American Civil Liberties Union Of Massachusetts
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The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the
Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...
and laws of the United States". The ACLU works through
litigation - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...
and
lobbying In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agency, regulatory agencie ...
, and has over 1,800,000 members as of July 2018, with an annual budget of over $300 million. Affiliates of the ACLU are active in all 50 states, the
District of Columbia ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, and
Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...
. The ACLU provides legal assistance in cases where it considers
civil liberties Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties may ...
to be at risk. Legal support from the ACLU can take the form of direct legal representation or preparation of ''
amicus curiae An ''amicus curiae'' (; ) is an individual or organization who is not a party to a legal case, but who is permitted to assist a court by offering information, expertise, or insight that has a bearing on the issues in the case. The decision on ...
'' 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 that have been established by its board of directors. Current positions of the ACLU include opposing the
death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
; supporting
same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...
and the right of LGBT people to adopt; supporting
reproductive rights Reproductive rights are legal rights and freedoms relating to reproduction and reproductive health that vary amongst countries around the world. The World Health Organization defines reproductive rights as follows: Reproductive rights rest on t ...
such as
birth control Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent unwanted pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth contr ...
and abortion rights; eliminating
discrimination Discrimination is the act of making unjustified distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong. People may be discriminated on the basis of race, gender, age, relig ...
against women, minorities, and
LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...
people; decarceration in the United States; supporting the rights of prisoners and opposing
torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts c ...
; and upholding the
separation of church and state The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular sta ...
by opposing government preference for religion over non-religion or for particular faiths over others. Several accusations have been raised of a loss in impartiality in the organisation's free speech advocacy. Legally, the ACLU consists of two separate but closely affiliated nonprofit organizations, namely the American Civil Liberties Union, a
501(c)(4) A 501(c) organization is a nonprofit organization in the Law of the United States#Federal law, federal law of the United States according to Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. § 501(c)) and is one of over 29 types of nonprofit organizations exe ...
social welfare group; and the ACLU Foundation, a
501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...
public charity A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definition of a ch ...
. Both organizations engage in
civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...
litigation, advocacy, and education, but only donations to the 501(c)(3) foundation are tax deductible, and only the 501(c)(4) group can engage in unlimited political
lobbying In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agency, regulatory agencie ...
. The two organizations share office space and employees.


Overview

The ACLU was founded in 1920 by a committee including Roger Nash Baldwin,
Crystal Eastman Crystal Catherine Eastman (June 25, 1881 – July 28, 1928) was an American lawyer, antimilitarist, feminist, socialist, and journalist. She is best remembered as a leader in the fight for women's suffrage, as a co-founder and co-editor with ...
,
Walter Nelles Walter Nelles (1883–1937) was an American lawyer and law professor. Nelles is best remembered as the co-founder and first chief legal counsel of the National Civil Liberties Bureau and its successor, the American Civil Liberties Union. In this ...
,
Morris Ernst Morris Ernst (August 23, 1888 – May 21, 1976) was an American lawyer and prominent attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). In public life, he defended and asserted the rights of Americans to privacy and freedom from censorshi ...
,
Albert DeSilver Albert DeSilver (August 27, 1888 – December 7, 1924) was a founding member of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). DeSilver graduated from Yale in 1910, where he was a member of Skull and Bones, and then earned a law degree at Columbia La ...
,
Arthur Garfield Hays Arthur Garfield Hays (December 12, 1881 – December 14, 1954) was an American lawyer and champion of civil liberties issues, best known as a co-founder and general counsel of the American Civil Liberties Union and for participating in notable ca ...
, Helen Keller,
Jane Addams Laura Jane Addams (September 6, 1860 May 21, 1935) was an American settlement activist, reformer, social worker, sociologist, public administrator, and author. She was an important leader in the history of social work and women's suffrage ...
, Felix Frankfurter, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, and
Rose Schneiderman Rose Schneiderman (April 6, 1882 – August 11, 1972) was a Polish-born American socialist and feminist, and one of the most prominent female labor union leaders. As a member of the New York Women's Trade Union League, she drew attention to uns ...
. Its focus was on
freedom of speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recogni ...
, primarily for anti-war protesters. It was founded in response to the controversial
Palmer raids The Palmer Raids were a series of raids conducted in November 1919 and January 1920 by the United States Department of Justice under the administration of President Woodrow Wilson to capture and arrest suspected socialists, especially anarchists ...
, which saw thousands of radicals arrested in matters which violated their constitutional search and seizures protection. During the 1920s, the ACLU expanded its scope to include protecting the free speech rights of artists and striking workers, and working with the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. ...
(NAACP) to mitigate discrimination. During the 1930s, the ACLU started to engage in work combating police misconduct and supporting
Native American rights Native American civil rights are the civil rights of Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans in the United States. Native Americans are citizens of their respective federally recognized tribes, Native nations as well as the Cit ...
. Many of the ACLU's cases involved the defense of
Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...
members and
Jehovah's Witnesses Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The group reports a worldwide membership of approximately 8.7 million adherents involved in ...
. In 1940, the ACLU leadership voted to exclude communists from its leadership positions, a decision rescinded in 1968. During
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the ACLU defended Japanese-American citizens, unsuccessfully trying to prevent their forcible relocation to internment camps. During the
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
, the ACLU headquarters was dominated by anti-communists, but many local affiliates defended members of the Communist Party. By 1964, membership had risen to 80,000, and the ACLU participated in efforts to expand
civil liberties Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties may ...
. In the 1960s, the ACLU continued its decades-long effort to enforce
separation of church and state The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular sta ...
. It defended several
anti-war activist An anti-war movement (also ''antiwar'') is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term anti-war can also refer to ...
s during the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
. The ACLU was involved in the ''Miranda'' case, which addressed conduct by police during interrogations, and in the ''New York Times'' case, which established new protections for newspapers reporting on government activities. In the 1970s and 1980s, the ACLU ventured into new legal areas, involving the rights of homosexuals, students, prisoners, and the poor. In the twenty-first century, the ACLU has fought the teaching of
creationism Creationism is the religious belief that nature, and aspects such as the universe, Earth, life, and humans, originated with supernatural acts of divine creation. Gunn 2004, p. 9, "The ''Concise Oxford Dictionary'' says that creationism is 't ...
in public schools and challenged some provisions of anti-terrorism legislation as infringing on privacy and civil liberties. Fundraising and membership spiked after the 2016 presidential election and the ACLU's 2018 membership was more than 1.2 million.


Organization


Leadership

The ACLU is led by a president and an executive director, Deborah N. Archer and
Anthony Romero Anthony D. Romero (Born July 9, 1965) is the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union. He assumed the position in 2001 as the first Latino and openly gay man to do so. Early life and education Romero was born in Bronx, New York ...
, respectively, in 2021. 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, as well as at-large delegates. The organization has its headquarters in
125 Broad Street 125 Broad Street (formerly known as 2 New York Plaza) is an office building in the Financial District of Manhattan in New York City, at the intersection of Broad Street and South Street near South Ferry. The building, standing tall with 40 f ...
, a 40-story skyscraper located in
Lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan (also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York) is the southernmost part of Manhattan, the central borough for business, culture, and government in New York City, which is the most populated city in the United States with ...
, New York City. 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 Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American industrialist, business magnate, founder of the Ford Motor Company, and chief developer of the assembly line technique of mass production. By creating the first automobile that mi ...
's right to distribute anti-union literature. In 1939, a heated debate took place over whether to prohibit communists from serving in ACLU leadership roles. During the early 1950s and
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
McCarthyism McCarthyism is the practice of making false or unfounded accusations of subversion and treason, especially when related to anarchism, communism and socialism, and especially when done in a public and attention-grabbing manner. The term origin ...
, the board was divided on whether to defend communists. In 1968, a schism formed over whether to represent Benjamin Spock's anti-war activism. In 1973, as the
Watergate Scandal The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's continual ...
continued to unfold, leadership was initially divided over whether to call for President Nixon's impeachment and removal from office. In 2005, there was internal conflict about whether or not a gag rule should be imposed on ACLU employees to prevent publication of internal disputes.


Funding

In the year ending March 31, 2014, the ACLU and the ACLU Foundation had a combined income from support and revenue of $100.4 million, originating from grants (50.0%), membership donations (25.4%), donated legal services (7.6%), bequests (16.2%), and revenue (0.9%).
American Civil Liberties Union ... Consolidated Financial Report, March 31, 2014
'. American Civil Liberties Union website,
Financials
section, under: "Audited Financial Statements." See also pie chart on ACLU
Finances
page. Retrieved May 9, 2015.
Membership dues are treated as donations; members choose the amount they pay annually, averaging approximately $50 per member per year. In the year ending March 31, 2014, the combined expenses of the ACLU and ACLU Foundation were $133.4 million, spent on programs (86.2%), management (7.4%), and fundraising (8.2%). (After factoring in other changes in net assets of +$30.9 million, from sources such as investment income, the organization had an overall decrease in net assets of $2.1 million.) Over the period from 2011 to 2014 the ACLU Foundation, on the average, has accounted for roughly 70% of the combined budget, and the ACLU roughly 30%. The ACLU solicits donations to its charitable foundation. The ACLU is accredited by the Better Business Bureau, and the
Charity Navigator Charity Navigator is a charity assessment organization that evaluates hundreds of thousands of charitable organizations based in the United States, operating as a free 501(c)(3) organization. It provides insights into a nonprofit’s financial s ...
has ranked the ACLU with a four-star rating. 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. In October 2004, the ACLU rejected $1.5 million from both the Ford Foundation and
Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, after the Carneg ...
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. 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. 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. 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 The Ten Commandments (Biblical Hebrew עשרת הדברים \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, ''aséret ha-dvarím'', lit. The Decalogue, The Ten Words, cf. Mishnaic Hebrew עשרת הדיברות \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְ ...
display from its courthouse; a second Ten Commandments case in the state, in a different county, led to a $74,462 judgment. 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.


State affiliates

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. 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) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...
corporation–called the ACLU Foundation–that does not perform lobbying, and a
501(c)(4) A 501(c) organization is a nonprofit organization in the Law of the United States#Federal law, federal law of the United States according to Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. § 501(c)) and is one of over 29 types of nonprofit organizations exe ...
corporation–called ACLU–which is entitled to lobby. Both organizations share staff and offices 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 total cases heard in that court. They sent over 50,000 emails to officials or agencies and had 28 full-time staff.


Positions

The ACLU's official position statements included the following policies: * Affirmative action – The ACLU supports affirmative action. *
Birth control Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent unwanted pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth contr ...
and
abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...
– The ACLU supports the right to abortion, as established in the ''
Roe v. Wade ''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States conferred the right to have an abortion. The decision struck down many federal and st ...
'' decision. The ACLU believes that everyone should have affordable access to the full range of
contraceptive Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent unwanted pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth contr ...
options. The ACLU's Reproductive Freedom Project manages efforts related to reproductive rights. * Campaign funding – The ACLU believes that the current system is badly flawed, and supports a system based on public funding. The ACLU supports full transparency to identify donors. However, the ACLU opposes attempts to control political spending. The ACLU supported the Supreme Court's decision in ''
Citizens United v. FEC ''Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission'', 558 U.S. 310 (2010), was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States regarding campaign finance laws and free speech under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It wa ...
'', which allowed corporations and unions more political speech rights. * Criminal law reform – The ACLU seeks an end to what it feels are excessively harsh sentences that "stand in the way of a just and equal society". The ACLU's Criminal Law Reform Project focuses on this issue. *
Death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
– The ACLU is opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances. The ACLU's Capital Punishment Project focuses on this issue. *
Free speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The rights, right to freedom of expression has been ...
– The ACLU supports free speech, including the right to express unpopular or controversial ideas, such as flag desecration, racist or sexist views, etc. However, a leaked ACLU memo from June 2018 said that speech that can "inflict serious harms" and "impede progress toward equality" may be a lower priority for the organization. *
Gun rights The right to keep and bear arms (often referred to as the right to bear arms) is a right for people to possess weapons (arms) for the preservation of life, liberty, and property. The purpose of gun rights is for self-defense, including securi ...
– The national ACLU's position is that the Second Amendment protects a collective right to own guns rather than an individual right, despite the 2008 Supreme Court decision in ''
District of Columbia v. Heller ''District of Columbia v. Heller'', 554 U.S. 570 (2008), is a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects an individual's right to keep and bear arms, unconnected with service i ...
'' that the Second Amendment is an individual right. The national organization's position is based on the phrases "a well regulated Militia" and "the security of a free State". However, the ACLU opposes any effort to create a registry of gun owners and has worked with the
National Rifle Association The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is a gun rights advocacy group based in the United States. Founded in 1871 to advance rifle marksmanship, the modern NRA has become a prominent Gun politics in the United States, gun rights ...
to prevent a registry from being created, and it has favored protecting the right to carry guns under the 4th Amendment. *
HIV/AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...
– The policy of the ACLU is to "create a world in which discrimination based on HIV status has ended, people with HIV have control over their medical information and care, and where the government's HIV policy promotes public health and respect and compassion for people living with HIV and AIDS". This effort is managed by the ACLU's AIDS Project. *
Human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...
– The ACLU's Human Rights project advocates (primarily in an international context) for children's rights, disability rights, immigrants rights, gay rights, and other international obligations. *
Immigrants' rights Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...
– The ACLU supports civil liberties for immigrants to the United States. * Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights – The ACLU's LGBT Rights Project supports equal rights for all gays and lesbians, and works to eliminate discrimination. The ACLU supports equal employment, housing, civil marriage and adoption rights for LGBT couples. *
National security National security, or national defence, is the security and defence of a sovereign state, including its citizens, economy, and institutions, which is regarded as a duty of government. Originally conceived as protection against military atta ...
– The ACLU is opposed to compromising civil liberties in the name of national security. In this context, the ACLU has condemned government use of spying, indefinite detention without charge or trial, and government-sponsored torture. This effort is led by the ACLU's National Security Project. * Prisoners' rights – The ACLU's National Prison Project believes that incarceration should only be used as a last resort, and that prisons should focus on rehabilitation. The ACLU works to ensure that prisons treat prisoners in accordance with the Constitution and domestic law. * Privacy and technology – The ACLU's Project on Speech, Privacy, and Technology promotes "responsible uses of technology that enhance privacy protection", and opposes uses "that undermine our freedoms and move us closer to a
surveillance society Mass surveillance is the intricate surveillance of an entire or a substantial fraction of a population in order to monitor that group of citizens. The surveillance is often carried out by local and federal governments or governmental organizati ...
". *
Racial issues A race is a categorization of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into groups generally viewed as distinct within a given society. The term came into common usage during the 1500s, when it was used to refer to groups of variou ...
– The ACLU's Racial Justice Program combats racial discrimination in all aspects of society, including the educational system, justice system, and the application of the death penalty. However, the ACLU opposes state censorship of the
Confederate flag The flags of the Confederate States of America have a history of three successive designs during the American Civil War. The flags were known as the "Stars and Bars", used from 1861 to 1863; the "Stainless Banner", used from 1863 to 1865; and ...
. *
Religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...
– The ACLU supports the right of religious persons to practice their faiths without government interference. The ACLU believes the government should neither prefer religion over non-religion, nor favor particular faiths over others. The ACLU is opposed to school-led prayer, but protects students' right to pray in school. It opposes the use of religious beliefs to discriminate, such as refusing to provide abortion coverage or providing services to
LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...
people. *
Sex education Sex education, also known as sexual education, sexuality education or sex ed, is the instruction of issues relating to human sexuality, including emotional relations and responsibilities, human sexual anatomy, Human sexual activity, sexual acti ...
– The ACLU opposes abstinence-only sex education curricula, and supports comprehensive sex education curricula that encourage effective
contraceptive Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent unwanted pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth contr ...
usage and
sexually-transmitted disease Sexually transmitted infections (STIs), also referred to as sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and the older term venereal diseases, are infections that are Transmission (medicine), spread by Human sexual activity, sexual activity, especi ...
prevention alongside waiting to have sex. The ACLU opposes segregation in sex education classes, because it can lead to increased class size and perpetuate antiquated gender stereotypes. *
Vaccination policy A vaccination policy is a health policy adopted in order to prevent the spread of infectious disease. These policies are generally put into place by State or local governments, but may also be set by private facilities, such as workplaces or sc ...
- The ACLU supports vaccine mandates for people using public facilities and businesses on the grounds that there is no right to harm others by spreading infectious diseases. Hence, the ACLU states, mandates are "permissible in many settings where the unvaccinated pose a risk to others, including schools and universities, hospitals, restaurants and bars, workplaces and businesses open to the public". The organization supports a public health-based approach to pandemic management and is opposed to criminalizing or jailing people with infectious diseases. * Voting rights – The ACLU believes that impediments to voting should be eliminated, particularly if they disproportionately impact minority or poor citizens. The ACLU believes that misdemeanor convictions should not lead to a loss of voting rights. The ACLU's Voting Rights Project leads this effort. *
Women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...
– The ACLU works to eliminate discrimination against women in all realms. The ACLU encourages government to be proactive in stopping violence against women. These efforts are led by the ACLU's Women's Rights project.


