and contributions increased from US$106 million reported by the 2016 year-end
income statement
to $274 million by the 2017 year-end statement. The segment's primary revenue source came from individual contributions in response to the Trump presidency's infringements on
civil liberties
299
300
301
Besides filing more lawsuits than during previous presidential administrations, the ACLU has spent more money on advertisements and messaging as well, weighing in on elections and pressing political concerns. This increased public profile has drawn some accusations that the organization has become more politically partisan than in previous decades.
302
303
304
In 2018,
Harvard Law School
professor
Alan Dershowitz
accused the ACLU of morphing from a "neutral defender of everyone’s civil liberties" into a "hyper-partisan, hard-left political advocacy group."
305
In December 2025, the ACLU of Minnesota filed a lawsuit on behalf of six community members, alleging
Immigration and Customs Enforcement
agents violated the constitutional rights of U.S. citizens to "watch, document, and criticize ICE."
306
307
308
Israel–Palestine
edit
In 2022, the ACLU petitioned the US Supreme Court to overturn an Arkansas
anti-BDS law
mandating that companies pledge not to boycott Israel in order to do business with the state.
309
During the
Gaza war
, the New York chapter of the ACLU sued
Columbia University
for banning its campus chapters of
Jewish Voice for Peace
and
Students for Justice in Palestine
on the grounds of First Amendment violations.
310
In February 2024, the ACLU signed a letter to US Secretary of Education
Miguel Cardona
calling on him to reject
defining antisemitism
to include some political criticism of the government of the state of Israel, claiming it would lead to
First Amendment
violations.
311
312
Social media
edit
In 2024, the ACLU spoke out against governments banning the social media platform
313
The organization specifically condemned a U.S. House bill banning the platform in March 2024, calling the legislation "unconstitutional."
314
In December 2024, the ACLU criticized a federal appeals court ruling that upheld the law, claiming it "sets a flawed and dangerous precedent, one that gives the government far too much power to silence Americans' speech online."
313
The ACLU has also lobbied against the
Kids Online Safety Act
, a bill meant to protect children online.
315
The organization claims it would censor important conversations online, particularly among marginalized groups.
315
See also
edit
American Civil Rights Union
– American nonprofit legal organization
Anti-Defamation League
– International Jewish organization
British Columbia Civil Liberties Association
– Canadian organization
Canadian Civil Liberties Association
– Legal advocacy organization
Common Cause
– Watchdog group advocating government reform
Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
– American free speech organization
Institute for Justice
– American libertarian non-profit public interest law firm
Liberty (advocacy group)
– UK advocacy group and membership organisation
List of court cases involving the American Civil Liberties Union
National Emergency Civil Liberties Committee
– United States advocacy group
Political freedom
– Concept in history and political thought
Southern Poverty Law Center
– American civil rights organization
References
edit
Footnotes
edit
After assuming sole leadership of the CLB, Baldwin insisted that the organization be reorganized. He wanted to change its focus from litigation to direct action and public education.
Korematsu v. United States
proved to be the most controversial of these cases, as Besig and Collins refused to bow to the national ACLU office's pressure to pursue the case without challenging the government's right to remove citizens from their homes. The ACLU board threatened to revoke the San Francisco branch's national affiliation. At the same time, Baldwin tried unsuccessfully to convince Collins to step down so he could replace him as lead attorney in the case.
137
138
Legal scholar
Peter Irons
later asserted that the national office of the ACLU's decision not to challenge the constitutionality of Executive Order 9066 directly had "crippled the effective presentation of these appeals to the Supreme Court".
136
The
Dennis
decision paved the way for the prosecution of hundreds of other Communist party members.
150
The ACLU supported many Communists during their appeals (although most of the initiative originated with local ACLU affiliates, not the national headquarters), but most convictions were upheld.
150
The two California affiliates, in particular, felt the national ACLU headquarters was not supporting civil liberties strongly enough, and they initiated more cold war cases than the national headquarters did.
149
The ACLU, even though it scaled back its defense of Communists during the Cold War, still came under heavy criticism as a "front" for Communism. Critics included the
American Legion
, Senator
Joseph McCarthy
, the HUAC, and the FBI.
