American Civil Liberties Union

The American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU, is a non-governmental organization whose stated goal is to "defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person ... by the Constitution and laws of the United States." Lawsuits brought by the ACLU have been influential in several important developments in U.S. constitutional law, and it has over 400,000 members as of 2005. The ACLU provides lawyers and legal expertise in cases where it believes an individual's or group of individuals' rights are being violated by the government. In many cases where it does not provide legal representation, the ACLU submits amicus curiae briefs in support of its positions. The ACLU has never officially supported or opposed a political candidate, and is not aligned with any political party, though it has been harshly critical of various elected officials of both major parties over the years. Its stances have engendered criticism from both sides of the political spectrum, though conservatives are much more likely than liberals to criticize the organization (see Critics of the ACLU).

Critics of the ACLU

The ACLU's most vocal critics are generally those who consider themselves conservatives. Many of these conservatives allege that the ACLU has not dedicated itself only to the defense of constitutional rights, but seeks to advance a leftist agenda. Some critics point to its opposition to the death penalty, which has been declared constitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States since 1976, although it had been declared unconstitutional from 1973 to 1976. The ACLU continues to argue that the death penalty violates the eighth amendment restriction against "cruel and unusual punishment" and against international human rights norms.

Related Topics:
Conservative - Leftist - Death penalty - Supreme Court of the United States - Eighth amendment - International human rights

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The 1980 case of Walter Polovchak is also sometimes considered evidence of liberal sympathies on the part of the ACLU. Polovchak was from Ukraine, at that time part of the Soviet Union, and when his parents were returning to Ukraine, tried to stay in the US and claim asylum. The ACLU attempted to block him from doing so. In 1999 the Florida chapter of the ACLU referred approvingly to the ACLU's role in the Polovchak case in their brief for the Elian Gonzales case.

Related Topics:
Ukraine - Elian Gonzales

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Critics also argue that the ACLU has not been consistent in defending all civil liberties, pointing out that it is not active in protecting gun rights. Critics claim gun rights enjoy the similar constitutional protection as civil rights and should be treated equally by the ACLU if it is not motivated by a political agenda. The organization declares itself officially "neutral" on the issue of gun control, pointing to previous Supreme Court decisions such as United States vs. Miller to argue that the Second Amendment applies to the preservation or efficiency of a well-regulated militia, and the possession of weapons by individuals is not constitutionally protected. http://www.aclu.org/PolicePractices/PolicePractices.cfm?ID=9621&c=25 Some critics argue that this position is inconsistent with their stated philosophy, and have suggested that the ACLU may only adopt this stance to appease liberal-leaning supporters of the group who happen to also support gun control.

Related Topics:
Gun rights - United States vs. Miller - Second Amendment

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While some refer to the ACLU as a libertarian organization and while the ACLU has defended the US Libertarian Party in recent cases http://www.aclu.org/VotingRights/VotingRights.cfm?ID=10305&c=32, a number of libertarians and objectivists oppose the ACLU for its support of laws that they view as distinctly anti-liberty, such as affirmative action and anti-discrimination laws that apply to private property. Law professor David Bernstein's book "You Can't Say That! The Growing Threat to Civil Liberties from Antidiscrimination Laws" takes the ACLU to task for frequently seeking to undermine expressive rights when they conflict with antidiscrimination laws, as in the 2000 Supreme Court case of Boy Scouts of America v. Dale. Some libertarians have formed an organization they describe as the "libertarian ACLU" http://www.lpws.org/spokane/why.htm, the Institute for Justice.

Related Topics:
Libertarian - US Libertarian Party - Objectivists - Affirmative action - Boy Scouts of America v. Dale - Institute for Justice

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The Ohio chapter of the ACLU was criticized for presenting the Council on American-Islamic Relations with an award in October, 2003. Critics contend that CAIR is dedicated to the advancement of radical Wahhabism. http://cair-net.org/asp/article.asp?id=32696&page=NB

Related Topics:
Council on American-Islamic Relations - Wahhabism

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Bill O'Reilly refers to the ACLU as "the most dangerous organization in America" on his various broadcasts, and frequently lambasts the group. Former ACLU member Nat Hentoff has also criticized the organization for promoting affirmative action and for supporting what he sees as government protected liberal speech codes enacted on college campuses and the workplace http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/hentoff092099.asp.

Related Topics:
Bill O'Reilly - Lambasts the group - Nat Hentoff

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The ACLU has also, though less frequently, been subject to criticism from the political left. Some critics object to the organization's advocacy for corporations' protection by the Bill of Rights known as corporate personhood, as well as its stance against some campaign finance reform laws.

Related Topics:
Political left - Corporate personhood

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Some anti-pornography activists, including Nikki Craft, who oppose pornography on feminist grounds, are also strong critics of the ACLU. Some created, in or around 1991, an organization called "Always Causing Legal Unrest" http://www.nostatusquo.com/ACLU/aclu/index.html to protest the ACLU's defense of what they consider to be unprotected misogynistic images and speech; the acronym coincidence led the ACLU (the Union) to send a letter of protest http://www.nostatusquo.com/ACLU/aclu/Ehrlich.html, but the Union has not yet pursued legal action. Naturally, the ACLU's free speech stance on pornography, even of a very explicit nature, draws numerous critics from the right-wing as well; most famously, former attorney general Edwin Meese.