Support and opposition

The ACLU is supported by a variety of persons and organizations. There were over 1,000,000 members in 2017, and the ACLU annually receives thousands of grants from hundreds of charitable foundations. Allies of the ACLU in legal actions have included the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. ...
, the
American Jewish Congress The American Jewish Congress (AJCongress or AJC) is an association of American Jews organized to defend Jewish interests at home and abroad through public policy advocacy, using diplomacy, legislation, and the courts. History The AJCongress was ...
, People for the American Way, the
National Rifle Association The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is a gun rights advocacy group based in the United States. Founded in 1871 to advance rifle marksmanship, the modern NRA has become a prominent Gun politics in the United States, gun rights ...
, the
Electronic Frontier Foundation The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is an international non-profit digital rights group based in San Francisco, California. The foundation was formed on 10 July 1990 by John Gilmore, John Perry Barlow and Mitch Kapor to promote Internet ci ...
,
Americans United for Separation of Church and State Americans United for Separation of Church and State (Americans United or AU for short) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that advocates for the disassociation of religion and religious organizations from government. The separation of church ...
and the National Organization for Women. The ACLU has been criticized by liberals such as when it excluded communists from its leadership ranks, when it defended Neo-Nazis, when it declined to defend Paul Robeson, or when it opposed the passage of the
National Labor Relations Act The National Labor Relations Act of 1935, also known as the Wagner Act, is a foundational statute of United States labor law that guarantees the right of private sector employees to organize into trade unions, engage in collective bargaining, and ...
.Walker, pp. 323–31. In 2014, an ACLU affiliate supported anti-Islam protesters and in 2018 the ACLU was criticized when it supported the
National Rifle Association The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is a gun rights advocacy group based in the United States. Founded in 1871 to advance rifle marksmanship, the modern NRA has become a prominent Gun politics in the United States, gun rights ...
(NRA). 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. The ACLU has supported conservative figures such as Rush Limbaugh,
George Wallace George Corley Wallace Jr. (August 25, 1919 – September 13, 1998) was an American politician who served as the 45th governor of Alabama for four terms. A member of the Democratic Party, he is best remembered for his staunch segregationist and ...
,
Henry Ford Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American industrialist, business magnate, founder of the Ford Motor Company, and chief developer of the assembly line technique of mass production. By creating the first automobile that mi ...
and Oliver North as well as liberal figures such as Dick Gregory, Rockwell Kent and Benjamin Spock. A major source of criticism are legal cases in which the ACLU represents an individual or organization that promotes offensive or unpopular viewpoints such as the
Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...
, neo-Nazis, the
Nation of Islam The Nation of Islam (NOI) is a religious and political organization founded in the United States by Wallace Fard Muhammad in 1930. A black nationalist organization, the NOI focuses its attention on the African diaspora, especially on African ...
, the North American Man/Boy Love Association, the Westboro Baptist Church or the
Unite the Right rally The Unite the Right rally was a white supremacist rally that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia, from August 11 to 12, 2017. Marchers included members of the alt-right, neo-Confederates, neo-fascists, white nationalists, neo-Nazis, ...
. The ACLU's official policy is "...
e have E, or e, is the fifth letter and the second vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''e'' (pronounced ); plura ...
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-LGBT 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."


Early years


CLB era

The ACLU developed from the
National Civil Liberties Bureau The National Civil Liberties Bureau (NCLB) was an American civil rights organization founded in 1917, dedicated to opposing World War I, and specifically focusing on assisting conscientious objectors. The National Civil Liberties Bureau was the rei ...
(CLB), co-founded in 1917 during
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
by
Crystal Eastman Crystal Catherine Eastman (June 25, 1881 – July 28, 1928) was an American lawyer, antimilitarist, feminist, socialist, and journalist. She is best remembered as a leader in the fight for women's suffrage, as a co-founder and co-editor with ...
, an attorney activist, and Roger Nash Baldwin. The focus of the CLB was on
freedom of speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recogni ...
, primarily anti-war speech, and on supporting
conscientious objector A conscientious objector (often shortened to conchie) is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. The term has also been extended to object ...
s who did not want to serve in World War I. Three
United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
decisions in 1919 each upheld convictions under laws against certain kinds of anti-war speech. In 1919, the Court upheld the conviction of
Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...
leader Charles Schenck for publishing anti-war literature. In ''
Debs v. United States ''Debs v. United States'' 249 U.S. 211 (1919) was a United States Supreme Court decision, relevant for US labor law and constitutional law, that upheld the Espionage Act of 1917. Facts Eugene V. Debs was an American labor and political leader an ...
,'' the court upheld the conviction of Eugene Debs. While the Court upheld a conviction a third time in ''
Abrams v. United States ''Abrams v. United States'', 250 U.S. 616 (1919), was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States upholding the 1918 Amendment to the Espionage Act of 1917 which made it a criminal offense to urge the curtailment of production of the mat ...
'', Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote an important dissent which has gradually been absorbed as an American principle: he urged the court to treat
freedom of speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recogni ...
as a fundamental right, which should rarely be restricted. In 1918, Crystal Eastman resigned from the organization due to health issues. 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.Walker, p. 47. The CLB directors concurred, and on January 19, 1920, they 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 The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. ...
(
NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...
) and
Anti-Defamation League The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), formerly known as the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, is an international Jewish non-governmental organization based in the United States specializing in civil rights law. It was founded in late Septe ...
(ADL), the ACLU was the first that did not represent a particular group of persons, or a single theme. Like the CLB, the NAACP pursued litigation to work on civil rights, including efforts to overturn the disfranchisement of African Americans in the South that had taken place since the turn of the century. 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. Baldwin was ascetic, wearing hand-me-down clothes, pinching pennies, and living on a very small salary.Walker, p. 70. The ACLU was directed by an executive committee, and it was not particularly democratic or egalitarian. The ACLU's base in New York resulted in its being dominated by people from the city and state. Most ACLU funding came from philanthropies, such as the
Garland Fund The American Fund for Public Service, commonly known as the Garland Fund, was a philanthropic organization established in 1922 by Charles Garland (philanthropist), Charles Garland. The fund, administered by a group of trustees headed by Roger Nas ...
.


Free speech era

In the 1920s, government censorship was commonplace. Magazines were routinely confiscated under the anti-obscenity Comstock laws; permits for labor rallies were often denied; and virtually all anti-war or anti-government literature was outlawed.Walker, pp. 51–52. Right-wing conservatives wielded vast amounts of power, and activists that promoted unionization, socialism, or government reform were often denounced as un-American or unpatriotic. In one typical instance in 1923, author
Upton Sinclair Upton Beall Sinclair Jr. (September 20, 1878 – November 25, 1968) was an American writer, muckraker, political activist and the 1934 Democratic Party nominee for governor of California who wrote nearly 100 books and other works in seve ...
was arrested for trying to read the
First Amendment First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
during an
Industrial Workers of the World The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), members of which are commonly termed "Wobblies", is an international labor union that was founded in Chicago in 1905. The origin of the nickname "Wobblies" is uncertain. IWW ideology combines genera ...
rally.Walker, p. 52. ACLU leadership was divided on how to challenge the civil rights violations. One faction, including Baldwin,
Arthur Garfield Hays Arthur Garfield Hays (December 12, 1881 – December 14, 1954) was an American lawyer and champion of civil liberties issues, best known as a co-founder and general counsel of the American Civil Liberties Union and for participating in notable ca ...
and Norman Thomas, believed that direct, militant action was the best path. Hays was the first of many successful attorneys that relinquished their private practices to work for the ACLU.Walker, p. 53. Another group, including
Walter Nelles Walter Nelles (1883–1937) was an American lawyer and law professor. Nelles is best remembered as the co-founder and first chief legal counsel of the National Civil Liberties Bureau and its successor, the American Civil Liberties Union. In this ...
and
Walter Pollak Walter Pollak (1887–1940) was a 20th-century American civil liberties lawyer, who established important precedents while working with other leading radical lawyers in the 1920s and 1930s. His best known cases involved the defense before the Supr ...
felt that lawsuits taken to the Supreme Court were the best way to achieve change. During the 1920s, the ACLU's primary focus was on freedom of speech in general, and speech within the labor movement particularly. 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 American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is a non-profit organization of U.S. war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militi ...
, the National Civic Federation, and Industrial Defense Association and the Allied Patriotic Societies. In addition to labor, the ACLU also led efforts in non-labor arenas, for example, promoting free speech in public schools. The ACLU itself was banned from speaking in New York public schools in 1921. The ACLU, working with the
NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...
, also supported racial discrimination cases. The ACLU defended free speech regardless of the opinions being espoused. For example, the reactionary, anti-Catholic, anti-black
Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...
(KKK) was a frequent target of ACLU efforts, but the ACLU defended the KKK's right to hold meetings in 1923. There were some civil rights that the ACLU did not make an effort to defend in the 1920s, including censorship of the arts, government search and seizure issues, right to privacy, or wiretapping. The
Communist Party USA The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revo ...
was routinely hounded by government officials, leading it to be the primary client of the ACLU.Walker, p. 63. 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. Communist leaders sometimes attacked the ACLU, particularly when the ACLU defended the free speech rights of conservatives, whereas Communists tried to disrupt speeches by critics of the USSR. This uneasy relationship between the two groups continued for decades.


Public schools


Scopes trial

When 1925 arrived five years after the ACLU was formed the organization had virtually no success to show for its efforts. That changed in 1925, when the ACLU persuaded
John T. Scopes John Thomas Scopes (August 3, 1900 – October 21, 1970) was a teacher in Dayton, Tennessee, who was charged on May 5, 1925, with violating Tennessee's Butler Act, which prohibited the teaching of human evolution in Tennessee schools. He was trie ...
to defy Tennessee's anti-
evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...
law in '' The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes''. Clarence Darrow, a member of the ACLU National Committee, headed Scopes' legal team. The prosecution, led by
William Jennings Bryan William Jennings Bryan (March 19, 1860 – July 26, 1925) was an American lawyer, orator and politician. Beginning in 1896, he emerged as a dominant force in the History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, running ...
, contended that the Bible should be interpreted literally in teaching
creationism Creationism is the religious belief that nature, and aspects such as the universe, Earth, life, and humans, originated with supernatural acts of divine creation. Gunn 2004, p. 9, "The ''Concise Oxford Dictionary'' says that creationism is 't ...
in school. The ACLU lost the case and Scopes was fined $100. The Tennessee Supreme Court later upheld the law but overturned the conviction on a technicality. The Scopes trial was a phenomenal public relations success for the ACLU. The ACLU became well known across America, and the case led to the first endorsement of the ACLU by a major US newspaper. The ACLU continued to fight for the separation of church and state in schoolrooms, decade after decade, including the 1982 case ''
McLean v. Arkansas ''McLean v. Arkansas Board of Education'', 529 F. Supp. 1255 (E.D. Ark. 1982), was a 1981 legal case in the US state of Arkansas. A lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas by various parents, r ...
'' and the 2005 case ''
Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District ''Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District'', 400 F. Supp. 2d 707 (M.D. Pa. 2005) was the first direct challenge brought in the United States federal courts testing a public school district policy that required the teaching of intelligent design ...
''. Baldwin himself was involved in an important free speech victory of the 1920s, after he was arrested for attempting to speak at a rally of striking mill workers in New Jersey. Although the decision was limited to the state of New Jersey, the appeals court's judgement in 1928 declared that constitutional guarantees of free speech must be given "liberal and comprehensive construction", and it marked a major turning point in the
civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...
, signaling the shift of judicial opinion in favor of civil rights. 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. Although the Supreme Court did not overturn Gitlow's conviction, it adopted the ACLU's stance (later termed the
incorporation doctrine In United States constitutional law, incorporation is the doctrine by which portions of the Bill of Rights have been made applicable to the states. When the Bill of Rights was ratified, the courts held that its protections extended only to the ...
) that the First Amendment freedom of speech applied to state laws, as well as federal laws.


''Pierce v. Society of Sisters''

After the First World War, many native-born Americans had a revival of concerns about assimilation of immigrants and worries about "foreign" values; they wanted public schools to teach children to be American. Numerous states drafted laws designed to use schools to promote a common American culture, and in 1922, the voters of Oregon passed the
Oregon Compulsory Education Act The Compulsory Education Act or Oregon School Law was a 1922 law in the U.S. state of Oregon that required school age children to attend only public schools. The United States Supreme Court later struck down the law as unconstitutional. Background ...
. The law was primarily aimed at eliminating parochial schools, including Catholic schools. It was promoted by groups such as the
Knights of Pythias The Knights of Pythias is a fraternal organization and secret society founded in Washington, D.C., on . The Knights of Pythias is the first fraternal organization to receive a charter under an act of the United States Congress. It was founded ...
, the Federation of Patriotic Societies, the Oregon Good Government League, the
Orange Order The Loyal Orange Institution, commonly known as the Orange Order, is an international Protestant fraternal order based in Northern Ireland and primarily associated with Ulster Protestants, particularly those of Ulster Scots heritage. It also ...
, and the
Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...
. The
Oregon Compulsory Education Act The Compulsory Education Act or Oregon School Law was a 1922 law in the U.S. state of Oregon that required school age children to attend only public schools. The United States Supreme Court later struck down the law as unconstitutional. Background ...
required almost all children in Oregon between eight and sixteen years of age to attend
public school Public school may refer to: * State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government * Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England an ...
by 1926. Associate Director Roger Nash Baldwin, a personal friend of
Luke E. Hart Luke Edward Hart (July 31, 1880 – February 19, 1964) was the tenth Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus, serving from September 1, 1953 until his death on February 19, 1964. Personal life Hart was born in 1880 in Maloy, Iowa. H ...
, the then–Supreme Advocate and future
Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus The Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus (more simply referred to as the Supreme Knight) is the title of the chairman of the board and chief executive officer of the Knights of Columbus. The organization comprises approximately 1.9 mi ...
, offered to join forces with the Knights to challenge the law. The Knights of Columbus pledged an immediate $10,000 to fight the law and any additional funds necessary to defeat it. The case became known as ''
Pierce v. Society of Sisters ''Pierce v. Society of Sisters'', 268 U.S. 510 (1925), was an early 20th-century United States Supreme Court decision striking down an Oregon statute that required all children to attend public school. The decision significantly expanded coverage ...
'', a seminal
United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
decision that significantly expanded coverage of the
Due Process Clause In United States constitutional law, a Due Process Clause is found in both the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, which prohibits arbitrary deprivation of "life, liberty, or property" by the government except as ...
in the Fourteenth Amendment. In a unanimous decision, the court held that the act was unconstitutional and that parents, not the state, had the authority to educate children as they thought best. It upheld the religious freedom of parents to educate their children in religious schools.