153
Several ACLU leaders were sympathetic to the FBI, and as a consequence, the ACLU rarely investigated any of the many complaints alleging abuse of power by the FBI during the Cold War.
154
These resolutions were the first that fell under the ACLU's new organizational rules permitting local affiliates to participate in the vote; the affiliates outvoted the national headquarters and rejected the anti-communist resolutions.
163
After 1955, the ACLU proceeded with firmer resolve against Cold War anti-communist legislation.
167
The ACLU's success arose from changing public attitudes; the American populace was more educated, tolerant, and willing to accept unorthodox behavior.
169
In 1960, 42 percent of American schools included Bible reading.
172
In 1958, the Philadelphia affiliate was responsible for causing the City of Philadelphia to create the nation's first civilian police review board.
181
In 1959, the Illinois affiliate published the first report in the nation,
Secret Detention by the Chicago Police
which documented unlawful detention by police.
182
Although many law enforcement officials criticized the ACLU for expanding the rights of suspects, police officers also used the services of the ACLU. For example, when the ACLU represented New York City policemen in their lawsuit, which objected to searches of their workplace lockers.
187
In the late 1960s, civilian review boards in New York City and Philadelphia were abolished, over the ACLU's objection.
188
The NAACP was responsible for managing most sit-in related cases that made it to the Supreme Court, winning nearly every decision.
197
But it fell to the ACLU and other legal volunteer efforts to provide legal representation to hundreds of protestors – white and black – who were arrested while protesting in the South.
197
The ACLU joined with other civil liberties groups to form the Lawyers Constitutional Defense Committee (LCDC), which provided legal representation to many protesters.
198
The ACLU provided the majority of the funding for the LCDC.
199
Another widely publicized case defended by Morgan was that of Army doctor Howard Levy, who was convicted of refusing to train
Green Berets
. Despite raising the defense that the Green Berets were committing war crimes in Vietnam, Levy lost on appeal in
Parker v. Levy
, 417 US 733 (1974).
203
In 1966 and again in 1968, activists within the ACLU encouraged the organization to adopt a policy overhauling the welfare system and guaranteeing low-income families a baseline income; but the ACLU board did not approve the proposals.
223
On March 27, 2012, the ACLU reaffirmed its stance in support of the Supreme Court's
Citizens United
ruling, at the same time voicing support for expanded public financing of election campaigns and stating the organization would firmly oppose any future constitutional amendment limiting free speech.
261
Another basis for these claims was an internal ACLU memo dated June 2018, discussing factors to evaluate when deciding whether to take a case. The memo listed several factors to consider, including "the extent to which the speech may assist in advancing the goals of white supremacists or others whose views are contrary to our values." The memo's authors stated that the memo did not define a change in official ACLU policy, but was intended as a guideline to assist ACLU affiliates in deciding which cases to take.
272
The cases included one which challenged college restrictions on hate speech; a case defending a Catholic school's right to discriminate in hiring; and a case that defended antisemitic protesters who marched outside a synagogue.
278
An ACLU policy
states: "Our way forward lies in decisively turning our backs on the policies and practices that violate our greatest strength: our Constitution and the commitment it embodies to the rule of law. Liberty and security do not compete in a zero-sum game; our freedoms are the very foundation of our strength and security. The ACLU's National Security Project advocates for national security policies that are consistent with the Constitution, the rule of law, and fundamental human rights. The Project litigates cases relating to detention, torture, discrimination, surveillance, censorship, and secrecy.
279
However, the order was stayed pending an appeal. The
Bush
administration did suspend the program while the appeal was being heard.
288
In February 2008, the US Supreme Court turned down an appeal from the ACLU to let it pursue a lawsuit against the program that began shortly after the September 11 terror attacks.
289
Citations
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2013
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{{
cite news
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Raskin, James B. (2009), "No Enclaves of Totalitarianism", American University Law Review, Vol. 58:1193.
Walker, p. 309.
Note, "Beyond the Ken of Courts",
Yale Law Journal
72 (1963):506. Cited by Walker, p. 310.
Walker, p. 310.
Walker, pp. 310–11. The ACLU was not involved in the
Landman
case.
