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).

Positions

The ACLU's stated mission is to defend its view of the civil liberties enshrined in the Bill of Rights. Over the years, the ACLU has consistently fought in the court system for a liberal interpretation of the U.S. Constitution that allows for as much individual liberty as possible. While the bulk of the ACLU's cases involve the First Amendment, Equal Protection and Due Process and cases involving the right to privacy (see, e.g., the Louisiana chapter http://www.laaclu.org/Complaints/complaints.html), the organization has taken positions on a wide range of controversial issues. In particular, the ACLU:

Related Topics:
Bill of Rights - U.S. Constitution - First Amendment

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• Supports the separation of church and state; under this mandate, the ACLU:
• Opposes the government-sponsored display of religious symbols on public property;
• Opposes official prayers, religious ceremonies, or "moments of silence" in public schools or schools funded with public money;
• Supports full first amendment rights of citizens, organizations and the press, including school newspapers;
• Supports reproductive rights, including the right to choose an abortion, on the basis of an implied right to privacy in the fourth amendment;
• Supports full civil rights for homosexuals, including government benefits for homosexual couples equal to those provided for heterosexual ones;
• Supports affirmative action as a means of redressing past discrimination and acheiving a racially diverse student body http://www.aclu.org/RacialEquality/RacialEqualityMain.cfm;
• Supports the rights of defendants and suspects against unconstitutional police practices;
• Supports the decriminalization of drugs such as heroin, cocaine and marijuana (ACLU's Drug Policy);
• Opposes demonstration permits and other requirements for protests in public places

The organization's position on gun control is less well-defined. While the official policy of the national ACLU argues that the second amendment provides only for a right to armed state militias http://www.aclu.org/PolicePractices/PolicePractices.cfm?ID=9621&c=25, the issue seems outside of the organization's scope, as it has avoided gun-related cases.

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The ACLU has been noted for vigorously defending the right to express unpopular, controversial, and extremist opinions on both the left and right. Some have expressed the view that the ACLU sometimes plays a role comparable to that played by public defenders, helping to ensure that even unpopular defendants receive due process.

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