Early strategy

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 (and in his opinion should not) mandate liberal interpretations of the Bill of Rights. But
Walter Pollak Walter Pollak (1887–1940) was a 20th-century American civil liberties lawyer, who established important precedents while working with other leading radical lawyers in the 1920s and 1930s. His best known cases involved the defense before the Supr ...
,
Morris Ernst Morris Ernst (August 23, 1888 – May 21, 1976) was an American lawyer and prominent attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). In public life, he defended and asserted the rights of Americans to privacy and freedom from censorshi ...
, and other leaders felt that Supreme Court decisions were the best path to guarantee civil liberties. A series of Supreme Court decisions in the 1920s foretold a changing national atmosphere; anti-radical emotions were diminishing, and there was a growing willingness to protect freedom of speech and assembly via court decisions.


Free speech expansion

Censorship was commonplace in the early 20th century. State laws and city ordinances routinely outlawed speech deemed to be obscene or offensive, and prohibited meetings or literature that promoted unions or labor organization.Walker, p. 82. Starting in 1926, the ACLU began to expand its free speech activities to encompass censorship of art and literature. In that year, H. L. Mencken deliberately broke Boston law by distributing copies of his banned '' American Mercury'' magazine; the ACLU defended him and won an acquittal. The ACLU went on to win additional victories, including the landmark case ''
United States v. One Book Called Ulysses ''United States v. One Book Called Ulysses'', 5 F. Supp. 182 (S.D.N.Y. 1933), is a decision by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in a case dealing with freedom of expression. At issue was whether James Joyce's ...
'' in 1933, which reversed a ban by the Customs Department against the book ''
Ulysses Ulysses is one form of the Roman name for Odysseus, a hero in ancient Greek literature. Ulysses may also refer to: People * Ulysses (given name), including a list of people with this name Places in the United States * Ulysses, Kansas * Ulysse ...
'' by
James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...
.Walker, p. 86. The ACLU only achieved mixed results in the early years, and it was not until 1966 that the Supreme Court finally clarified the obscenity laws in the '' Roth v. United States'' and ''
Memoirs v. Massachusetts ''Memoirs v. Massachusetts'', 383 U.S. 413 (1966), was the United States Supreme Court decision that attempted to clarify a holding regarding obscenity made a decade earlier in ''Roth v. United States'' (1957). Since the ''Roth'' ruling, to ...
'' cases. The Comstock laws banned distribution of sex education information, based on the premise that it was obscene and led to promiscuous behavior.Walker, p. 85.
Mary Ware Dennett Mary Coffin Ware Dennett (April 4, 1872 – July 25, 1947) was an American women's rights activist, pacifist, homeopathic advocate, and pioneer in the areas of birth control, sex education, and women's suffrage. She co-founded the Nationa ...
was fined $300 in 1928, for distributing a pamphlet containing sex education material. The ACLU, led by Morris Ernst, appealed her conviction and won a reversal, in which judge
Learned Hand Billings Learned Hand ( ; January 27, 1872 – August 18, 1961) was an American jurist, lawyer, and judicial philosopher. He served as a federal trial judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York from 1909 to 1924 a ...
ruled that the pamphlet's main purpose was to "promote understanding". The success prompted the ACLU to broaden their freedom of speech efforts beyond labor and political speech, to encompass movies, press, radio and literature. The ACLU formed the National Committee on Freedom from Censorship in 1931 to coordinate this effort. By the early 1930s,
censorship in the United States Censorship in the United States involves the suppression of speech or public communication and raises issues of freedom of speech, which is protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Interpretation of this fundamental ...
was diminishing. Two major victories in the 1930s cemented the ACLUs campaign to promote free speech. In ''
Stromberg v. California ''Stromberg v. California'', 283 U.S. 359 (1931), was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in which the Court held, 7–2, that a California statute banning red flags was unconstitutional because it violated the First an ...
'', decided in 1931, the Supreme Court sided with the ACLU and affirmed the right of a communist party member to salute a communist flag. The result was the first time the Supreme Court used the
Due Process Clause In United States constitutional law, a Due Process Clause is found in both the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, which prohibits arbitrary deprivation of "life, liberty, or property" by the government except as ...
of the 14th amendment to subject states to the requirements of the
First Amendment First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
. In ''
Near v. Minnesota ''Near v. Minnesota'', 283 U.S. 697 (1931), was a List of landmark court decisions in the United States, landmark decision of the US Supreme Court under which prior restraint on publication was found to violate Freedom of the press in the United S ...
'', also decided in 1931, the Supreme Court ruled that states may not exercise prior restraint and prevent a newspaper from publishing, simply because the newspaper had a reputation for being scandalous.


1930s

The late 1930s saw the emergence of a new era of tolerance in the United States.Walker, p. 112 National leaders hailed the Bill of Rights, particularly as it protected minorities, as the essence of democracy. The 1939 Supreme Court decision in ''
Hague v. Committee for Industrial Organization ''Hague v. Committee for Industrial Organization'', 307 U.S. 496 (1939), is a US labor law case decided by the Supreme Court of the United States, United States Supreme Court. Facts In Jersey City, New Jersey, Jersey City, New Jersey, Mayor Frank ...
'' affirmed the right of communists to promote their cause. Even conservative elements, such as the
American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of acad ...
began to campaign for civil liberties, which were long considered to be the domain of left-leaning organizations. By 1940, the ACLU had achieved many of the goals it set in the 1920s, and many of its policies were the law of the land.


Expansion

In 1929, after the Scopes and Dennett victories, Baldwin perceived that there was vast, untapped support for civil liberties in the United States. Baldwin proposed an expansion program for the ACLU, focusing on police brutality, Native American rights, African American rights, censorship in the arts, and international civil liberties. The board of directors approved Baldwin's expansion plan, except for the international efforts.Walker, p. 87. The ACLU played a major role in passing the 1932
Norris–La Guardia Act The Norris–La Guardia Act (also known as the Anti-Injunction Bill) is a 1932 United States federal law relating to United States labor law. It banned yellow-dog contracts, barred the federal courts from issuing injunctions against nonviolent la ...
, a federal law which prohibited employers from preventing employees from joining unions, and stopped the practice of outlawing strikes, unions, and labor organizing activities with the use of injunctions. The ACLU also played a key role in initiating a nationwide effort to reduce misconduct (such as extracting false confessions) within police departments, by publishing the report ''Lawlessness in Law Enforcement'' in 1931, under the auspices of
Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was an American politician who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 and a member of the Republican Party, holding office during the onset of the Gr ...
's
Wickersham Commission The National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement (also known unofficially as the Wickersham Commission) was a committee established by the U.S. President, Herbert Hoover, on May 20, 1929. Former attorney general George W. Wickersham (1858 ...
. In 1934, the ACLU lobbied for the passage of the
Indian Reorganization Act The Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) of June 18, 1934, or the Wheeler–Howard Act, was U.S. federal legislation that dealt with the status of American Indians in the United States. It was the centerpiece of what has been often called the "Indian ...
, which restored some autonomy to Native American tribes, and established penalties for kidnapping Native American children. Although the ACLU deferred to the NAACP for litigation promoting civil liberties for African Americans, the ACLU did engage 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.Walker, p. 88. Funded by the
Garland Fund The American Fund for Public Service, commonly known as the Garland Fund, was a philanthropic organization established in 1922 by Charles Garland (philanthropist), Charles Garland. The fund, administered by a group of trustees headed by Roger Nas ...
, the ACLU also participated in producing the influential Margold Report, which outlined a strategy to fight for civil rights for blacks.Walker, p. 89. The ACLU's plan was to demonstrate that the " separate but equal" policies governing the Southern discrimination were illegal because blacks were never, in fact, treated equally.


Depression era and the New Deal

In 1932twelve years after the ACLU was foundedit had achieved significant success; the Supreme Court had embraced the free speech principles espoused by the ACLU, and the general public was becoming more supportive of civil rights in general. But the
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
brought new assaults on civil liberties; the year 1930 saw a large increase in the number of free speech prosecutions, a doubling of the number of lynchings, and all meetings of unemployed persons were banned in Philadelphia. The
Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
administration proposed the
New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...
to combat the depression. ACLU leaders were of mixed opinions about the New Deal, since many felt that it represented an increase in government intervention into personal affairs, and because the
National Recovery Administration The National Recovery Administration (NRA) was a prime agency established by U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) in 1933. The goal of the administration was to eliminate "cut throat competition" by bringing industry, labor, and governmen ...
suspended antitrust legislation.Walker, p. 96. Roosevelt was not personally interested in civil rights, but did appoint many civil libertarians to key positions, including Interior Secretary Harold Ickes, a member of the ACLU.Walker, p. 97 The economic policies of the New Deal leaders were often aligned with ACLU goals, but social goals were not. In particular, movies were subject to a barrage of local ordinances banning screenings that were deemed immoral or obscene.Walker, p. 100. Even public health films portraying pregnancy and birth were banned; as was ''
Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energ ...
'' magazine's April 11, 1938, issue which included photos of the birth process. The ACLU fought these bans, but did not prevail.Walker, pp. 99–100. The Catholic Church attained increasing political influence in the 1930s, and used its influence to promote censorship of movies, and to discourage publication of birth control information. This conflict between the ACLU and the Catholic Church led to the resignation of the last Catholic priest from ACLU leadership in 1934; a Catholic priest would not be represented there again until the 1970s.Walker, p. 98. The ACLU took no official position on president Franklin Delano Roosevelt's 1937 court-packing plan, which threatened to increase the number of Supreme Court justices, unless the Supreme Court reversed its course and began approving New Deal legislation.Walker, pp. 105–06. The Supreme Court responded by making a major shift in policy, and no longer applied strict constitutional limits to government programs, and also began to take a more active role in protecting civil liberties. The first decision that marked the court's new direction was ''
De Jonge v. Oregon ''De Jonge v. Oregon'', 299 U.S. 353 (1937), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, Fourteenth Amendment's due process clause applies freedom of assembly Inco ...
'', in which a communist labor organizer was arrested for calling a meeting to discuss unionization.Walker, p. 106. The ACLU attorney Osmond Fraenkel, working with International Labor Defense, defended De Jonge in 1937, and won a major victory when the Supreme Court ruled that "peaceable assembly for lawful discussion cannot be made a crime." The De Jonge case marked the start of an era lasting for a dozen years, during which Roosevelt appointees (led by
Hugo Black Hugo Lafayette Black (February 27, 1886 – September 25, 1971) was an American lawyer, politician, and jurist who served as a U.S. Senator from Alabama from 1927 to 1937 and as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1937 to 1971. A ...
,
William O. Douglas William Orville Douglas (October 16, 1898January 19, 1980) was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, who was known for his strong progressive and civil libertarian views, and is often c ...
, and Frank Murphy) established a body of civil liberties law. In 1938, Justice
Harlan F. Stone Harlan Fiske Stone (October 11, 1872 – April 22, 1946) was an American attorney and jurist who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1925 to 1941 and then as the 12th chief justice of the United States from 1941 un ...
wrote the famous "footnote four" in ''
United States v. Carolene Products Co. ''United States v. Carolene Products Company'', 304 U.S. 144 (1938), was a case of the United States Supreme Court that upheld the federal government's power to prohibit filled milk from being shipped in interstate commerce. In his majority opini ...
'' in which he suggested that state laws which impede civil liberties wouldhenceforthrequire compelling justification.Walker, p. 107. Senator
Robert F. Wagner Robert Ferdinand Wagner I (June 8, 1877May 4, 1953) was an American politician. He was a Democratic U.S. Senator from New York from 1927 to 1949. Born in Prussia, Wagner migrated with his family to the United States in 1885. After graduating ...
proposed the
National Labor Relations Act The National Labor Relations Act of 1935, also known as the Wagner Act, is a foundational statute of United States labor law that guarantees the right of private sector employees to organize into trade unions, engage in collective bargaining, and ...
in 1935, which empowered workers to unionize. Ironically, the ACLU, after 15 years of fighting for workers' rights, initially opposed the act (it later took no stand on the legislation) because some ACLU leaders feared the increased power the bill gave to the government.Wagner, p. 101. The newly formed
National Labor Relations Board The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is an independent agency of the federal government of the United States with responsibilities for enforcing U.S. labor law in relation to collective bargaining and unfair labor practices. Under the Natio ...
(NLRB) posed a dilemma for the ACLU, because in 1937 it issued an order to
Henry Ford Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American industrialist, business magnate, founder of the Ford Motor Company, and chief developer of the assembly line technique of mass production. By creating the first automobile that mi ...
, prohibiting Ford from disseminating anti-union literature.Walker, pp. 102–03. Part of the ACLU leadership habitually took the side of labor, and that faction supported the NLRB's action. But part of the ACLU supported Ford's right to free speech. ACLU leader
Arthur Garfield Hays Arthur Garfield Hays (December 12, 1881 – December 14, 1954) was an American lawyer and champion of civil liberties issues, best known as a co-founder and general counsel of the American Civil Liberties Union and for participating in notable ca ...
proposed a compromise (supporting the auto workers union, yet also endorsing Ford's right to express personal opinions), but the schism highlighted a deeper divide that would become more prominent in the years to come. The ACLU's support of the NLRB was a major development for the ACLU, because it marked the first time it accepted that a government agency could be responsible for upholding civil liberties.Walker, p. 103. Until 1937, the ACLU felt that civil rights were best upheld by citizens and private organizations. Some factions in the ACLU proposed new directions for the organization. In the late 1930s, some local affiliates proposed shifting their emphasis from civil liberties appellate actions, to becoming a legal aid society, centered on store front offices in low income neighborhoods. The ACLU directors rejected that proposal.Walker, p. 104. Other ACLU members wanted the ACLU to shift focus into the political arena, and to be more willing to compromise their ideals in order to strike deals with politicians. This initiative was also rejected by the ACLU leadership.


Jehovah's Witnesses

The ACLU's support of defendants with unpopular, sometimes extreme, viewpoints have produced many landmark court cases and established new civil liberties. One such defendant was the
Jehovah's Witnesses Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The group reports a worldwide membership of approximately 8.7 million adherents involved in ...
, who were involved in a large number of Supreme Court cases. Cases that the ACLU supported included ''
Lovell v. City of Griffin ''Lovell v. City of Griffin'', 303 U.S. 444 (1938), is a United States Supreme Court case. This case was remarkable in its discussion of the requirement of persons to seek government sanction to distribute religious material. In this particular ca ...
'' (which struck down a city ordinance that required a permit before a person could distribute "literature of any kind"); ''
Martin v. Struthers ''Martin v. Struthers'', 319 U.S. 141 (1943), is a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that a law prohibiting the distribution of handbills from door to door violated the First Amendment rights of a Jehovah's Witness, specifi ...
'' (which struck down an ordinance prohibiting door-to-door canvassing); and ''
Cantwell v. Connecticut ''Cantwell v. Connecticut'', 310 U.S. 296 (1940), is a landmark court decision by the United States Supreme Court holding that the First Amendment's ''federal'' protection of religious free exercise incorporates via the Due Process Clause of t ...
'' (which reversed the conviction of a Witness who was reciting offensive speech on a street corner).Walker, p. 108. The most important cases involved statutes requiring flag salutes. The Jehovah's Witnesses felt that saluting a flag was contrary to their religious beliefs. Two children were convicted in 1938 of not saluting the flag. The ACLU supported their appeal to the Supreme Court, but the court affirmed the conviction, in 1940.Walker, p. 109. But three years later, in ''
West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette ''West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette'', 319 U.S. 624 (1943), is a landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court holding that the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment protects students from being forced to salute the Ame ...
'', the Supreme court reversed itself and wrote "If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein." To underscore its decision, the Supreme Court announced it on Flag Day.