Pullman, Sandra (March 7, 2006).
"Tribute: The Legacy of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and WRP Staff"
Archived
March 19, 2015, at the
Wayback Machine
ACLU.org
. Accessed November 18, 2010.
Walker, p. 299.
The ERA was passed by congress in 1972 but failed to be ratified by the states.
Walker, pp. 304–05.
Walker, p. 312.
Walker, p. 313.
Hartmann, Susan M. (January 1, 1998).
"Litigating Feminist Principles"
. In Hartmann, Susan M. (ed.).
The Other Feminists
. Activists in the Liberal Establishment. Yale University Press. pp.
53–91
ISBN
978-0300074642
JSTOR
j.ctt32bqj0.7
"Center for Reproductive Rights, Planned Parenthood, ACLU File Challenges to Abortion Restrictions in Three States"
Center for Reproductive Rights
. September 27, 2013. Archived from
the original
on July 9, 2017
. Retrieved
May 1,
2017
"For Women's Reproductive Freedom, a Chill Wind Blows"
The American Prospect
. Archived from
the original
on May 2, 2017
. Retrieved
May 1,
2017
"Abstinence-Only Education in the Courts"
Archived
from the original on July 2, 2022
. Retrieved
May 2,
2017
Wong, Elizabeth (January 11, 2013).
"A Shameful History: Eugenics in Virginia"
ACLUVA
Archived
from the original on August 17, 2021
. Retrieved
August 16,
2021
"About the ACLU reproductive freedom project"
Archived
from the original on August 24, 2021
. Retrieved
August 23,
2021
Walker, pp. 300–01
Walker, p. 302.
Walker, p. 303.
Walker, p. 303. The ACLU did not participate directly in
Roe v. Wade
, but did lead the effort in the companion case
Doe v. Bolton
Calhan, Greger.
"A Loving Reality for All"
. ACLU
. Retrieved
March 24,
2026
Walker, p. 308.
Walker, p. 317.
Bishop, Joseph W., "Politics and the ACLU",
Commentary
52 (December 1971): 50–58. Bishop cited by Walker. Bishop was a professor of law at Yale.
Walker, p. 318.
Walker, pp. 319, 363. Bush quoted by Walker.
Ed McManus, "Nazi March: What's It All About?",
Illinois Issues
, v.13, Nov. 1978 (available at
Illinois Periodicals Online
Archived
September 8, 2006, at the
Wayback Machine
).
The federal appeal case was
Smith v. Collin
447 F. Supp. 676. See also Supreme Court:
Smith v. Collin
, 439 US 916 (1978), and
National Socialist Party v. Skokie
, 432 US 43 (1977).
30,000 ACLU members resigned in protest.
Philippa Strum,
When the Nazis Came to Skokie: Freedom for Speech We Hate
(University Press of Kansas) (
University of Kansas Press publisher's catalog description
Archived
August 27, 2007, at the
Wayback Machine
).
"Membership woes hurt ACLU while others gain"
. Archived from
the original
on September 27, 2007
. Retrieved
October 7,
2006
"2d suit to block Nazis from Skokie march fails"
. Archived from
the original
on September 27, 2007
. Retrieved
October 7,
2006
"The High Cost of Free Speech: A.C.L.U. dilemma: defending "hateful and heinous" ideas"
Time
. June 28, 1978. Archived from
the original
on June 24, 2009
. Retrieved
May 18,
2009
1634–1699:
McCusker, J. J.
(1997).
How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda
(PDF)
American Antiquarian Society
1700–1799:
McCusker, J. J.
(1992).
How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States
(PDF)
American Antiquarian Society
1800–present:
Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
"Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–"
. Retrieved
February 29,
2024
Walker, p. 239.
Walker, pp. 342–43.
McLean v. Arkansas Board of Education
, 529 F. Supp. 1255 (E.D. Ark. 1982) (
"transcription" by Clark Dorman
Archived
March 17, 2007, at the
Wayback Machine
, January 30, 1996, at TalkOrigins).
"Letter to Reps. Smith and Scott on H.R. 4623, the "Child Obscenity and Pornography Prevention Act of 2002"
ACLU.org
. May 8, 2002.
