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).

Notable Cases

Since its founding, the ACLU has been involved in many cases. A few of the most significant are discussed here:

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In 1925, the ACLU persuaded John T. Scopes to defy Tennessee's anti-evolution law in a court test. Clarence Darrow, a member of the ACLU National Committee, headed Scopes' legal team. The ACLU lost the case and Scopes was fined $100. The Tennessee Supreme Court later reversed the fine, but not the conviction.

Related Topics:
1925 - John T. Scopes - Tennessee - Evolution - Clarence Darrow

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In 1940, the ACLU formally barred Communists from leadership or staff positions, and would take the position that it did not want communists as members either despite its communist roots. The board declared that it was "inappropriate for any person to serve on the governing committees of the Union or its staff, who is a member of any political organization which supports totalitarian dictatorship in any country, or who by his public declarations indicates his support of such a principle." The ACLU has been criticized by some of its later members for this policy, and in the 1960s there was an internal push to remove this prohibition.http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2005_09_04-2005_09_10.shtml#1126047007

Related Topics:
1940 - Communist

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In 1942, a few months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the ACLU affiliates on the West Coast became some of the sharpest critics of the government's policy on enemy aliens and U.S. citizens descended from enemy ancestry. This included the relocation of Japanese-American citizens, internment of aliens, prejudicial curfews (Hirabayashi v. United States, 1943), and the like.

Related Topics:
1942 - Japan - Pearl Harbor - Japanese-American citizens - Internment - 1943

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Civil rights activist and humanist author Corliss Lamont served as director of the ACLU from 1932 to 1954.

Related Topics:
Humanist - Corliss Lamont

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In 1954, the ACLU played a role in the case of Brown v. Board of Education, which led to the ban on segregation in U.S. public schools.

Related Topics:
1954 - Brown v. Board of Education - Public school

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In 1973, the organization was the first major national organization to call for the impeachment of President Richard M. Nixon, giving as reasons the violation by the Nixon administration of civil liberties. That same year, the ACLU was involved in the cases of Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, in which the Supreme Court held that the constitutional right of privacy extended to women seeking abortions.

Related Topics:
1973 - Impeachment - Richard M. Nixon - Roe v. Wade - Doe v. Bolton - Abortion

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In 1977, the ACLU filed suit against the Village of Skokie, Illinois, seeking an injunction against the enforcement of three town ordinances outlawing Nazi parades and demonstrations (Skokie had a large Jewish population). A federal district court struck down the ordinances in a decision eventually affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court. The ACLU's action in this case led to the resignation of about 15 percent of the membership from the organization (25 percent in Illinois), especially of Jewish members. A cutback in its activities was avoided by a special mailing which elicited $500,000 in contributions. Federal Judge Bernard M. Decker described the principle involved in the case as follows: "It is better to allow those who preach racial hatred to expend their venom in rhetoric rather than to be panicked into embarking on the dangerous course of permitting the government to decide what its citizens may say and hear ... The ability of American society to tolerate the advocacy of even hateful doctrines ... is perhaps the best protection we have against the establishment of any Nazi-type regime in this country."

Related Topics:
1977 - Skokie, Illinois - Nazi - Jew - U.S. Supreme Court - Illinois - Jewish

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The ACLU filed suit to challenge the Arkansas 1981 creationism statute, which required the teaching in public schools of the biblical story of creation as a scientific alternative to evolution. The law was declared unconstitutional by a Federal District Court.

Related Topics:
Arkansas - 1981 - Creationism

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The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the ensuing debate regarding the proper balance of civil liberties and security including the passage of the USA PATRIOT Act, led to a 20% increase in membership between August 2001 and December 2002, when its total enrollment reached 330,000 http://www.post-gazette.com/localnews/20021202aclusidebarp8.asp. The growth has continued; in August 2004, ACLU membership was at 400,000 http://www.madison.com/tct/news/images/index.php?ntid=7175&ntpid=0.

Related Topics:
September 11, 2001 - USA PATRIOT Act

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The ACLU has been a vocal opponent of the PATRIOT Act of 2001, the proposed (as of 2003) PATRIOT 2 Act, and associated legislation made in response to the threat of domestic terrorism, that it believes violates either the letter or the spirit of the U.S. Bill of Rights. In response to a requirement of the PATRIOT Act, the ACLU withdrew from a Federal Donation Program that provides matching funds from the federal government for federal employees. The requirement was that ACLU employees must be checked against a federal anti-terrorism watch list. The ACLU estimates that it will lose approximately $500,000 in such contributions.

Related Topics:
2001 - 2003 - PATRIOT 2 - U.S. Bill of Rights

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See also: ACLU v. Ashcroft

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The ACLU has also opposed some campaign finance laws such as the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, which it considers an inappropriate restriction upon freedom of expression.

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