Communism and totalitarianism

The rise of
totalitarian Totalitarianism is a form of government and a political system that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual and group opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high if not complete degree of control and regul ...
regimes in Germany, Russia, and other countries who rejected freedom of speech and association had a large impact on the civil liberties movement in the US; anti-Communist sentiment rose and civil liberties were curtailed.Walker, p. 115. The ACLU leadership was divided over whether or not to defend pro-
Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
speech in the United States; pro-labor elements within the ACLU were hostile towards Nazism and fascism, and objected when the ACLU defended Nazis.Walker, pp. 116–17. Several states passed laws outlawing the hate speech directed at ethnic groups.Walker, p. 117. The first person arrested under New Jersey's 1935 hate speech law was a Jehovah's Witness who was charged with disseminating anti-Catholic literature. The ACLU defended the Jehovah's Witnesses, and the charges were dropped. The ACLU proceeded to defend numerous pro-Nazi groups, defending their rights to free speech and free association. In the late 1930s, the ACLU allied itself with the Popular Front, a coalition of liberal organizations coordinated by the United States Communist Party.Walker, p. 118. The ACLU benefited because affiliates from the Popular Front could often fight local civil rights battles much more effectively than the New York-based ACLU. The association with the Communist Party led to accusations that the ACLU was a "Communist front", particularly because
Harry F. Ward Harry Frederick Ward Jr. (15 October 1873 – 9 December 1966) was an English-born American Methodist minister and political activist who identified himself with the movement for Christian socialism, best remembered as first national chairman of t ...
was both chairman of the ACLU and chairman of the
American League Against War and Fascism The American League Against War and Fascism was an organization formed in 1933 by the Communist Party USA and pacifists united by their concern as Nazism and Fascism rose in Europe. In 1937 the name of the group was changed to the American League fo ...
, a Communist organization.Walker, p. 119. The
House Un-American Activities Committee The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly dubbed the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloy ...
(HUAC) was created in 1938 to uncover sedition and treason within the United States.Walker, p. 120. When witnesses testified at its hearings, the ACLU was mentioned several times, leading the HUAC to mention the ACLU prominently in its 1939 report.Walker, p. 121. 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. While the ACLU rushed to defend its image against allegations of being a Communist front, it also worked to protect witnesses who were being harassed by the HUAC.Walker, p. 122. The ACLU was one of the few organizations to protest (unsuccessfully) against passage of the Smith Act in 1940, which would later be used to imprison many persons who supported Communism.Walker, p. 123. The ACLU defended many persons who were prosecuted under the Smith Act, including labor leader
Harry Bridges Harry Bridges (28 July 1901 – 30 March 1990) was an Australian-born American union leader, first with the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA). In 1937, he led several chapters in forming a new union, the International Longshore and W ...
.Walker, p. 133. ACLU leadership was split on whether to purge its leadership of Communists. Norman Thomas, John Haynes Holmes, and
Morris Ernst Morris Ernst (August 23, 1888 – May 21, 1976) was an American lawyer and prominent attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). In public life, he defended and asserted the rights of Americans to privacy and freedom from censorshi ...
were anti-Communists who wanted to distance the ACLU from Communism; opposing them were Harry F. Ward,
Corliss Lamont Corliss Lamont (March 28, 1902 – April 26, 1995) was an American socialist and humanist philosopher and advocate of various left-wing and civil liberties causes. As a part of his political activities, he was the Chairman of National Council of ...
, and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, who rejected any political test for ACLU leadership.Walker, p. 128. 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, andfollowing a contentious six-hour debateFlynn was voted off the ACLU's board.Walker, pp. 132–33. 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.


Mid-century


World War II

When World War II engulfed the United States, the Bill of Rights was enshrined as a hallowed document, and numerous organizations defended civil liberties.Walker, p. 140. Chicago and New York proclaimed "Civil Rights" weeks, and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt announced a national Bill of Rights day.
Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt () (October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four ...
was the keynote speaker at the 1939 ACLU convention. In spite of this newfound respect for civil rights, Americans were becoming adamantly anti-communist, and believed that excluding communists from American society was an essential step to preserve democracy. Contrasted with World War I, there was relatively little violation of civil liberties during World War II. President Roosevelt was a strong supporter of civil liberties, butmore importantlythere were few anti-war activists during World War II.Walker, p. 135. The most significant exception was the internment of Japanese Americans.


Japanese American internment

Two months after the
Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, ju ...
, Roosevelt authorized the creation of military "exclusion zones" with
Executive Order 9066 Executive Order 9066 was a United States presidential executive order signed and issued during World War II by United States president Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942. This order authorized the secretary of war to prescribe certain ...
, paving the way for the detention of all West Coast
Japanese American are Americans of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Americans were among the three largest Asian American ethnic communities during the 20th century; but, according to the 2000 census, they have declined in number to constitute the sixth largest Asi ...
s in inland camps. In addition to the non-citizen Issei (prohibited from
naturalization Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...
as members of an "unassimilable" race), over two-thirds of those swept up were American-born citizens.Walker, p. 137. The ACLU immediately protested to Roosevelt, comparing the evacuations to Nazi concentration camps.Walker, p. 138. The ACLU was the only major organization to object to the internment plan, and their position was very unpopular, even within the organization. Not all ACLU leaders wanted to defend the Japanese Americans; Roosevelt loyalists such as Morris Ernst wanted to support Roosevelt's war effort, but pacifists such as Baldwin and Norman Thomas felt that Japanese Americans needed access to due process before they could be imprisoned.Walker, p. 139. In a March 20, 1942, letter to Roosevelt, Baldwin called on the administration to allow Japanese Americans to prove their loyalty at individual hearings, describing the constitutionality of the planned removal "open to grave question". His suggestions went nowhere, and opinions within the organization became increasingly divided as the Army began the "evacuation" of the West Coast. In May, the two factions, one pushing to fight the exclusion orders then being issued, the other advocating support for the President's policy of removing citizens whose "presence may endanger national security", brought their opposing resolutions to a vote before the board and the ACLU's national leaders. They decided not to challenge the eviction of Japanese American citizens, and on June 22 instructions were sent to West Coast branches not to support cases that argued the government had no constitutional right to do so. The ACLU offices on the West Coast had been more directly involved in addressing the tide of anti-Japanese prejudice from the start, as they were geographically closer to the issue, and were already working on cases challenging the exclusion by this time. The Seattle office, assisting in Gordon Hirabayashi's lawsuit, created an unaffiliated committee to continue the work the ACLU had started, while in Los Angeles, attorney
A.L. Wirin AL, Al, Ål or al may stand for: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Al (''Aladdin'') or Aladdin, the main character in Disney's ''Aladdin'' media * Al (''EastEnders''), a minor character in the British soap opera * Al (''Fullmetal ...
continued to represent
Ernest Kinzo Wakayama Ernest is a given name derived from Germanic word ''ernst'', meaning "serious". Notable people and fictional characters with the name include: People *Archduke Ernest of Austria (1553–1595), son of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor *Ernest, M ...
but without addressing the case's constitutional questions. Wirin would lose private clients because of his defense of Wakayama and other Japanese Americans; however, the San Francisco branch, led by
Ernest Besig Ernest is a given name derived from Germanic languages, Germanic word ''ernst'', meaning "serious". Notable people and fictional characters with the name include: People *Archduke Ernest of Austria (1553–1595), son of Maximilian II, Holy Roman ...
, refused to discontinue its support for
Fred Korematsu was an American civil rights activist who resisted the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Shortly after the Imperial Japanese Navy launched its attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Or ...
, whose case had been taken on prior to the June 22 directive, and attorney Wayne Collins, with Besig's full support, centered his defense on the illegality of Korematsu's exclusion. The West Coast offices had wanted a test case to take to court, but 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. ''
Hirabayashi v. United States ''Hirabayashi v. United States'', 320 U.S. 81 (1943), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States, United States Supreme Court held that the application of curfews against members of a minority group were constitutional when the nati ...
'' came before the Court in May 1943, and the justices upheld the government's right to exclude Japanese Americans from the West Coast; although it had earlier forced its local office in L.A. to stop aiding Hirabayashi, the ACLU donated $1,000 to the case (over a third of the legal team's total budget) and submitted an ''amicus'' brief. Besig, dissatisfied with Osmond Fraenkel's tamer defense, filed an additional ''amicus'' brief that directly addressed Hirabayashi's constitutional rights. In the meantime, A.L. Wirin served as one of the attorneys in ''
Yasui v. United States ''Yasui v. United States'', 320 U.S. 115 (1943), was a United States Supreme Court case regarding the constitutionality of curfews used during World War II when they were applied to citizens of the United States.. The case arose out of the implemen ...
'' (decided the same day as the Hirabayashi case, and with the same results), but he kept his arguments within the perimeters established by the national office. The only case to receive a favorable ruling, '' ex parte Endo'', was also aided by two ''amicus'' briefs from the ACLU, one from the more conservative Fraenkel and another from the more putative Wayne Collins. ''
Korematsu v. United States ''Korematsu v. United States'', 323 U.S. 214 (1944), was a landmark decision by the Supreme Court of the United States to uphold the exclusion of Japanese Americans from the West Coast Military Area during World War II. The decision has been wid ...
'' 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, while Baldwin tried unsuccessfully to convince Collins to step down so he could replace him as lead attorney in the case. Eventually Collins agreed to present the case alongside Charles Horsky, although their arguments before the Supreme Court remained based in the unconstitutionality of the exclusion order Korematsu had disobeyed. The case was decided in December 1944, when the Court once again upheld the government's right to relocate Japanese Americans, although Korematsu's, Hirabayashi's and Yasui's convictions were later overturned in '' coram nobis'' proceedings in the 1980s. Legal scholar Peter Irons later asserted that the national office of the ACLU's decision not to directly challenge the constitutionality of Executive Order 9066 had "crippled the effective presentation of these appeals to the Supreme Court". 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 which declared the ACLU unwilling to defend anyone who interfered with the United States' war effort. Included in this group were the thousands of Nisei who renounced their US citizenship during the war but later regretted the decision and tried to revoke their applications for "repatriation". (A significant number of those slated to "go back" to Japan had never actually been to the country and were in fact being deported rather than repatriated.) Ernest Besig had in 1944 visited the Tule Lake Segregation Center, where the majority of these "renunciants" were concentrated, and subsequently enlisted Wayne Collins' help to file a lawsuit on their behalf, arguing the renunciations had been given under duress. The national organization prohibited local branches from representing the renunciants, forcing Collins to pursue the case on his own, although Besig and the Northern California office provided some support. During his 1944 visit to Tule Lake, Besig had also become aware of a hastily constructed stockade in which Japanese American internees were routinely being brutalized and held for months without due process. Besig was forbidden by the national ACLU office to intervene on behalf of the stockade prisoners or even to visit the Tule Lake camp without prior written approval from Baldwin. Unable to help directly, Besig turned to Wayne Collins for assistance. Collins, using the threat of habeas corpus suits managed to have the stockade closed down. A year later, after learning that the stockade had been reestablished, he returned to the camp and had it closed down for good.


End of WWII in 1945

When the war ended in 1945, the ACLU was 25 years old, and had accumulated an impressive set of legal victories.Walker, p. 186. President
Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...
sent a congratulatory telegram to the ACLU on the occasion of their 25th anniversary. American attitudes had changed since World War I, and dissent by minorities was tolerated with more willingness. The Bill of Rights was more respected, and minority rights were becoming more commonly championed. During their 1945 annual conference, the ACLU leaders composed a list of important civil rights issues to focus on in the future, and the list included racial discrimination and separation of church and state. The ACLU supported the African-American defendants in ''
Shelley v. Kraemer ''Shelley v. Kraemer'', 334 U.S. 1 (1948), is a List of landmark court decisions in the United States, landmark United States Supreme Court case that held that racially restrictive housing Covenant (law), covenants cannot legally be enforced. The ...
'', when they tried to occupy a house they had purchased in a neighborhood which had racially restrictive housing covenants. The African-American purchasers won the case in 1945.


Cold War era

Anti-Communist sentiment gripped the United States during the
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
beginning in 1946. Federal investigations caused many persons with Communist or left-leaning affiliations to lose their jobs, become blacklisted, or be jailed. During the Cold War, although the United States collectively ignored the civil rights of Communists, other civil libertiessuch as due process in law and separation of church and statecontinued to be reinforced and even expanded. 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. Some ACLU leaders were anti-Communist, and felt that the ACLU should not defend any victims. Some ACLU leaders felt that Communists were entitled to free speech protections, and the ACLU should defend them. Other ACLU leaders were uncertain about the threat posed by Communists, and tried to establish a compromise between the two extremes. This ambivalent state of affairs would last until 1954, when the civil liberties faction prevailed, leading to the resignation of most of the anti-Communist leaders.Walker, pp. 176, 210. In 1947, President Truman issued Executive Order 9835, which created the
Federal Loyalty Program President Harry S. Truman signed United States Executive Order 9835, sometimes known as the "Loyalty Order", on March 21, 1947. The order established the first general loyalty program in the United States, designed to root out communist influence ...
. This program authorized the Attorney General to create a list of organizations which were deemed to be subversive. Any association with these programs was ground for barring the person from employment.Walker, p. 177. Listed organizations were not notified that they were being considered for the list, nor did they have an opportunity to present counterarguments; nor did the government divulge any factual basis for inclusion in the list.Walker, p. 179 Although ACLU leadership was divided on whether to challenge the Federal Loyalty Program, some challenges were successfully made. 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 Contempt of Congress is the act of obstructing the work of the United States Congress or one of its committees. Historically, the bribery of a U.S. senator or U.S. representative was considered contempt of Congress. In modern times, contempt of Co ...
. The ACLU supported the appeals of several of the artists, but lost on appeal.Walker, p. 181. The Hollywood establishment panicked after the HUAC hearings, and created a blacklist which prohibited anyone with leftist associations from working. The ACLU supported legal challenges to the blacklist, but those challenges failed. 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 blacklisting of actress Jean Muir, described the unfair and unethical actions behind the blacklisting process, and it helped gradually turn public opinion against McCarthyism. 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.Walker, p. 185. 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. The ACLU chose to not represent any of the defendants, and they were all found guilty and sentenced to three to five years in prison. Their defense attorneys were all cited for contempt, went to prison and were disbarred. When the government indicted additional party members, the defendants could not find attorneys to represent them. Communists protested outside the courthouse; a bill to outlaw picketing of courthouses was introduced in Congress, and the ACLU supported the anti-picketing law. The ACLU, in a change of heart, supported the party leaders during their appeal process. The Supreme Court upheld the convictions in the ''
Dennis v. United States ''Dennis v. United States'', 341 U.S. 494 (1951), was a United States Supreme Court case relating to Eugene Dennis, General Secretary of the Communist Party USA. The Court ruled that Dennis did not have the right under the First Amendment to the U ...
'' decision by softening the free speech requirements from a "clear and present danger" test, to a "grave and probable" test.Walker, p 187. The ACLU issued a public condemnation of the ''Dennis'' decision, and resolved to fight it. One reason for the Supreme Court's support of Cold War legislation was the 1949 deaths of Supreme Court justices Frank Murphy and
Wiley Rutledge Wiley Blount Rutledge Jr. (July 20, 1894 – September 10, 1949) was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1943 to 1949. The ninth and final justice appointed by President Frankli ...
, leaving
Hugo Black Hugo Lafayette Black (February 27, 1886 – September 25, 1971) was an American lawyer, politician, and jurist who served as a U.S. Senator from Alabama from 1927 to 1937 and as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1937 to 1971. A ...
and
William O. Douglas William Orville Douglas (October 16, 1898January 19, 1980) was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, who was known for his strong progressive and civil libertarian views, and is often c ...
as the only remaining civil libertarians on the Court.Walker, p. 195. The ''Dennis'' decision paved the way for the prosecution of hundreds of other Communist party members.Walker, p. 188. The ACLU supported many of the Communists during their appeals (although most of the initiative originated with local ACLU affiliates, not the national headquarters) but most convictions were upheld. 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. The ACLU also challenged many loyalty oath requirements across the country, but the courts upheld most of the loyalty oath laws. California ACLU affiliates successfully challenged the California state loyalty oath. The Supreme Court, until 1957, upheld nearly every law which restricted the liberties of Communists. 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 The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is a non-profit organization of U.S. war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militi ...
, Senator
Joseph McCarthy Joseph Raymond McCarthy (November 14, 1908 – May 2, 1957) was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957. Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the most visi ...
, the HUAC, and the FBI. 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. In 1950, Raymond L. Wise, ACLU board member 1933–1951, defended
William Perl William Perl (1920–1970), whose original name was William Mutterperl, was an American physicist and Soviet spy. Background While a student at the City College of New York, Perl joined the Steinmetz Club, the campus branch of the Young Communi ...
, one of the other spies embroiled in the atomic espionage cases (made famous by the execution of Julius Rosenberg and
Ethel Rosenberg Julius Rosenberg (May 12, 1918 – June 19, 1953) and Ethel Rosenberg (; September 28, 1915 – June 19, 1953) were American citizens who were convicted of spying on behalf of the Soviet Union. The couple were convicted of providing top-secret i ...
).


