American Civil Liberties Union

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Type: Not-for-Profit Company
Address: 125 Broad Street, 18th Floor, New York, New York 10004-2400, U.S.A.
Telephone: (212) 549-2500
Fax: (212) 549-2646
Web: http://www.aclu.org
Employees: 170
Sales: $42.2 million (2002)
Incorporated: 1920
NAIC: 813310 Social Advocacy Organizations

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a New York City-based nonpartisan, not-for profit corporation dedicated to the preservation and extension of constitutional liberties. Often controversial, the ACLU works through the legal system to forward its mission, initiating test cases and becoming involved in cases initiated by others. All told, the organization takes part in about 6,000 cases each year, primarily divided into three general areas: freedom of expression, equality before the law, and due process of law for everyone. Moreover, the ACLU runs nine ongoing national projects devoted to specific areas of civil liberties: AIDS, capital punishment, drug policy, litigation, lesbian and gay rights, immigrants' rights, prisoners' rights, reproductive freedom, voting rights, and women's rights. With a base of nearly 400,000 members and supporters, the organization employs some 300 staff people. In addition, it is assisted by thousands of volunteers, many are whom are attorneys working pro bono. In addition to its Manhattan headquarters, the ACLU maintains a legislative office in Washington, D.C., and a Southern Regional Office in Atlanta, Georgia, dedicated to voting rights and race discrimination. The ACLU also has 57 independently run affiliates that are active in every state as well as in Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The organization is governed by an 83-member Board of Directors that includes a member from each state plus at-large members. The ACLU, which receives no government money, is funded by annual dues and contributions from members, as well as individual donations and grants from private foundations.

The person most responsible for the founding and rise of the ACLU was Roger Nash Baldwin, the oldest child of a prominent Boston, Massachusetts-area family, whose heritage could be traced back to at least two people who came to America on the Mayflower. His father was a wealthy leather merchant, his mother, Lucy Cushing Nash, was an early feminist, and many of his relatives were active in social causes in keeping with the sense of noblesse oblige that permeated the upper classes of the day. As a teenager, he was involved in efforts at social reform through the Unitarian Church, to which his and other aristocratic families belonged. Baldwin enrolled at Harvard University in 1901, where he soon became a believer in the Progressive Movement that was taking place across America. After earning degrees in anthropology in 1905, Baldwin turned for career advice to his father's lawyer, Louis D. Brandeis, who would one day become a Supreme Court justice. It was Brandeis who convinced Baldwin to forego a business career in favor of devoting his life to social service.

In 1906, Baldwin moved to St. Louis on a twofold mission: to create a sociology department at Washington University, where he would also teach courses, and to head Self Culture Hall, a settlement house. During the next several years, Baldwin earned a national reputation as a social worker and became exposed to such influential political activists as Emma Goldman, who furthered the process of chipping away at his upper-crust sensibilities. For a time, he was even engaged to radical activist Anna Louise Strong. He gained national prominence in 1910 by being named the president of the St. Louis Civic League, which was instrumental in bringing "clean" government to St. Louis. When World War I broke out in Europe in 1914 and soon threatened to envelop the United States, he opposed his country's entry. After America joined the war on the side of Great Britain and France, Baldwin moved to New York City in March 1917 to become secretary of the American Union Against Militarism (AUAM), founded two years earlier by such well-known social activists as Jane Addams, Florence Kelley, and Lillian Wald.

In May 1917, the U.S. Congress passed the Selective Service Act that established a military draft, and Baldwin was named to head AUAM's Civil Liberties Bureau (CLB), which would take on the plight of conscientious objectors and opponents to the war. At this stage, Baldwin still believed that he could draw on his upper-class connections to influence government officials and work cooperatively to come to reasonable accommodations, hoping to employ the CLB as an intermediary between authorities and conscientious objectors. Cordial relations between Baldwin and the government, however, gradually eroded. He condemned the harsh treatment to which conscientious objectors were often subjected, and he was very much opposed to the threat to free speech that came with the passage of the Espionage Act (later known as the Sedition Act). The legislation also caused division within the leadership of AUAM, concerned that CLB's work might put AUAM in violation of the law. In order to provide some insulation, a Civil Liberties Committee was formed in July 1917, and the break was finalized in October of that year when Baldwin and Crystal Eastman established the National Civil Liberties Bureau (NCLB).

By now, from the perspective of many U.S. officials, Baldwin was nothing less than a menace. He was spied on by Military Intelligence and NCLB's offices were raided in August 1918. The following month he was indicted for refusing to comply with the new Selective Service Act. In a celebrated trial, he was sentenced to a year in prison, which proved to offer little hardship for Baldwin. While working as a cook and a gardener, he established a reading and writing program for inmates, a prisoner's welfare league, and even a dramatic society and glee club, relying heavily on the political influence of sympathetic socialites.