Related Topics:
Nikki Craft - Feminist - Always Causing Legal Unrest - Misogynistic - Acronym - Attorney general - Edwin Meese

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In 1982, the ACLU became involved in a case involving the distribution of child pornography (New York v. Ferber, 458 U.S. 747 http://www.oyez.org/oyez/resource/case/279/.) In a controversial amicus brief, the ACLU argued that the New York State law in question "has criminalized the dissemination, sale or display of constitutionally protected non-obscene materials which portray juveniles in sexually related roles", while arguing that child pornography deemed obscene under the Miller test deserved no constitutional protection and could be banned http://campus.westlaw.com/Find/Default.wl?SerialNum=1982191934&FindType=Y&AP=0-2&ReturnTo=CLID_RT4918149&POP=False&IT=BRIEF&TF=15&TC=1&mt=CampusLegal&fn=_top&sv=Split&vr=2.0&sp=princeton-2000&rs=WLW5.09. The ACLU's stance on this case has drawn great criticism from conservatives http://euphoria.jarkolicious.com/journal/2005/06/16/516/. In a 2002 letter, the ACLU stated that it "opposes child pornography that uses real children in its depictions" http://www.aclu.org/Privacy/Privacy.cfm?ID=10364&c=252.

Related Topics:
Child pornography - New York State - Obscene - Miller test

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The ACLU has also been criticized for its stance on spam. It has opposed many anti-spam laws, and in 2000 a legislative counsel for the ACLU claimed that "it's relatively simple to click and delete."

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The group has also come under fire for fighting against Megan?s Law, a law enacted to protect children from sex offenders. Though the ACLU has fought Megan?s Law(s) in many states, it has been unable to attain significant victories in these cases.

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Christian and other religious critics

At the grassroots level, the ACLU often involves itself in cases involving the separation of church and state. Therefore, conservative Christians often take issue with its positions. Many in this community contend that the ACLU is part of an effort to remove all references to religion from American government.

Related Topics:
Separation of church and state - Conservative Christians

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In 2004, for example, the ACLU of Southern California (ACLU/SC) threatened to sue the city of Redlands, California if it did not remove a picture of a cross from the city's seal. The ACLU/SC argued that having a cross on the seal amounted to a government-sponsored endorsement of Christianity and violated separation of church and state. The city complied with the ACLU/SC and removed the cross from all city vehicles, business cards, and police badges. However, the issue will be put on the November 2005 ballothttp://www.redlandsseal.org. The ACLU/SC also threatened Los Angeles County, California if it also did not remove an image of a cross from its seal. As in the Redlands case, the county board complied with the demands and voted to remove the cross from its seal as well. There is currently a petition against the changing of the seal, which will end on August 15, 2005 http://www.savetheseal.net/.

Related Topics:
Redlands, California - November - 2005 - Los Angeles County, California - August 15

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After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack, the Rev. Jerry Falwell remarked that the ACLU, by trying to "secularize America," had provoked the wrath of God, and therefore caused those terrorist attacks. (Falwell later apologized for the remark.) Other critics of the ACLU do not make such strong accusations, but claim that the organization pushes the concept of separation of church and state beyond its original meaning. The ACLU and Jerry Falwell sometimes find themselves on the same side. Notably, the ACLU filed an amicus brief supporting a suit by Falwell against the state of Virginia. The suit, which was successful, overturned the Virginia constitution's ban on the incorporation of Churches. In addition, the ACLU has defended the rights of a Christian church to run anti-Santa ads on Boston subways, the rights to religious expression by jurors, and the rights of Christian students to distribute religious literature in school.http://www.aclu.org/ReligiousLiberty/ReligiousLiberty.cfm?ID=17598&c=38

Related Topics:
September 11, 2001 terrorist attack - Jerry Falwell

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Many minority religious groups like Jehovah's Witnesses and Muslims have at times been defended by the ACLU and are ardent supporters of it. In the Mormon community, the ACLU is viewed positively by some, who cite Santa Fe Independent School Dist. v. Doe, a case litigated by the ACLU on behalf of a Mormon student concerning school prayer http://wenger.blogspot.com/2003_08_10_wenger_archive.html#106087652143939285. However, a good number of Mormons, including some local leaders, are strongly against the activities of the ACLU.http://www.timesandseasons.org/archives/000198.html.

Related Topics:
Jehovah's Witnesses - Muslim - Mormon - Santa Fe Independent School Dist. v. Doe - School prayer

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There have been false allegations that the ACLU has urged the removal of cross-shaped headstones from federal cemeteries and has opposed prayer by soldiers; such charges have been deemed to be urban legends. http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/cemetery.asp

Related Topics:
Headstone - Cemeteries - Soldier - Urban legend

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