Organizational change

In 1950, the ACLU board of directors asked executive director Baldwin to resign, feeling that 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 Patrick Murphy Malin (1903 – December 13, 1964) was an American activist and administrator who followed Roger Nash Baldwin as the second Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union. Early life Malin was born in Joplin, Missouri i ...
. Under Malin's guidance, membership tripled to 30,000 by 1955the start of a 24-year period of continual growth leading to 275,000 members in 1974.Walker, p. 207. Malin also presided over an expansion of local ACLU affiliates. The ACLU, which had been 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.Walker, p. 208. A bi-annual conference, open to the entire membership, was instituted in the same year, and 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.


McCarthy era

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 to not defend him. 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. In response to communist witch-hunts, many witnesses and employees chose to use the fifth amendment protection against
self-incrimination In criminal law, self-incrimination is the act of exposing oneself generally, by making a statement, "to an accusation or charge of crime; to involve oneself or another ersonin a criminal prosecution or the danger thereof". (Self-incrimination ...
to avoid divulging information about their political beliefs. Government agencies and private organizations, in response, established policies which inferred communist party membership for anyone who invoked the fifth amendment. 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 Harry Slochower (September 1, 1900 – May 11, 1991) was an Austrian-American scholar, philosopher and psychoanalyst. Biography Slochower was born Hersch Zloczower in Bukowina, Romania, Bukowina, formerly part of Austria and now Romania. He ar ...
in his Supreme Court case which reversed his termination. 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. 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. 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. 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.Walker, p. 210. ACLU member Frank Graham, president of the
University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...
, attacked the anti-communists with a counter-proposal, which stated that the ACLU "stand against guilt by association, judgment by accusation, the invasion of privacy of personal opinions and beliefs, and the confusion of dissent with disloyalty". The anti-communists continued to battle Graham's proposal, but were outnumbered by the affiliates. The anti-communists finally gave up and departed the board of directors in late 1954 and 1955, ending an eight-year reign of ambivalence within the ACLU leadership ranks. Thereafter, the ACLU proceeded with firmer resolve against Cold War anti-communist legislation.Walker, p. 211. 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. McCarthyism declined in late 1954 after television journalist Edward R. Murrow and others publicly chastised McCarthy.Walker, p. 212. The controversies over the Bill of Rights that were generated by the Cold War ushered in a new era in American Civil liberties. In 1954, in '' Brown v. Board of Education'', the Supreme Court unanimously overturned state-sanctioned school segregation, and thereafter a flood of civil rights victories dominated the legal landscape. The Supreme Court handed the ACLU two key victories in 1957, in ''
Watkins v. United States ''Watkins v. United States'', 354 U.S. 178 (1957), is a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States that held that the power of the United States Congress is not unlimited in conducting investigations and that nothing in the United States C ...
'' and ''
Yates v. United States ''Yates v. United States'', 354 U.S. 298 (1957), was a case decided by the Supreme Court of the United States that held that the First Amendment protected radical and reactionary speech, unless it posed a " clear and present danger." Background ...
'', both of which undermined the Smith Act and marked the beginning of the end of communist party membership inquiries. In 1965, the Supreme Court produced some decisions, including ''
Lamont v. Postmaster General ''Lamont v. Postmaster General'', 381 U.S. 301 (1965), was a landmark First Amendment Supreme Court case, in which the ruling of the Supreme Court struck down § 305(a) of the Postal Service and Federal Employees Salary Act of 1962, a federal statu ...
'' (in which the plaintiff was
Corliss Lamont Corliss Lamont (March 28, 1902 – April 26, 1995) was an American socialist and humanist philosopher and advocate of various left-wing and civil liberties causes. As a part of his political activities, he was the Chairman of National Council of ...
, a former ACLU board member), which upheld fifth amendment protections and brought an end to restrictions on political activity.Walker, p. 246.


1960s

The decade from 1954 to 1964 was the most successful period in the ACLU's history.Walker, p. 217 Membership rose from 30,000 to 80,000, and by 1965 it had affiliates in seventeen states. During the ACLU's bi-annual conference in Colorado in 1964, the Supreme Court issued rulings on eight cases in which the ACLU was involved; the ACLU prevailed on seven of the eight.Walker, p. 236. 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. The ACLU's success arose from changing public attitudes; the American populace was more educated, more tolerant, and more willing to accept unorthodox behavior.


Separation of church and state

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.Walker, p. 219 The Catholic church was a leading proponent of such laws; and the primary opponents (the "separationists") were the ACLU,
Americans United for Separation of Church and State Americans United for Separation of Church and State (Americans United or AU for short) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that advocates for the disassociation of religion and religious organizations from government. The separation of church ...
, and the
American Jewish Congress The American Jewish Congress (AJCongress or AJC) is an association of American Jews organized to defend Jewish interests at home and abroad through public policy advocacy, using diplomacy, legislation, and the courts. History The AJCongress was ...
. The ACLU led the challenge in the 1947 ''
Everson v. Board of Education ''Everson v. Board of Education'', 330 U.S. 1 (1947), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that applied the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to state law. Prior to this decision, the clause, which states, "Congress ...
'' case, in which Justice Hugo Black wrote " e First Amendment has erected a wall between church and state.... That wall must be kept high and impregnable." 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.Walker, p. 221. However, the ACLU and other advocates of church/state separation persuaded the Court to declare such activities unconstitutional. Historian Samuel Walker writes that the ACLU's "greatest impact on American life" was its role in persuading the Supreme Court to "constitutionalize" so many public controversies. In 1948, the ACLU prevailed in the '' McCollum v. Board of Education'' case, which challenged public school religious classes taught by clergy paid for from private funds. The ACLU also won cases challenging schools in New Mexico which were taught by clergy and had crucifixes hanging in the classrooms.Walker, p. 222. In the 1960s, the ACLU, in response to member insistence, turned its attention to in-class promotion of religion.Walker, p. 223 In 1960, 42 percent of American schools included Bible reading. In 1962, the ACLU published a policy statement condemning in-school prayers, observation of religious holidays, and Bible reading. The Supreme Court concurred with the ACLU's position, when it prohibited New York's in-school prayers in the 1962 ''
Engel v. Vitale ''Engel v. Vitale'', 370 U.S. 421 (1962), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court ruled that it is unconstitutional for state officials to compose an official school prayer and encourage its recitation in public school ...
'' decision. Religious factions across the country rebelled against the anti-prayer decisions, leading them to propose the School Prayer Constitutional Amendment, which declared in-school prayer legal.Walker, p. 225. The ACLU participated in a lobbying effort against the amendment, and the 1966 congressional vote on the amendment failed to obtain the required two-thirds majority. However, not all cases were victories; ACLU lost cases in 1949 and 1961 which challenged state laws requiring commercial businesses to close on Sunday, the Christian Sabbath. The Supreme Court has never overturned such laws, although some states subsequently revoked many of the laws under pressure from commercial interests.


Freedom of expression

During the 1940s and 1950s, the ACLU continued its battle against censorship of art and literature.Walker, p. 227. In 1948, the New York affiliate of the ACLU received mixed results from the Supreme Court, winning the appeal of Carl Jacob Kunz, who was convicted for speaking without a police permit, but losing the appeal of Irving Feiner who was arrested to prevent a breach of the peace, based on his oration denouncing president Truman and the American Legion.Walker, p. 229. The ACLU lost the case of
Joseph Beauharnais Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...
, who was arrested for group libel when he distributed literature impugning the character of African Americans.Walker, p. 230. 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.Walker, p. 231. The film '' The Miracle'' was banned in New York in 1951, at the behest of the Catholic Church, but the ACLU supported the film's distributor in an appeal of the ban, and won a major victory in the 1952 decision '' Joseph Burstyn, Inc. v. Wilson''. The Catholic Church led efforts throughout the 1950s attempting to persuade local prosecutors to ban various books and movies, leading to conflict with the ACLU when the ACLU published it statement condemning the church's tactics.Walker, p. 232. Further legal actions by the ACLU successfully defended films such as '' M'' and ''
la Ronde La Ronde may refer to: Geography * La Ronde, Charente-Maritime, a commune in the Charente-Maritime ''département'', France * La Ronde River, on the Caribbean island of Dominica *La Ronde (amusement park), Montreal, Quebec, Canada *A La Ronde, an ...
'', leading the eventual dismantling of movie censorship. Hollywood continued employing self-censorship with its own
Production Code The Motion Picture Production Code was a set of industry guidelines for the self-censorship of content that was applied to most motion pictures released by major studios in the United States from 1934 to 1968. It is also popularly known as the ...
, but in 1956 the ACLU called on Hollywood to abolish the Code.Walker, p. 233. The ACLU defended
beat generation The Beat Generation was a literary subculture movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-war era. The bulk of their work was published and popularized by Silent Generatio ...
artists, including
Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...
who was prosecuted for his poem "
Howl Howl most often refers to: *Howling, an animal vocalization in many canine species *Howl (poem), a 1956 poem by Allen Ginsberg Howl may also refer to: Film * ''The Howl'', a 1970 Italian film * ''Howl'' (2010 film), a 2010 American arthouse b ...
"; andin an unorthodox case the ACLU helped a coffee house regain its restaurant license which was revoked because its Beat customers were allegedly disturbing the peace and quiet of the neighborhood. The ACLU lost an important press censorship case when, in 1957, the Supreme Court upheld the obscenity conviction of publisher
Samuel Roth Samuel Roth (1893–1974) was an American publisher and writer. Described as an "all-around schemer", he was the plaintiff in ''Roth v. United States'' (1957). The case was a Supreme Court ruling on freedom of sexual expression and whose minori ...
for distributing adult magazines. As late as 1953, books such as ''
Tropic of Cancer The Tropic of Cancer, which is also referred to as the Northern Tropic, is the most northerly circle of latitude on Earth at which the Sun can be directly overhead. This occurs on the June solstice, when the Northern Hemisphere is tilted toward ...
'' and '' From Here to Eternity'' were still banned. But public standards rapidly became more liberal though the 1960s, and obscenity was notoriously difficult to define, so by 1971 prosecutions for obscenity had halted.


Racial discrimination

A major aspect of civil liberties progress after World War II was the undoing centuries of racism in federal, state, and local governments an effort generally associated with the
civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...
.Walker, p. 238. Several civil liberties organizations worked together for progress, including the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. ...
(NAACP), the ACLU, and the
American Jewish Congress The American Jewish Congress (AJCongress or AJC) is an association of American Jews organized to defend Jewish interests at home and abroad through public policy advocacy, using diplomacy, legislation, and the courts. History The AJCongress was ...
. The NAACP took primary responsibility for Supreme Court cases (often led by lead NAACP attorney
Thurgood Marshall Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was an American civil rights lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1967 until 1991. He was the Supreme Court's first African-A ...
), with the ACLU focusing on police misconduct, and supporting the NAACP with amicus briefs. The NAACP achieved a key victory in 1950 with the '' Henderson v. United States'' decision that ended segregation in interstate bus and rail transportation. 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 Public school may refer to: *State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government *Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England and ...
. 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 ''Reynolds v. Sims'', 377 U.S. 533 (1964), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court ruled that the electoral districts of state legislative chambers must be roughly equal in population. Along with ''Baker v. Carr'' (196 ...
'', which required states to establish the voting districts in accordance with the "one person, one vote" principle.


Police misconduct

The ACLU regularly tackled police misconduct issues, starting with the 1932 case ''
Powell v. Alabama ''Powell v. Alabama'', 287 U.S. 45 (1932), was a landmark United States Supreme Court decision in which the Court reversed the convictions of nine young black men for allegedly raping two white women on a freight train near Scottsboro, Alabama. Th ...
'' (right to an attorney), and including 1942's '' Betts v. Brady'' (right to an attorney), and 1951's ''
Rochin v. California ''Rochin v. California'', 342 U.S. 165 (1952), was a case decided by the Supreme Court of the United States that added behavior that "shocks the conscience" into tests of what violates due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United S ...
'' (involuntary stomach pumping). In the late 1940s, several ACLU local affiliates established permanent committees to address policing issues. During the 1950s and 1960s, the ACLU was responsible for substantially advancing the legal protections against police misconduct. The Philadelphia affiliate was responsible for causing the City of Philadelphia, in 1958, to create the nation's first civilian police review board. In 1959, the Illinois affiliate published the first report in the nation, ''Secret Detention by the Chicago Police'', which documented unlawful detention by police. Some of the most well known 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 ''Mapp v. Ohio'', 367 U.S. 643 (1961), was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the exclusionary rule, which prevents prosecutors from using Evidence (law), evidence in co ...
'', the Supreme court required states to obtain a warrant before searching a person's home. The ''
Gideon v. Wainwright ''Gideon v. Wainwright'', 372 U.S. 335 (1963), was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in which the Court ruled that the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution requires U.S. states to provide attorneys to criminal defendants who are unable ...
'' decision in 1963 provided legal representation to indigents. In 1964, the ACLU persuaded the Court, in ''
Escobedo v. Illinois ''Escobedo v. Illinois'', 378 U.S. 478 (1964), was a Supreme Court of the United States, United States Supreme Court case holding that criminal suspects have a right to counsel during police interrogations under the Sixth Amendment to the United ...
'', to permit suspects to have an attorney present during questioning. And, in 1966, ''
Miranda v. Arizona ''Miranda v. Arizona'', 384 U.S. 436 (1966), was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution restricts prosecutors from using a person's statements made in response to ...
'' 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 ''In re Gault'', 387 U.S. 1 (1967), was a landmark Supreme Court of the United States, U.S. Supreme Court decision which held the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, 14th Amendment applies to Minor (la ...
'' (1967) federal ruling. 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. In the late 1960s, civilian review boards in New York City and Philadelphia were abolished, over the ACLU's objection.