Archived
from the original on December 14, 2007
. Retrieved
November 20,
2007
"Debating Our Destiny: The 1988 Debates"
PBS
. Archived from
the original
on December 31, 2013
. Retrieved
August 24,
2017
Randall Rothenburg (September 28, 1988).
"A.C.L.U. Goes Hollywood in Countering Bush's Campaign of Derision"
The New York Times
Archived
from the original on August 29, 2020
. Retrieved
September 28,
2008
"521 U. S. 844 (1997)"
(PDF)
. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on November 14, 2017
. Retrieved
June 27,
2017
Bradburn et al. v. North Central Regional Library District
Archived
October 25, 2013, at the
Wayback Machine
(US District Court, Eastern District of Washington),
"ACLU Lawsuit Seeks Access to Lawful Information on Internet for Library Patrons in Eastern Washington"
. November 16, 2006.
Archived
from the original on January 7, 2011
. Retrieved
January 7,
2011
"Internet Porn is Subject of ACLU lawsuit"
International Business Times
, February 3, 2012.
Garance Burke,
"ACLU Sues for Anti-Gay Group That Pickets at Troops' Burials"
The Washington Post
, July 23, 2006.
The ACLU challenged the Missouri law, which was similar to the federal
Respect for America's Fallen Heroes Act
"ACLU of Eastern Missouri Challenges Law Banning Pickets and Protests One Hour Before or After a Funeral"
Archived
October 21, 2009, at the
Wayback Machine
, ACLU, July 21, 2006.
"ACLU of Eastern Missouri Applauds Decision in Free Speech Case"
. Archived from
the original
on October 31, 2009
. Retrieved
August 3,
2014
Amicus Curiae
Brief of the American Civil Liberties Union in Support of Appellant on Supplemental Question"
(PDF)
Citizens United V. Federal Election Commission
: 24. July 29, 2009.
Archived
(PDF)
from the original on October 9, 2022
. Retrieved
April 1,
2012
Goldstein, Joseph (January 24, 2010).
"ACLU May Reverse Course on Campaign Finance Limits After Supreme Court Ruling"
New York Sun
. Retrieved
March 1,
2019
"The ACLU and
Citizens United
. ACLU. March 27, 2012
. Retrieved
April 1,
2012
"American Civil Liberties Union  : U.S. Supreme Court Ruling that Boy Scouts Can Discriminate is 'Damaging but Limited,' ACLU Says"
www.aclu.org
. Archived from
the original
on October 19, 2009
. Retrieved
January 15,
2026
"California Marriage Case"
, ACLU, retrieved June 28, 2009
"California's Prop 8 Update | ACLU"
American Civil Liberties Union
. November 6, 2008
. Retrieved
January 15,
2026
"| ACLU of Northern CA"
ACLU of Northern CA
Archived
from the original on January 3, 2020
. Retrieved
January 15,
2026
Lasar, Matthew (March 29, 2011).
"Don't filter me": ACLU fights schools that block LGBT websites"
Ars Technica
. Archived from
the original
on December 15, 2014
. Retrieved
December 14,
2014
Geidner, Chris (January 7, 2013).
"Servicemembers Kicked Out Under Military's Gay Ban Since '04 To Receive Full Separation Pay"
Buzz Feed
. Archived from
the original
on January 9, 2013
. Retrieved
January 7,
2013
"Georgia: In Suing State, A.C.L.U. Defends Klan - The New York Times"
The New York Times
. September 15, 2012
. Retrieved
February 17,
2022
Soave, Robby (June 21, 2018).
"Leaked Internal Memo reveals ACLU is wavering on free speech"
Reason
. Retrieved
December 28,
2021
"Civil Rights v civil liberties at the aclu"
The Economist
. Retrieved
December 28,
2021
Kirchick, James (May 24, 2016).
"The Disintegration of the ACLU"
Tablet
. Retrieved
December 28,
2021
Gillespie, Nick; Taylor, Regan (June 23, 2022).
"As the ACLU Recedes From Its Core Mission, FIRE Expands To Fill the Void"
Reason.com
. Retrieved
June 25,
2022
Bazelon, Lara.