Baldwin was released from prison after ten months and, rather than immediately resume his duties at the NCLB, he decided to taste the working life for several weeks. He performed stints as a day laborer before becoming a scab at the Homestead Steel Mills, where he briefly operated as a spy for the striking union before being found out and fired. He returned to the NCLB during the final weeks of 1919, at a time when a "Red Scare" led to the government passing new sedition laws that allowed participants in "un-American" activities to be arrested without a warrant and held without trial. It was also a time of considerable labor unrest. To help refocus the mission of the NCLB away from conscientious objectors to the championing of labor rights, Baldwin felt it was necessary to change the name of the organization. The name he chose was the American Civil Liberties Union, which succeeded the NCLB in January 1920 following a reorganization. It was co-directed by Baldwin and NCLB attorney Albert DeSilver. The ACLU attempted to operate on funds raised from annual dues of $2, and even though it boasted 1,000 members by the end of its first year, the organization was strapped for cash. A key benefactor of the early years was Charles Garland, a rich Bostonian who donated money that was used to establish the American Fund for Public Service, which then financed legal defense cases and supported other efforts at social reform.

When the ACLU launched its activities, civil liberty violations took place on a number of fronts in America, as exemplified by a sampling of the incidents that caught the organization's attention in its first year: two organizers of the Nonpartisan League were forced by a mob to tar themselves in Kansas; an Oregon mayor refused to allow muckraking journalist Lincoln Steffens to lecture at a public meeting that was deemed to be un-American; seven people in Washington state were jailed for two months for selling a union newspaper; a man in Massachusetts was denied citizenship because of his religious stand as a conscientious objector; and, in Alabama, union coal miners were denied the right to meet for any purpose. In the first several years of its existence, the ACLU was especially devoted to keeping tabs on the activities of the Ku Klux Klan, whose members number one million in 1921. At the time, the Justice Department made little effort to monitor the Klan. In keeping with the ACLU's mission to protect the rights of those individuals that government leaders might disagree with, the ACLU also represented the KKK, supporting the group's right, in the words of Baldwin, "to parade in their nightgowns and pillowcases, and their right to burn fiery crosses on private property." In some cases, the ACLU took the side of the KKK over the NAACP.

The case that first brought widespread notoriety to the ACLU was the 1925 "Monkey Trial" that became the basis for the play, and later film, Inherit the Wind. In this case, the ACLU was looking to make a "friendly challenge" to a Tennessee law that prohibited the teaching of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. The ACLU openly advertised in the state for a teacher willing to participate. The greater purpose, however, was to construct a case that could then be taken to the U.S. Supreme Court. The man induced to help was John T. Scopes, who coached football and taught physics on a part-time basis. He was talked into participating in the test case by a local booster who thought the community might benefit from the publicity. Scopes barely qualified for his role, since he never actually taught evolution, but he had once used an evolution textbook to help some students prepare for a test. As it turned out, the friendly challenge drew international attention, setting the standard for all modern media circuses to follow, due in large part to the men who stepped forward to argue the case. Representing Scopes was famed criminal attorney Clarence Darrow, who made his reputation representing labor leaders. On the other side was William Jennings Bryan, who was famous for his unsuccessful presidential campaigns and skills as an orator. When the case was stripped down, the question presented to the jury was simple: did Scopes violate the Tennessee law or not. In the end, Scopes was convicted and fined $100, but the subsequent appeal thwarted the ACLU's larger plans. The Tennessee Supreme Court reversed Scopes conviction on a technicality but upheld the statute, leaving the ACLU with nothing to appeal. The Tennessee law stood for another 40 years. Moreover, many textbook publishers, in light of the Scopes trial, chose to simply drop Darwin's theory of evolution from their textbooks rather than face legal complications. As a consequence, the ACLU's most celebrated case was perhaps its greatest defeat.

Over the course of its first 25 years, the ACLU was involved in other noteworthy cases. It fought the U.S. Customs Service ban on the sale of James Joyce's novel Ulysses, lifted in 1933. The organization was successful in its arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1939 when it opposed a Jersey City ban on political meetings held by union organizers. During World War II, the ACLU took the highly unpopular stand of opposing the internment of more than 100,000 Japanese-Americans, an act for which the U.S. Congress would formally apologize 50 years later. It was also during the war years that Baldwin and the ACLU ended a dalliance with communism, prompted by the Nazi-Soviet pact that Joseph Stalin and Adolph Hitler signed in 1939. Baldwin led the move to purge communist members from the ranks of the ACLU, an act which many in the organization considered a major breach in principle and almost resulted in splitting the organization in two.

Baldwin was involved in a number of outside causes that adversely affected the ACLU's operation. In 1949, when he turned 65, he retired as executive director, after which he played an elder statesman's role, devoting much of his time to the subject of international civil liberties. He enjoyed robust health and was quite active until his early 90s. He died on August 26, 1981 at the age of 97. In his biography of Baldwin, Robert C. Cottrell reflected on Baldwin's achievements: "During the six-decade span of his involvement with the modern civil liberties movement, Baldwin witnessed expanded protection of key portions of the Bills of Rights. ... The ACLU leaders, guided by their long-time executive director, waged public relations wars, undertook groundbreaking litigation, and wrestled with public officials, while demanding an expansive interpretation of the Bill of Rights. Consequently, by the close of Baldwin's life, First Amendment provisions involving freedom of speech, the press, assemblage, and religion had been brought closer to actuality than at any point in American history."