Civil liberties revolution of the 1960s

The 1960s was a tumultuous era in the United States, and public interest in civil liberties underwent an explosive growth.Walker, pp. 257, 261–62. Civil liberties actions in the 1960s were often led by young people, and often employed tactics such as
sit in A sit-in or sit-down is a form of direct action that involves one or more people occupying an area for a protest, often to promote political, social, or economic change. The protestors gather conspicuously in a space or building, refusing to mo ...
s and marches. Protests were often peaceful, but sometimes employed militant tactics. The ACLU played a central role in all major civil liberties debates of the 1960s, including new fields such as
gay rights Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Notably, , 3 ...
, prisoner's rights, abortion, rights of the poor, and the death penalty. Membership in the ACLU increased from 52,000 at the beginning of the decade, to 104,000 in 1970.Walker, p. 262 In 1960, there were affiliates in seven states, and by 1974 there were affiliates in 46 states. During the 1960s, the ACLU underwent a major transformation tactics; it shifted emphasis from legal appeals (generally involving
amicus briefs An ''amicus curiae'' (; ) is an individual or organization who is not a party to a legal case, but who is permitted to assist a court by offering information, expertise, or insight that has a bearing on the issues in the case. The decision on ...
submitted to the Supreme Court) to direct representation of defendants when they were initially arrested. At the same time, the ACLU transformed its style from "disengaged and elitist" to "emotionally engaged". 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. African-American protests in the South accelerated in the early 1960s, and the ACLU assisted at every step. 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. During 1960–61, the ACLU defended black students arrested for demonstrating in North Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana. The ACLU also provided legal help for the
Freedom Rides Freedom Riders were civil rights activists who rode interstate buses into the segregated Southern United States in 1961 and subsequent years to challenge the non-enforcement of the United States Supreme Court decisions '' Morgan v. Virginia ...
in 1961, the integration of the University of Mississippi, the Birmingham campaign in 1963, and the 1964
Freedom Summer Freedom Summer, also known as the Freedom Summer Project or the Mississippi Summer Project, was a volunteer campaign in the United States launched in June 1964 to attempt to register as many African-American voters as possible in Mississippi. ...
.Walker, p. 263. The NAACP was responsible for managing most sit-in related cases that made it to the Supreme Court, winning nearly every decision.Walker, p. 264. But it fell to the ACLU and other legal volunteer efforts to provide legal representation to hundreds of protestorswhite and blackwho were arrested while protesting in the South. The ACLU joined with other civil liberties groups to form the Lawyers Constitutional Defense Committee (LCDC) which subsequently provided legal representation to many of the protesters. The ACLU provided the majority of the funding for the LCDC. In 1964, the ACLU opened up a major office in Atlanta, Georgia, dedicated to serving Southern issues. Much of the ACLU's progress in the South was due to
Charles Morgan Jr. Charles "Chuck" Morgan Jr. (March 11, 1930 – January 8, 2009) was an American civil rights attorney from Alabama who played a key role in establishing the principle of "one man, one vote" in the Supreme Court of the United States decision in ...
, the charismatic leader of the Atlanta office. Morgan was responsible for desegregating juries (''
Whitus v. Georgia ''Whitus v. Georgia'', 385 U.S. 545 (1967), found in favor of the petitioner (Whitus), who had been convicted for murder, and as such reversed their convictions.. This was due to the Georgia jury selection policies, in which it was alleged racia ...
''), desegregating prisons ('' Lee v. Washington''), and reforming election laws. In 1966 the southern office successfully represented African-American congressman Julian Bond in ''
Bond v. Floyd ''Bond v. Floyd'', 385 U.S. 116 (1966), was a United States Supreme Court case. Background Julian Bond, an African American, was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in June 1965. Bond was a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinat ...
'', after the
Georgia House of Representatives The Georgia House of Representatives is the lower house of the Georgia General Assembly (the state legislature) of the U.S. state of Georgia. There are currently 180 elected members. Republicans have had a majority in the chamber since 2005. T ...
refused to admit Bond into the legislature on the basis that he was an admitted pacifist opposed to the ongoing Vietnam War. Another widely publicized case defended by Morgan was that of Army doctor Howard Levy, who was convicted of refusing to train
Green Berets The United States Army Special Forces (SF), colloquially known as the "Green Berets" due to their distinctive service headgear, are a special operations force of the United States Army. The Green Berets are geared towards nine doctrinal m ...
. 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). In 1969, the ACLU won a major victory for free speech, when it defended Dick Gregory after he was arrested for peacefully protesting against the mayor of Chicago. The court ruled in ''
Gregory v. Chicago ''Gregory v. Chicago'', 394 U.S. 111 (1969), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court overturned the disorderly conduct charges against Dick Gregory and others for peaceful demonstrations in Chicago. Background Social activists ...
'' that a speaker cannot be arrested for disturbing the peace when the hostility is initiated by someone in the audience, as that would amount to a "heckler's veto".


Vietnam War

The ACLU was at the center of several legal aspects of the Vietnam war: defending
draft resister Draft evasion is any successful attempt to elude a government-imposed obligation to serve in the military forces of one's nation. Sometimes draft evasion involves refusing to comply with the military draft laws of one's nation. Illegal draft ev ...
s, 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 Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...
. 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 ''United States v. O'Brien'', 391 U.S. 367 (1968), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court, ruling that a criminal prohibition against burning a draft card did not violate the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech. Thoug ...
'', 391 US 367 (1968).Walker, p. 280. 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 ''Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District'', 393 U.S. 503 (1969), was a landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court that defined First Amendment rights of students in U.S. public schools. The ''Tinker'' test, also k ...
''. This critical case established that the government may not establish "enclaves" such as schools or prisons where all rights are forfeit. The ACLU defended Sydney Street, who was arrested for burning an American flag to protest the reported assassination of civil rights leader
James Meredith James Howard Meredith (born June 25, 1933) is an American civil rights activist, writer, political adviser, and Air Force veteran who became, in 1962, the first African-American student admitted to the racially segregated University of Mississ ...
. In the ''
Street v. New York ''Street v. New York'', 394 U.S. 576 (1969), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that a New York state law making it a crime "publicly omutilate, deface, defile, or defy, trample upon, or cast contempt upon either by w ...
'' decision, the court agreed with the ACLU that encouraging the country to abandon one of its national symbols was constitutionally protected form of expression. The ACLU successfully defended Paul Cohen, who was arrested for wearing a jacket with the words "fuck the draft" on its back, while he walked through the Los Angeles courthouse. The Supreme Court, in ''
Cohen v. California ''Cohen v. California'', 403 U.S. 15 (1971), was a landmark decision of the US Supreme Court holding that the First Amendment prevented the conviction of Paul Robert Cohen for the crime of disturbing the peace by wearing a jacket displaying "Fu ...
'', held that the vulgarity of the wording was essential to convey the intensity of the message.Walker, p. 281. Non-war related free speech rights were also advanced during the Vietnam war era; in 1969, the ACLU defended a
Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...
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. 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 ACLU board was deeply split over whether to defend the activists; half the board harbored anti-war sentiments, and felt that the ACLU should lend its resources to the cause of the Boston Five. The other half of the board believed that civil liberties were not at stake, and the ACLU would be taking a political stance. Behind the debate was the longstanding ACLU tradition that it was politically impartial, and provided legal advice without regard to the political views of the defendants. 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.Walker, pp. 284–85. After the
Kent State shootings The Kent State shootings, also known as the May 4 massacre and the Kent State massacre,"These would be the first of many probes into what soon became known as the Kent State Massacre. Like the Boston Massacre almost exactly two hundred years bef ...
in 1970, ACLU leaders took another step towards politics by passing a resolution condemning the Vietnam War. The resolution was based in a variety of legal arguments, including civil liberties violations and a claim that the war was illegal. Also in 1968, the ACLU held an internal symposium to discuss its dual roles: providing "direct" legal support (defense for accused in their initial trial, benefiting only the individual defendant), and appellate support (providing amicus briefs during the appeal process, to establish widespread legal precedent).Walker, p. 285. Historically, the ACLU was known for its appellate work which led to landmark Supreme Court decisions, but by 1968, 90% of the ACLU's legal activities involved direct representation. The symposium concluded that both roles were valid for the ACLU.


1970s and 1980s


Watergate era

The ACLU supported ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' 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. On September 30, 1973, the ACLU became first national organization to publicly call for the impeachment and removal from office of President
Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
. 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". One month later, after the House of Representatives began an impeachment inquiry against him, the organization released a 56‐page handbook detailing "17 things citizens could do to bring about the impeachment of President Nixon". This resolution, when placed beside the earlier resolution opposing the Vietnam war, convinced many ACLU critics, particularly conservatives, that the organization had transformed into a liberal political organization.


Enclaves and new civil liberties

The decade from 1965 to 1975 saw an expansion of the field of civil liberties. Administratively, the ACLU responded by appointing Aryeh Neier to take over from Pemberton as executive director in 1970. Neier embarked on an ambitious program to expand the ACLU; he created the ACLU Foundation to raise funds, and he created several new programs to focus the ACLU's legal efforts. By 1974, ACLU membership had reached 275,000. 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. 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, members of the military, and 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 ''Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District'', 393 U.S. 503 (1969), was a landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court that defined First Amendment rights of students in U.S. public schools. The ''Tinker'' test, also k ...
'' decision. The ACLU initiated the legal field of student's rights with the ''Tinker v. Des Moines'' case, and expanded it with cases such as ''
Goss v. Lopez ''Goss v. Lopez'', 419 U.S. 565 (1975), was a US Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federa ...
'' which required schools to provide students an opportunity to appeal suspensions. 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.Walker, p. 309. In the 1960s, the ACLU opposed involuntary commitments, unless it could be demonstrated that the person was a danger to himself or the community. In the landmark 1975 ''
O'Connor v. Donaldson ''O'Connor v. Donaldson'', 422 U.S. 563 (1975), was a landmark decision of the US Supreme Court in mental health law ruling that a state cannot constitutionally confine a non-dangerous individual who is capable of surviving safely in freedom by t ...
'' 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. The ACLU has also defended the rights of individuals with mental illness who are not dangerous, but who create disturbances. The New York chapter of the ACLU defended
Billie Boggs Joyce Patricia Brown (September 7, 1947 - November 29, 2005), also known as Billie Boggs, was a homeless woman who was Involuntary commitment, forcibly hospitalized in New York City in 1987. She was the first person hospitalized under a new Ed Koch ...
, a woman with mental illness who exposed herself and defecated and urinated in public. Prior to 1960, prisoners had virtually no recourse to the court system, because courts considered prisoners to have no civil rights. That changed in the late 1950s, when the ACLU began representing prisoners that were subject to police brutality, or deprived of religious reading material.Walker, p. 310. In 1968, the ACLU successfully sued to desegregate the Alabama prison system; and in 1969, the New York affiliate adopted a project to represent prisoners in New York prisons. Private attorney
Phil Hirschkop Phil may refer to: * Phil (given name), a shortened version of masculine and feminine names * Phill, a given name also spelled "Phil" * Phil, Kentucky, United States * ''Phil'' (film), a 2019 film * -phil-, a lexical fragment, used as a root ter ...
discovered degrading conditions in Virginia prisons following the
Virginia State Penitentiary strike Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are s ...
, and won an important victory in 1971's ''
Landman v. Royster Landman may refer to: * Landman (rank), a defunct naval rank * Landman (oil worker), a person whose work is focused on mineral rights, to include oil (petroleum) and natural gas exploration, development and production * Landman (surname) See also< ...
'' which prohibited Virginia from treating prisoners in inhumane ways. In 1972, the ACLU consolidated several prison rights efforts across the nation and created the
National Prison Project National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...
. The ACLU's efforts led to landmark cases such as ''
Ruiz v. Estelle ''Ruiz v. Estelle'', 503 F. Supp. 1265 (S.D. Tex. 1980), filed in United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, eventually became the most far-reaching lawsuit on the conditions of prison incarceration in American history. It ...
'' (requiring reform of the Texas prison system) and in 1996
US Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washingto ...
enacted the
Prison Litigation Reform Act The Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), 42 U.S.C. § 1997e, is a U.S. federal law that was enacted in 1996. Congress enacted PLRA in response to a significant increase in prisoner litigation in the federal courts; the PLRA was designed to decrea ...
(PLRA) which codified prisoners' rights.


Victim groups

The ACLU, during the 1960s and 1970s, expanded its scope to include what it referred to as "victim groups", namely women, the poor, and homosexuals. Heeding the call of female members, the ACLU endorsed the
Equal Rights Amendment The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution designed to guarantee equal legal rights for all American citizens regardless of sex. Proponents assert it would end legal distinctions between men and ...
in 1970 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 ''Reed v. Reed'', 404 U.S. 71 (1971), was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States holding that the administrators of estates cannot be named in a way that discriminates between sexes. In ''Reed v. Reed'' the Supreme Court rule ...
'', ''
Frontiero v. Richardson __NOTOC__ ''Frontiero v. Richardson'', 411 U.S. 677 (1973), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case which decided that benefits given by the United States military to the family of service members cannot be given out differently because of ...
'', and '' Taylor v. Louisiana''. ACLU leader Harriet Pilpel raised the issue of the rights of homosexuals in 1964, and two years later the ACLU formally endorsed
gay rights Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Notably, , 3 ...
. 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. The court refused to reinstate the teacher, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed that refusal by a 2 to 1 vote. ''Burton v. Cascade School District'', 353 F. Supp. 254 (D. Or. 1972), aff'd 512 F.2d 850 (1975). In 1973, the ACLU created the Sexual Privacy Project (later the Gay and Lesbian Rights Project) which combated discrimination against homosexuals. This support continued into the 2000s. For example, after then-Senator
Larry Craig Lawrence Edwin Craig (born July 20, 1945) is an American retired politician from the state of Idaho. A Republican Party (United States), Republican, he served 18 years in the United States Senate (1991–2009), preceded by 10 years in the U.S. ...
was arrested for soliciting sex in a public restroom in 2007, the ACLU wrote an amicus brief for Craig, saying that sex between consenting adults in public places was protected under privacy rights. Rights of the poor was another area that was expanded by the ACLU. 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.Walker, p. 313. 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.


Reproductive Freedom Project

The Reproductive Freedom Project was founded by the ACLU in 1974 to defend individuals who are obstructed by the government in cases involving access to abortions, birth control, or sexual education. According to its mission statement, the project works to provide access to any and all reproductive health care for individuals. The project also opposes abstinence-only sex education, arguing that it promotes an unwillingness to use contraceptives. In 1980, the Project filed '' Poe v. Lynchburg Training School & Hospital'' which attempted to overturn ''
Buck v. Bell ''Buck v. Bell'', 274 U.S. 200 (1927), is a decision of the United States Supreme Court, written by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., in which the Court ruled that a state statute permitting compulsory sterilization of the unfit, including th ...
'', 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. 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 Medicaid in the United States is a federal and state program that helps with healthcare costs for some people with limited income and resources. Medicaid also offers benefits not normally covered by Medicare, including nursing home care and pers ...
patients from being sterilized without their knowledge or consent. In 1981–1990, the Project litigated '' Hodgson v. Minnesota'', which resulted in the
Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
overturning a state law requiring both parents to be notified before a minor could legally have an abortion. In the 1990s, the Project provided legal assistance and resource kits to those who were being challenged for educating about sexuality and
AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...
. In 1995, the Project filed an amicus brief in '' Curtis v. School Committee of Falmouth'', which allowed for the distribution of condoms in a public school. The Reproductive Freedom Project focuses on three ideas: (1) to "reverse the shortage of trained abortion providers throughout the country" (2) to "block state and federal welfare "reform" proposals that cut off benefits for children who are born to women already receiving welfare, unmarried women, or teenagers" and (3) to "stop the elimination of vital reproductive health services as a result of hospital mergers and health care networks". The Project proposes to achieve these goals through legal action and litigation.