"The ACLU Has Lost Its Way"
The Atlantic
Peters, Jeremy W. (March 22, 2024).
"The A.C.L.U. Said a Worker Used Racist Tropes and Fired Her. But Did She?"
The New York Times
Archived
from the original on March 22, 2024
. Retrieved
March 22,
2024
"Why the ACLU is adjusting its approach to "free speech" after Charlottesville"
. Vox. August 21, 2017
. Retrieved
February 17,
2022
Robby Soave (June 21, 2018).
"Leaked Internal Memo Reveals the ACLU Is Wavering on Free Speech"
. Reason.com
. Retrieved
February 17,
2022
Kaminer, Wendy (June 20, 2018).
"The ACLU Retreats From Free Expression"
The Wall Street Journal
ISSN
0099-9660
. Retrieved
June 22,
2018
"Freedom of Expression – ACLU Position Paper"
American Civil Liberties Union
. Retrieved
June 22,
2018
"Brandenburg v. Ohio 395 U.S. 444 (1969) | ACLU of Ohio"
www.acluohio.org
. Archived from
the original
on June 22, 2018
. Retrieved
June 22,
2018
Powell, Michael (June 6, 2021).
"Once a Bastion of Free Speech, the A.C.L.U. Faces an Identity Crisis"
The New York Times
ISSN
0362-4331
. Archived from
the original
on December 28, 2021
. Retrieved
October 29,
2021
Sykes, Michael (June 21, 2018).
"Leaked memo reveals ACLU debate on defense of free speech"
Axios
. Archived from
the original
on June 22, 2018
. Retrieved
June 22,
2018
Cole, David (June 6, 2021).
"Defending Speech We Hate"
ACLU
. Retrieved
December 28,
2021
"National Security – Recent Court Cases, Issues and Articles"
American Civil Liberties Union
. September 11, 2001
. Retrieved
August 15,
2012
Ron Kampeas (December 2, 2002).
"ACLU has new constituency after 9/11"
Associated Press
via
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Archived
from the original on December 8, 2007
. Retrieved
November 20,
2007
ACLU,
"About Us"
Archived
October 31, 2009, at the
Wayback Machine
"American Civil Liberties Union: Citing Government "Blacklist"; Policy, ACLU Rejects $500,000 from Funding Program"
www.aclu.org
Archived
from the original on October 17, 2009
. Retrieved
January 15,
2026
Hamblett, Mark (December 16, 2008).
"2nd Circuit Requires Judicial Review Before Security Letter Gag Order"
. New York Law Journal
. Retrieved
November 8,
2010
Zetter, Kim (August 10, 2010).
'John Doe' Who Fought FBI Spying Freed From Gag Order After 6 Years"
Wired.com
Archived
from the original on October 18, 2010
. Retrieved
November 8,
2010
Doe, John (March 23, 2007).
"My National Security Letter Gag Order"
Washington Post
. Retrieved
November 15,
2010
Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief ("NSA Spying Complaint"),
ACLU v. NSA
(E.D. Mich. January 17, 2006) (
PDF of complaint available
Archived
October 10, 2009, at the
Wayback Machine
at ACLU website, "Safe and Free: NSA Spying" section of website).
Ryan Singel,
"Judge Halts NSA Snooping"
Wired
, August 17, 2006.
Marks, Alexandra (April 3, 2007). "Privacy Advocates Fight for Ground Lost After 9/11".
The Christian Science Monitor
. p. USA2.
"Supreme Court Dismisses ACLU's Challenge to NSA Warrantless Wiretapping Law"
American Civil Liberties Union
. Retrieved
April 27,
2018
Barnes, Robert (October 19, 2010).
"Supreme Court to consider Ashcroft bid for immunity"
The Washington Post
. p. A2.
Rubin, Alissa J.; Rahimi, Sangar (January 17, 2010).
"Bagram Detainees Named by U.S."
New York Times
. Archived from
the original
on January 1, 2022.
"BBC News - US releases names of prisoners at Bagram, Afghanistan"
news.bbc.co.uk
. Archived from
the original
on January 16, 2010
. Retrieved
January 15,
2026
ACLU [@ACLU]
(November 9, 2016).
"Should President-elect Donald Trump attempt to implement his unconstitutional campaign promises, we'll see him in court"
Tweet
).
Archived
from the original on August 12, 2022
. Retrieved
December 13,
2022
– via
Stack, Liam (January 29, 2017).
"Trump's Executive Order on Immigration: What We Know and What We Don't"
The New York Times
ISSN
0362-4331
. Archived from
the original
on January 1, 2022
. Retrieved
January 30,
2017
"ACLU and Other Groups Challenge Trump Immigration Ban After Refugees Detained at Airports Following Executive Order"
. Speak Freely (blog). American Civil Liberties Union
. Retrieved
January 30,
2017
"Judge blocks deportations as Trump order sparks global outrage"
Politico
. Retrieved
February 5,
2017
Stelter, Brian (January 30, 2017).
"ACLU racks up $24.1 million in donations over weekend"
. CNNMoney
. Retrieved
January 30,
2017
Dastagir, Alia E. (January 29, 2017).
"Outrage over Trump's immigrant ban helps ACLU raise more money online in one weekend than in all of 2016"
USA Today
. Retrieved
February 18,
2017
"Donations to A.C.L.U. and Other Organizations Surge After Trump's Order (Published 2017)"
. January 30, 2017
. Retrieved
August 27,
2025
Folley, Aris (July 4, 2018).
"ACLU membership grew from 400,000 to 1.84 million after Trump was elected: report"
The Hill
Archived
from the original on June 9, 2025
. Retrieved
August 27,
2025
"American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)"
www.charitywatch.org
. Retrieved
August 27,
2025
Stahl, Lesley (March 10, 2019).
"The ACLU's surprising new political strategy, modeled in part after the NRA - 60 Minutes - CBS News"
www.cbsnews.com
. Retrieved
August 19,
2024
Heller, Jordan (January 17, 2025).
"The Free-Speech War Inside the ACLU"
Intelligencer
. Retrieved
August 27,
2025
"Once a Bastion of Free Speech, the A.C.L.U. Faces an Identity Crisis (Published 2021)"
. June 6, 2021
. Retrieved
August 27,
2025
Dershowitz, Alan (June 11, 2018).
"The final nail in the ACLU's coffin"
The Hill
Archived
from the original on January 27, 2025
. Retrieved
August 27,
2025
"ACLU of Minnesota filing suit alleging ICE agents have violated constitutional rights - CBS Minnesota"
www.cbsnews.com
. December 18, 2025
. Retrieved
December 18,
2025
Magan, Christopher (December 17, 2025).
"ACLU of Minnesota sues ICE over alleged mistreatment of observers"
The Minnesota Star Tribune
dead link
Brown, Kyle (December 17, 2025).
"ACLU sues ICE, claiming federal agents deprived citizens of civil rights"
KSTP.com 5 Eyewitness News
. Retrieved
December 18,
2025
McGreal, Chris (October 20, 2022).
"ACLU asks supreme court to overturn Arkansas' anti-boycott law against Israel"
The Guardian
. Retrieved
October 29,
2024
Touré, Madina (March 12, 2024).
"Civil liberties organizations sue Columbia over suspension of pro-Palestinian groups"
Politico
. Retrieved
March 14,
2024
Alonso, Johanna.
"ACLU Warns Against Adopting Antisemitism Definition"
Inside Higher Ed
. Retrieved
October 29,
2024
"US civil liberties group asks Education Department to reject IHRA definition of antisemitism"
Al Jazeera
. Retrieved
February 8,
2024
Timotija, Filip (December 7, 2024).
"ACLU denounces federal ruling on TikTok ban"
The Hill
. Retrieved
December 9,
2024
"ACLU says US House bill that could ban TikTok is unconstitutional"
Reuters
. March 6, 2024.
Kang, Cecilia (July 30, 2024).
"How the Kids Online Safety Act Was Dragged Into a Political War"
The New York Times
Bibliography
edit
Alley, Robert S. (1999).
The Constitution & Religion: Leading Supreme Court Cases on Church and State
. Amherst, New York:
Prometheus Books
ISBN
978-1-57392-703-1
Beito, David T.
(2023).