Privacy

The right to privacy is not explicitly identified in the
US Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the nation ...
, but the ACLU led the charge to establish such rights in the indecisive ''
Poe v. Ullman ''Poe v. Ullman'', 367 U.S. 497 (1961), was a United States Supreme Court case that held that plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge a Connecticut law that banned the use of contraceptives and banned doctors from advising their use because the ...
'' (1961) case, which addressed a state statute outlawing contraception. The issue arose again in ''
Griswold v. Connecticut ''Griswold v. Connecticut'', 381 U.S. 479 (1965), was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States protects the liberty of married couples to buy and use contraceptives withou ...
'' (1965), and this time the Supreme Court adopted the ACLU's position, and formally declared a right to privacy. The New York affiliate of the ACLU pushed to eliminate
anti-abortion laws Abortion laws vary widely among countries and territories, and have changed over time. Such laws range from abortion being freely available on request, to regulation or restrictions of various kinds, to outright prohibition in all circumstances ...
starting in 1964, a year before ''Griswold'' was decided, and in 1967 the ACLU itself formally adopted the right to abortion as a policy. The ACLU led the defense in ''
United States v. Vuitch ''United States v. Vuitch'', 402 U.S. 62 (1971), was a United States Supreme Court abortion rights case, which held that the District of Columbia's abortion law banning the practice except when necessary for the health or life of the woman was not ...
'' (1971) which expanded the right of physicians to determine when abortions were necessary. These efforts culminated in one of the most controversial Supreme Court decisions, ''
Roe v. Wade ''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States conferred the right to have an abortion. The decision struck down many federal and st ...
'' (1973), which legalized abortion throughout the United States. The ACLU successfully argued against state bans on interracial marriage, in the case of ''
Loving v. Virginia ''Loving v. Virginia'', 388 U.S. 1 (1967), was a List of landmark court decisions in the United States, landmark civil rights decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that Anti-miscegenation laws in the United States, laws ban ...
'' (1967). 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 The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA or the Buckley Amendment) is a United States federal law that governs the access to educational information and records by public entities such as potential employers, publicly funded e ...
, which provided students the right to access their records; and the
1974 Privacy Act The Privacy Act of 1974 (, ), a United States federal law, establishes a Code of Fair Information Practice that governs the collection, maintenance, use, and dissemination of personally identifiable information about individuals that is maintaine ...
, which prevented the federal government from disclosing personal information without good cause.


Allegations of bias

In the early 1970s, conservatives and
libertarians Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and Minarchism, minimize the ...
began to criticize the ACLU for being too political and too liberal. Legal scholar Joseph W. Bishop wrote that the ACLU's trend to partisanship started with its defense of Spock's anti-war protests. Critics also blamed the ACLU for encouraging the Supreme Court to embrace judicial activism.Walker, p. 318. Critics claimed that the ACLU's support of controversial decisions like ''
Roe v. Wade ''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States conferred the right to have an abortion. The decision struck down many federal and st ...
'' and ''
Griswold v. Connecticut ''Griswold v. Connecticut'', 381 U.S. 479 (1965), was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States protects the liberty of married couples to buy and use contraceptives withou ...
'' violated the intention of the authors of the Bill of Rights. The ACLU became an issue in the 1988 presidential campaign, when Republican candidate George H. W. Bush accused Democratic candidate
Michael Dukakis Michael Stanley Dukakis (; born November 3, 1933) is an American retired lawyer and politician who served as governor of Massachusetts from 1975 to 1979 and again from 1983 to 1991. He is the longest-serving governor in Massachusetts history a ...
(a member of the ACLU) of being a "card carrying member of the ACLU".


The Skokie case

In 1977, the
National Socialist Party of America The National Socialist Party of America (NSPA) was a Chicago-based organization founded in 1970 by Frank Collin shortly after he left the National Socialist White People's Party. The NSWPP had been the American Nazi Party until shortly after the ...
, led by
Frank Collin Francis Joseph Collin (born November 3, 1944) is an American former political activist and Midwest coordinator with the American Nazi Party, later known as the National Socialist White People's Party. After being ousted for being partly Jewish (w ...
, applied to the town of
Skokie, Illinois Skokie (; formerly Niles Center) is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, neighboring the City of Chicago's northern border. Its population, according to the 2020 census, was 67,824. Skokie lies approximately north of Chicago's do ...
, 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 camp From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps, (officially) or (more commonly). The Nazi concentration camps are distinguished from other types of Nazi camps such as forced-labor camps, as well as concen ...
s. Skokie refused to grant the NSPA a permit, 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 sought an injunction to stop the demonstration. The ACLU assisted Collin and appealed to federal court, eventually prevailing in NSPA v. Village of Skokie 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. The Illinois affiliate of the ACLU lost about 25% of its membership and nearly one-third of its budget. The financial strain from the controversy led to layoffs at local chapters. 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 $500,000 ($ in dollars).


Reagan era

The
inauguration of Ronald Reagan Inauguration of Ronald Reagan may refer to: *First inauguration of Ronald Reagan, 1981 *Second inauguration of Ronald Reagan, 1985 See also

* * {{set index ...
as president in 1981, ushered in an eight-year period of conservative leadership in the US government. Under
Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
's leadership, the government pushed a conservative social agenda. Fifty years after the Scopes trial, the ACLU found itself fighting another classroom case, the
Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...
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 ''McLean v. Arkansas Board of Education'', 529 F. Supp. 1255 (E.D. Ark. 1982), was a 1981 legal case in the US state of Arkansas. A lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas by various parents, r ...
'' decision. In 1982, the ACLU became involved in a case involving the distribution of
child pornography Child pornography (also called CP, child sexual abuse material, CSAM, child porn, or kiddie porn) is pornography that unlawfully exploits children for sexual stimulation. It may be produced with the direct involvement or sexual assault of a chi ...
(''
New York v. Ferber ''New York v. Ferber'', 458 U.S. 747 (1982), was a landmark decision of the U.S Supreme Court, unanimously ruling that the First Amendment to the United States Constitution did not forbid states from banning the sale of material depicting childre ...
''). In an amicus brief, the ACLU argued that child pornography that violates the
three prong obscenity test The Miller test, also called the three-prong obscenity test, is the United States Supreme Court's test for determining whether speech or expression can be labeled obscene, in which case it is not protected by the First Amendment to the United Sta ...
should be outlawed, but that the law in question was overly restrictive because it outlawed artistic displays and otherwise non-obscene material. The court did not adopt the ACLU's position. During the 1988 presidential election, Vice President George H. W. Bush noted that his opponent
Massachusetts Governor The governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the chief executive officer of the government of Massachusetts. The governor is the head of the state cabinet and the commander-in-chief of the commonwealth's military forces. Massachusetts ...
Michael Dukakis Michael Stanley Dukakis (; born November 3, 1933) is an American retired lawyer and politician who served as governor of Massachusetts from 1975 to 1979 and again from 1983 to 1991. He is the longest-serving governor in Massachusetts history a ...
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". The phrase subsequently was used by the organization in an advertising campaign.


1990s

In 1990, the ACLU defended Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North, whose conviction was tainted by coerced testimonya violation of his fifth amendment rightsduring the Iran–Contra affair, where Oliver North was involved in illegal weapons sales to Iran in order to illegally fund the Contra guerillas. In 1997, ruling unanimously in the case of ''
Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union ''Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union'', 521 U.S. 844 (1997), was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, unanimously ruling that anti-indecency provisions of the 1996 Communications Decency Act violated the First Amendme ...
'', the Supreme Court voided the anti-
indecency Inappropriateness refers to standards or ethics that are typically viewed as being negative in a society. It differs from things that are illicit in that inappropriate behavior does not necessarily have any accompanying legal ramifications. Co ...
provisions of the
Communications Decency Act The Communications Decency Act of 1996 (CDA) was the United States Congress's first notable attempt to regulate pornographic material on the Internet. In the 1997 landmark case ''Reno v. ACLU'', the United States Supreme Court unanimously struck ...
(the CDA), finding they violated the freedom of speech provisions of the
First Amendment First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
. 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." In 2000, Marvin Johnson, a legislative counsel for the ACLU, stated that proposed anti-
spam Spam may refer to: * Spam (food), a canned pork meat product * Spamming, unsolicited or undesired electronic messages ** Email spam, unsolicited, undesired, or illegal email messages ** Messaging spam, spam targeting users of instant messaging ( ...
legislation infringed on free speech by denying anonymity and by forcing spam to be labeled as such, "Standardized labeling is compelled speech." He also stated, "It's relatively simple to click and delete." The debate found the ACLU joining with the
Direct Marketing Association The Data & Marketing Association (formerly, Direct Marketing Association), also known as the DMA, is a trade organization for marketers. In 2017 their web site stated "Yes, 100 years ago we were the Direct Mail Marketing Association and then the Di ...
and the
Center for Democracy and Technology Centre for Democracy & Technology (CDT) is a Washington, D.C.-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organisation that advocates for digital rights and freedom of expression. CDT seeks to promote legislation that enables individuals to use the internet for pur ...
in 2000 in criticizing a bipartisan bill in the House of Representatives. As early as 1997, the ACLU had taken a strong position that nearly all spam legislation was improper, although it has supported " opt-out" requirements in some cases. The ACLU opposed the 2003
CAN-SPAM The Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing (CAN-SPAM) Act of 2003 is a law passed in 2003 establishing the United States' first national standards for the sending of commercial e-mail. The law requires the Federal Tra ...
act suggesting that it could have a chilling effect on speech in cyberspace. It has been criticized for this position. In November 2000, 15 African-American residents of Hearne, Texas, were indicted on drug charges after being arrested in a series of "drug sweeps". The ACLU filed a class-action lawsuit, '' Kelly v. Paschall'', on their behalf, alleging that the arrests were unlawful. The ACLU contended that 15 percent of Hearne's male African-American population aged 18 to 34 were arrested based only on the "uncorroborated word of a single unreliable confidential informant coerced by police to make cases". On May 11, 2005, the ACLU and Robertson County announced a confidential settlement of the lawsuit, an outcome which "both sides stated that they were satisfied with". The District Attorney dismissed the charges against the plaintiffs of the suit. The 2009 film ''
American Violet ''American Violet'' is a 2008 American drama film directed by Tim Disney and starring Nicole Beharie. The story is based on Regina Kelly, a victim of Texas police drug enforcement tactics. Plot Set in the midst of the 2000 presidential election, ...
'' depicts this case. In 2000, the ACLU's Massachusetts affiliate represented the North American Man Boy Love Association (NAMBLA), on first amendment grounds, in the ''
Curley v. NAMBLA ''Curley v. NAMBLA'' was a wrongful death lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts in 2000, by Barbara and Robert Curley against the North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA), saying the organizatio ...
'' wrongful death civil suit. The organization was sued because a man who raped and murdered a child had visited the NAMBLA website.ACLU
"ACLU Statement on Defending Free Speech of Unpopular Organizations"
August 31, 2000.
Also in 2000, the ACLU lost the ''
Boy Scouts of America v. Dale ''Boy Scouts of America et al. v. Dale'', 530 U.S. 640 (2000), was a landmark decision of the US Supreme Court, decided on June 28, 2000, that held that the constitutional right to freedom of association allowed the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) to ...
'' case, which had asked the Supreme Court to require the
Boy Scouts of America The Boy Scouts of America (BSA, colloquially the Boy Scouts) is one of the largest scouting organizations and one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with about 1.2 million youth participants. The BSA was founded i ...
to drop their policy of prohibiting homosexuals from becoming Boy Scout leaders.


21st century


Free speech

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. 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 Google Images (previously Google Image Search) is a search engine owned by Google that allows users to search the World Wide Web for images. It was introduced on July 12, 2001 due to a demand for pictures of the green Versace dress of Jennifer Lo ...
. In 2006, the ACLU challenged a Missouri law that prohibited picketing outside of veterans' funerals. The suit was filed in support of the Westboro Baptist Church and
Shirley Phelps-Roper Shirley Lynn Phelps-Roper (born October 31, 1957) is an American lawyer and political activist. She was the lead spokesperson of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas, an organization that protests against homosexuality conducted under ...
, who were threatened with arrest. The Westboro Baptist Church is well known for their 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". The ACLU prevailed in the lawsuit. The ACLU argued in an amicus brief to the Supreme Court that a decision of the constitutionality of Massachusetts law required the consideration of additional evidence because lower courts have undervalued the right to engage in sidewalk counseling. The law prohibited sidewalk counselors from approaching women outside abortion facilities and offering them alternatives to abortion but allowed escorts to speak with them and accompany them into the building. In overturning the law in ''
McCullen v. Coakley ''McCullen v. Coakley'', 573 U.S. 464 (2014), is a Supreme Court of the United States, United States Supreme Court case involving a First Amendment to the United States Constitution, First Amendment challenge to the validity of a Massachusetts law ...
'', the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that it violated the counselors' freedom of speech and that it was
viewpoint discrimination Viewpoint discrimination is a concept in United States jurisprudence related to the First Amendment First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a par ...
. In 2009, the ACLU filed an amicus brief in ''
Citizens United v. FEC ''Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission'', 558 U.S. 310 (2010), was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States regarding campaign finance laws and free speech under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It wa ...
'', arguing that the
Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (, ), commonly known as the McCain–Feingold Act or BCRA (pronounced "bik-ruh"), is a United States federal law that amended the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, which regulates the financing of ...
of 2002 violated the First Amendment right to free speech by curtailing political speech. 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. 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. In 2012, the ACLU filed suit on behalf of the
Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...
of Georgia, claiming that the KKK was unfairly rejected from the state's "
Adopt-a-Highway The Adopt-a-Highway program, and the very similar Sponsor-a-Highway, are promotional campaigns undertaken by U.S. states, provinces and territories of Canada, and some national governments outside North America to encourage volunteers to keep ...
" program. The ACLU prevailed in the lawsuit.


Accusations of lost impartiality

Beginning in 2017, some individuals claimed the ACLU was reducing its support of unpopular free speech (specifically by declining to defend speech made by conservatives) in favor of identity politics,
political correctness ''Political correctness'' (adjectivally: ''politically correct''; commonly abbreviated ''PC'') is a term used to describe language, policies, or measures that are intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in socie ...
, and
progressivism Progressivism holds that it is possible to improve human societies through political action. As a political movement, progressivism seeks to advance the human condition through social reform based on purported advancements in science, tec ...
. Former ACLU director
Ira Glasser Ira Saul Glasser (born April 18, 1938) served as the fifth executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) from 1978 to 2001. His life was the subject of the 2020 documentary '' Mighty Ira''. Early years Ira Glasser was born on ...
stated that "the ACLU might not take the Skokie case today." One basis of these allegations was a 2017 statement made from the ACLU president 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. Another basis for these claims was an internal ACLU memo dated June 2018, discussing factors to evaluate when deciding whether or not 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". Some analysts viewed this as a retreat from 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. The memo's authors stated that the memo did not define a change in official ACLU policy, but was simply intended as a guideline to assist ACLU affiliates in deciding which cases to take. In 2021, the ACLU filed a brief siding with a school district that had a policy of using preferred pronouns for transgender students. Some analysts felt this was a retreat from the ACLU's historical defense of the first amendment, because the ACLU was opposing the teachers who were disciplined for refusing to use the preferred pronouns. In 2021, the ACLU responded to the criticisms by releasing a statement denying that they are reducing their support for unpopular First Amendment causes, and listing 27 cases from the years 2017 to 2021 where the ACLU supported a party holding an unpopular or repugnant viewpoint. 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 which defended antisemitic protesters who marched outside a synagogue.


LGBTQ issues

In March 2004, the ACLU, along with Lambda Legal and the
National Center for Lesbian Rights The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) is a non-profit, public interest law firm in the United States that advocates for equitable public policies affecting the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community, provides free legal ...
, 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. The ACLU, Lambda Legal and the
National Center for Lesbian Rights The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) is a non-profit, public interest law firm in the United States that advocates for equitable public policies affecting the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community, provides free legal ...
then challenged Proposition 8 and won. In 2010, the ACLU of Illinois was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame as a Friend of the Community. In 2011, the ACLU started its
Don't Filter Me Don't Filter Me is a project of the American Civil Liberties Union dedicated to fighting LGBT-related internet censorship that happens in public schools in the United States. History State-funded schools in the United States use content-control so ...
project, countering
LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...
-related Internet censorship in
public schools Public school may refer to: *State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government *Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England and ...
in the United States. On January 7, 2013, the ACLU reached a settlement with the federal government in ''
Collins v. United States ''Collins v. United States'' is a class-action lawsuit filed on November 10, 2010, against the United States in the United States Court of Federal Claims that ended in a settlement on January 7, 2013. The lead plaintiff, former U.S. Air Force Staf ...
'' that provided for the payment of full separation pay to servicemembers discharged under "
don't ask, don't tell "Don't ask, don't tell" (DADT) was the official United States policy on military service of non-heterosexual people, instituted during the Clinton administration. The policy was issued under Department of Defense Directive 1304.26 on December ...
" since November 10, 2004, who had previously been granted only half that. Some 181 were expected to receive about $13,000 each. In 2021, the ACLU tweeted a quote by
Ruth Bader Ginsburg Joan Ruth Bader Ginsburg ( ; ; March 15, 1933September 18, 2020) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1993 until her death in 2020. She was nominated by President ...
on the subject of pregnancy, replacing gender-specific words with bracketed gender-neutral words. The president of the ACLU later apologized for the changes to the quote, explaining that it was a good-faith mistake by the ACLU's media team, attempting to address the fact that there are people who seek abortions who do not identify as women.


Second amendment

In light of the Supreme Court's '' Heller'' decision recognizing that the Constitution protects an individual right to bear arms, ACLU of Nevada took a position of supporting "the individual's right to bear arms subject to constitutionally permissible regulations" and pledged to "defend this right as it defends other constitutional rights". In 2021, the ACLU supported the position that the Second Amendment was originally written to ensure that Southern states could use militias to suppress slave uprisings, and that anti-Blackness ensured its inclusion in the Bill of Rights.


Anti-terrorism issues

After the
September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...
, the federal government instituted a broad range of new measures to combat
terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
, including the passage of the Patriot Act. The ACLU challenged many of the measures, claiming that they violated rights regarding
due process Due process of law is application by state of all legal rules and principles pertaining to the case so all legal rights that are owed to the person are respected. Due process balances the power of law of the land and protects the individual pers ...
, privacy, illegal searches, and
cruel and unusual punishment Cruel and unusual punishment is a phrase in common law describing punishment that is considered unacceptable due to the suffering, pain, or humiliation it inflicts on the person subjected to the sanction. The precise definition varies by jurisd ...
. An ACLU policy statement states: 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. The growth continued, and by August 2008 ACLU membership was greater than 500,000. It remained at that level through 2011. The ACLU has been a vocal opponent of the
USA PATRIOT Act The USA PATRIOT Act (commonly known as the Patriot Act) was a landmark Act of Congress, Act of the United States Congress, signed into law by President of the United States, President George W. Bush. The formal name of the statute is the Uniti ...
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.ACLU
"Citing Government "Blacklist"; Policy, ACLU Rejects $500,000 from Funding Program "
July 31, 2004 (last visited January 7, 2008).
The campaign imposed a requirement that ACLU employees must be checked against a federal anti-terrorism watch list. The ACLU has stated that it would "reject $500,000 in contributions from private individuals rather than submit to a government 'blacklist' policy". In 2004, the ACLU sued the federal government in ''
American Civil Liberties Union v. Ashcroft ''American Civil Liberties Union v. Ashcroft'' (filed April 9, 2004 in the United States) is a lawsuit filed on behalf of a formerly unknown Internet Service Provider (ISP) owner by the American Civil Liberties Union against the U.S. federal gover ...
'' on behalf of Nicholas Merrill, owner of an
Internet service provider An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise private ...
. Under the provisions of the Patriot Act, the government had issued
national security letter A national security letter (NSL) is an administrative subpoena issued by the United States government to gather information for national security purposes. NSLs do not require prior approval from a judge. The Stored Communications Act, Fair Cred ...
s to Merrill to compel him to provide private Internet access information from some of his customers. In addition, the government placed a gag order on Merrill, forbidding him from discussing the matter with anyone. In January 2006, the ACLU filed a lawsuit, ''
ACLU v. NSA ''American Civil Liberties Union v. National Security Agency'', 493 F.3d 644 (6th Cir. 2007), is a case decided July 6, 2007, in which the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that the plaintiffs in the case did not have stand ...
'', in a federal district court in Michigan, challenging government spying in the NSA warrantless surveillance controversy. On August 17, 2006, that court ruled that the warrantless wiretapping program is unconstitutional and ordered it ended immediately. However, the order was stayed pending an appeal. The
Bush Bush commonly refers to: * Shrub, a small or medium woody plant Bush, Bushes, or the bush may also refer to: People * Bush (surname), including any of several people with that name **Bush family, a prominent American family that includes: *** ...
administration did suspend the program while the appeal was being heard. 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. The ACLU and other organizations also filed separate lawsuits around the country against telecommunications companies. The ACLU filed a lawsuit in Illinois (''Terkel v. AT&T'') which was dismissed because of the
state secrets privilege The state secrets privilege is an evidentiary rule created by United States legal precedent. Application of the privilege results in exclusion of evidence from a legal case based solely on affidavits submitted by the government stating that court ...
and two others in California requesting injunctions against
AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...
and
Verizon Verizon Communications Inc., commonly known as Verizon, is an American multinational telecommunications conglomerate and a corporate component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is headquartered at 1095 Avenue of the Americas in ...
. On August 10, 2006, the lawsuits against the telecommunications companies were transferred to a federal judge in San Francisco. The ACLU represents a Muslim-American who was detained but never accused of a crime in ''
Ashcroft v. al-Kidd ''Ashcroft v. al-Kidd'', 563 U.S. 731 (2011), is a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that U.S. Attorney General John D. Ashcroft could not be personally sued for his involvement in the detention of a U.S. citizen in the wak ...
'', a civil suit against former Attorney General John Ashcroft. In January 2010, the American military released the names of 645 detainees held at the
Bagram Theater Internment Facility The Parwan Detention Facility (also called Detention Facility in Parwan or Bagram prison) is Afghanistan's main military prison. Situated next to the Bagram Air Base in the Parwan Province of Afghanistan, the prison was built by the U.S. during t ...
in Afghanistan, modifying its long-held position against publicizing such information. This list was prompted by a
Freedom of Information Act Freedom of Information Act may refer to the following legislations in different jurisdictions which mandate the national government to disclose certain data to the general public upon request: * Freedom of Information Act 1982, the Australian act * ...
lawsuit filed in September 2009 by the ACLU, whose lawyers had also requested detailed information about conditions, rules and regulations. The ACLU has also criticized
targeted killing Targeted killing is a form of murder or assassination carried out by governments outside a judicial procedure or a battlefield. Since the late 20th century, the legal status of targeted killing has become a subject of contention within and betw ...
s of American citizens who fight against the United States. In 2011, the ACLU criticized the killing of radical Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki on the basis that it was a violation of his Fifth Amendment right to not be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. On August 10, 2020, in an opinion article for ''
USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...
'' by Anthony D. Romero, the ACLU called for the dismantling of the
United States Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the Federal government of the United States, U.S. United States federal executive departments, federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the I ...
over the deployment of federal forces in July 2020 during the
George Floyd protests The George Floyd protests were a series of protests and civil unrest against police brutality and racism that began in Minneapolis on May 26, 2020, and largely took place during 2020. The civil unrest and protests began as part of internati ...
. On August 26, 2020, the ACLU filed a lawsuit on behalf of seven protesters and three veterans following the
protests in Portland, Oregon Portland, Oregon has an extended history of street activism and has seen many notable protests. History Portland's first organized demonstration was held in 1857. 19th century Women organized in the late 19th century around several issues. T ...
, which accused the Trump Administration of using excessive force and unlawful arrests with federal officers.


Trump administration

Following
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
's election as president on November 8, 2016, the ACLU responded on Twitter saying: "Should President-elect Donald Trump attempt to implement his unconstitutional campaign promises, we'll see him in court." On January 27, 2017, President Trump signed an Executive Order 13769, 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". 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, saying it was difficult to see any harm from allowing the newly arrived immigrants to remain in the country. In response to Trump's order, the ACLU raised more than $24 million from more than 350,000 individual online donations in a two-day period. 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. The number of members of the ACLU doubled in the time from the election to end of January to 1 million. Grants and contributions increased from $106,628,381 USD reported by the 2016 year-end income statement to $274,104,575 by the 2017 year-end statement. The primary source of revenue from the segment came from individual contributions in response to the Trump presidency's infringements on civil liberty, civil liberties. The surge in donations more than doubled the total support and revenue of the non-profit organization year over year from 2016 to 2017. 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.


Miscellaneous

During the 2004 trial regarding allegations of Rush Limbaugh's drug abuse, the ACLU argued that his privacy should not have been compromised by allowing law enforcement examination of his medical records.Donaldson-Evans, Catherine (January 12, 2004)
"ACLU Comes to Rush Limbaugh's Defense"
, Fox News
In June 2004, the Dover Area School District, school district in Dover, Pennsylvania, required that its high school biology students listen to a statement which asserted that the theory of
evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...
is not fact and mentioning intelligent design as an alternative theory. Several parents called the ACLU to complain, because they believed that the school was promoting a religious idea in the classroom and violating the Establishment Clause of the
First Amendment First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
. The ACLU, joined by
Americans United for Separation of Church and State Americans United for Separation of Church and State (Americans United or AU for short) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that advocates for the disassociation of religion and religious organizations from government. The separation of church ...
, represented the parents in a lawsuit against the school district. After a lengthy trial, Judge John E. Jones III ruled in favor of the parents in the ''
Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District ''Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District'', 400 F. Supp. 2d 707 (M.D. Pa. 2005) was the first direct challenge brought in the United States federal courts testing a public school district policy that required the teaching of intelligent design ...
'' decision, finding that intelligent design is not science and permanently forbidding the Dover school system from teaching intelligent design in science classes. In April 2006, Edward Jones and the ACLU sued the City of Los Angeles, on behalf of Robert Lee Purrie and five other homeless people, for the city's violation of the 8th and 14th Amendments to the US Constitution, and Article I, sections 7 and 17 of the California Constitution (supporting
due process Due process of law is application by state of all legal rules and principles pertaining to the case so all legal rights that are owed to the person are respected. Due process balances the power of law of the land and protects the individual pers ...
and equal protection, and prohibiting
cruel and unusual punishment Cruel and unusual punishment is a phrase in common law describing punishment that is considered unacceptable due to the suffering, pain, or humiliation it inflicts on the person subjected to the sanction. The precise definition varies by jurisd ...
). The Court ruled in favor of the ACLU, stating that, "the LAPD cannot arrest people for sitting, lying, or sleeping on public sidewalks in Skid Row." Enforcement of section 41.18(d) 24 hours a day against persons who have nowhere else to sit, lie, or sleep, other than on public streets and sidewalks, is breaking these amendments. The Court said that the anti-camping ordinance is "one of the most restrictive municipal laws regulating public spaces in the United States". Jones and the ACLU wanted a compromise in which the LAPD is barred from enforcing section 41.18(d) (arrest, seizure, and imprisonment) in Skid Row between the hours of 9:00 p.m. and 6:30 am. The compromise plan permitted the homeless to sleep on the sidewalk, provided they are not "within 10 feet of any business or residential entrance" and only between these hours. One of the motivations for the compromise was the shortage of space in the prison system. Downtown development business interests and the Central City Association (CCA) were against the compromise. Police Chief William Bratton said the case had slowed the police effort to fight crime and clean up Skid Row, and that when he was allowed to clean up Skid Row, real estate profited. On September 20, 2006, the Los Angeles City Council voted to reject the compromise. On October 3, 2006, police arrested Skid Row's transients for sleeping on the streets for the first time in months. In 2009, the Oregon ACLU opposed changing state law to permit teachers to wear religious clothing in classrooms, citing separation of church and state principles. The ACLU's efforts were not successful. In 2018, the ACLU conceived and ghostwrote an op-ed in ''The Washington Post'' in which Amber Heard accused her ex-husband Johnny Depp of domestic abuse, leading Depp to sue Heard for defamation over the op-ed in the 2022 trial ''Depp v. Heard''. The ACLU testified in the trial that they wrote the op-ed in exchange for a $3.5 million donation pledge from Heard, and timed its release to capitalize on the press from Heard's newly released film ''Aquaman (film), Aquaman''. The ACLU requested $86,000 from Depp for the cost of producing documents for the case. At the end of the trial, the jury ruled that Heard had defamed Depp with actual malice in all three counts related to the ''Washington Post'' op-ed. In June 2020, the ACLU sued the federal government for denying Paycheck Protection Program, Paycheck Protection Program loans to business owners with criminal backgrounds.


See also

* American Civil Rights Union * British Columbia Civil Liberties Association * Canadian Civil Liberties Association * Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) * Institute for Justice * Liberty (advocacy group), Liberty, a British equivalent * List of court cases involving the American Civil Liberties Union * National Emergency Civil Liberties Committee * New York Civil Liberties Union * Political freedom * Southern Poverty Law Center


Citations


General references

* * Bodenhamer, David, and Ely, James, Editors (2008). ''The Bill of Rights in Modern America'', second edition. Indiana University Press. . * William A. Donohue, Donohue, William (1985). ''The Politics of the American Civil Liberties Union''. Transaction Books. . * Wendy Kaminer, Kaminer, Wendy (2009). ''Worst Instincts: Cowardice, Conformity, and the ACLU''. Beacon Press. . A dissident member of the ACLU criticizes its post-9/11 actions as betraying core principles of its founders. * * Lamson, Peggy (1976). ''Roger Baldwin: Founder of the American Civil Liberties Union''. Houghton Mifflin Company. . * Walker, Samuel (1990). ''In Defense of American Liberties: A History of the ACLU''. Oxford University Press. .


Further reading

* 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


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 issues such as Oakland County jail conditions, lie detector use, senior housing rights, and attempts to reinstate the death penalty. Walter P. Reuther Library, Detroit, Michigan.


Selected works sponsored or published by the ACLU

* ''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


External links

*
American Civil Liberties Union Records
Princeton University. Document archive 1917–1950, including the history of the ACLU.

Indiana State University Library. An array of annual ACLU reports in PDF.
List of 100 most important ACLU victories
New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union.
De-classified FBI records on the ACLU
!-- If a legitimate link can be found with factual criticism of the ACLU, please add it. Links intended to push a POV or sell a product are not appropriate. --> {{Authority control American Civil Liberties Union, 1920 establishments in the United States 501(c)(4) nonprofit organizations Civil liberties advocacy groups in the United States Drug policy reform Government watchdog groups in the United States Immigration political advocacy groups in the United States Legal advocacy organizations in the United States LGBT political advocacy groups in the United States Non-profit organizations based in New York City Nonpartisan organizations in the United States Organizations established in 1920 Privacy in the United States Privacy organizations