The New Deal's War on the Bill of Rights: The Untold Story of FDR's Concentration Camps, Censorship, and Mass Surveillance
(First ed.). Oakland: Independent Institute. pp.
4–
7.
ISBN
978-1598133561
Bodenhamer, David, and Ely, James, Editors (2008).
The Bill of Rights in Modern America
, second edition. Indiana University Press.
ISBN
978-0-253-21991-6
Donohue, William
(1985).
The Politics of the American Civil Liberties Union
. Transaction Books.
ISBN
0-88738-021-2
Kaminer, Wendy
(2009).
Worst Instincts: Cowardice, Conformity, and the ACLU
. Beacon Press.
ISBN
978-0-8070-4430-8
. A dissident member of the ACLU criticizes its post-9/11 actions as betraying the core principles of its founders.
Kauffman, Christopher J. (1982).
Faith and Fraternalism: The History of the Knights of Columbus, 1882–1982
. Harper and Row.
ISBN
978-0-06-014940-6
Lamson, Peggy (1976).
Roger Baldwin: Founder of the American Civil Liberties Union
. Houghton Mifflin Company.
ISBN
0-395-24761-6
Walker, Samuel (1990).
In Defense of American Liberties: A History of the ACLU
. Oxford University Press.
ISBN
0-19-504539-4
. Retrieved
March 24,
2026
Further reading
edit
Klein Woody, and Baldwin, Roger Nash (2006).
Liberties lost: the endangered legacy of the ACLU
. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006. A collection of essays by Baldwin, each accompanied by commentary from a modern analyst.
Krannawitter, Thomas L. and Palm, Daniel C. (2005).
A Nation Under God?: The ACLU and religion in American politics
. Rowman & Littlefield.
Sears, Alan, and Osten, Craig (2005).
The ACLU vs America: Exposing the Agenda to Redefine Moral Values
. B&H Publishing Group.
Smith, Frank LaGard (1996).
ACLU: The Devil's Advocate: The Seduction of Civil Liberties in America
. Marcon Publishers.
Archives
edit
American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California records
. 754 boxes. UCLA Library Special Collections.
American Civil Liberties Union of Washington.
1917–2019. 188.31 cubic feet (including 13 microfilm reels and 1 videocassette) plus 62 cartons and 2 rolled posters.
Labor Archives of Washington
. University of Washington Special Collections.
American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan: Detroit Branch Records
1952–1966. This collection documents the early years of the Detroit ACLU branch. The collection contains documents related to academic freedom; censorship; church and state; civil liberties; police brutality; HUAC; and legal assistance to prisoners.
Walter P. Reuther Library
, Detroit, Michigan.
American Civil Liberties Union of Oakland County, Michigan
1970–1984. This collection illustrates that the branch was formed to address Oakland County jail conditions, lie detector use, senior housing rights, and attempts to reinstate the death penalty.
Walter P. Reuther Library
, Detroit, Michigan.
American Civil Liberties Union Records
, Princeton University. Document archive 1917–1950, including the history of the ACLU.
Debs Pamphlet Collection
Archived
August 12, 2020, at the
Wayback Machine
, Indiana State University Library. An array of annual ACLU reports in PDF.
List of 100 most important ACLU victories (through 2002)
by New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union
De-classified records on the ACLU
FBI
Selected works sponsored or published by the ACLU
edit
Annual Report – American Civil Liberties Union
, American Civil Liberties Union, 1921.
Black Justice
, ACLU, 1931.
How Americans Protest
, American Civil Liberties Union, 1963.
Secret detention by the Chicago police: a report
, American Civil Liberties Union, 1959.
Report on lawlessness in law enforcement
, Wickersham Commission, Patterson Smith, 1931. This report was written by the ACLU but published under the auspices of the Wickersham Commission.
Miller, Merle, (1952),
The Judges and the Judged
, Doubleday.
ACLU organization records, 1947–1995
. Princeton University Library, Mudd Manuscript Library.
The Dangers of Domestic Spying by Federal Law Enforcement
, American Civil Liberties Union, 2002.
Engines of Liberty: The Power of Citizen Activists to Make Constitutional Law
, David D. Cole, 2016
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