In the postwar years, during the height of the Cold War, the ACLU fought against loyalty oaths that federal workers were enjoined to swear and state laws that required schoolteachers to avow they were not members of the Communist Party. The ACLU furthered its commitment to racial justice by involving itself in the cause of school desegregation in the 1950s (in particular the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education) and the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. Also during the 1960s, the ACLU opposed the criminal prohibition of drugs, and thereafter opposed the on-going "war on drugs." Reproductive rights came to the forefront in the early 1970s with the landmark 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decisions Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, which extended the right to privacy to include the right of a woman to choose abortion. With the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976, the ACLU opposed the "ultimate sanction" on grounds that it constituted cruel and unusual punishment and disproportionately affected minorities and the poor.

In 1988, the ACLU became swept up in national politics when Republican George H.W. Bush made Democrat Michael Dukakis's ACLU membership an issue in the presidential campaign. While the Republicans were successful in vilifying the ACLU with a large section of the American public, the attention that came to the organization also led to a surge in memberships and fund raising. The ACLU's reputation among conservatives was further hardened in 1989 when it was successful in having the U.S Supreme Court invalidate a Texas law that made flag desecration a punishable offense. The ACLU then succeeded in having the Supreme Court recognize the civil rights of gays and lesbians as a result of the 1996 case Romer v. Evans. Over the years, the ACLU has also riled people on the left. The most celebrated example was its 1978 defense of a neo-Nazi group to march through Skokie, Illinois, an act that led to a decline in ACLU membership.

Critics from both the left and the right have contended that the ACLU altered its mission over the final 30 years of the 20th century. In a 1988 article in The New Republic, Mark S. Campisano wrote, "The ACLU has strayed very far from its old agenda of civil liberties and civil rights. A new agenda of exotic leftwing causes now occupies most of the Unions time and energy." In the words of Christopher Clausen, writing for The New Leader in 1994, "The organization is obsessed with abortion." A second area of undue focus, in his opinion, was the organization's "dogged support for the discriminatory forms of affirmative action." The ACLU also faced questions from within its own ranks. A 1993 Time magazine article reported: "One essential conflict is between strict libertarians, for whom individual rights are as sacred as Moses' tablets, and new-breed egalitarians who favor minority and feminist causes and are more willing to see civil liberties give ground in the name of justice and equality." Time also noted that "Insiders disagree on whether the shifting views are fostered by the A.C.L.U's in-house affirmative-action plan that requires the board, formerly dominated by white males, to be at least 50 percent female and 20 percent minority. Whatever the reason, old soldiers like Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz ... asserts that the 'A.C.L.U. is a very different organization today.' To him, the key tenet of the A.C.L.U. faith is support for free-speech rights for 'causes that you despise.' Without that, 'all you are is a political activist.'" Opposed to this old guard thinking were ACLU board members like "gay activist Tom Stoddard, who says the absolutists are seeking 'otherworldly vindication on one constitutional right without recognizing that all rights have value and can be reconciled.' To him, both equality and liberty must be weighed and many rights enshrined." Ever controversial, the ACLU entered a new century continuing to play its role as a national gadfly.

Further Reading

Campisano, Mark S., "Card Games: The ACLU's Wrong Course," New Republic, October 31, 1988, p. 10.

Carlson, Margaret, "Spotlight on the A.C.L.U.," Time, October 10, 1988, p. 36.

Clausen, Christopher, "Taking Liberties with the ACLU," New Leader, August 15, 1994, p. 12.

Cottrell, Robert C., Roger Nash Baldwin and the American Civil Liberties Union, New York: Columbia University Press, 2000, 504 p.

Garey, Diane, Defending Everybody, New York: TV Books, 1998, 240 p.

Ostling, Richard N., "A.C.L.U.--Not All That Civil," Time, April 26, 1993, p. 31.

— Ed Dinger

In 1920, the Boston Brahmin Roger Baldwin, Socialist Party leader Norman Thomas, social worker Jane Addams, and a small band of colleagues established the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Avowedly pro-labor, the ACLU followed in the path laid by the National Civil Liberties Bureau, which had been created during World War I to safeguard the rights of political dissidents and conscientious objectors. Operating out of a ramshackle office on the outskirts of Greenwich Village, the ACLU's executive committee, headed by Baldwin, discussed the "Report on the Civil Liberty Situation for the Week." Encouraged by Baldwin, the ACLU championed the First Amendment rights of some of the least-liked groups and individuals in the United States, including the American Communist Party and the Ku Klux Klan. The ACLU relied on lawyers throughout the country to volunteer their services involving test cases. Among those heeding the call were the Harvard law professor Felix Frankfurter and Clarence Darrow, perhaps the best-known litigator in the United States during the early twentieth century.

Still in its infancy, the ACLU participated in several cases that became celebrated causes for liberals and radicals throughout the United States. These included the Sacco-Vanzetti Case, in which two Italian-born anarchists were accused of having committed a murder involving a paymaster; the Scopes Trial, in which John T. Scopes, a part-time biology teacher in Dayton, Tennessee, deliberately violated a state statute that proscribed the teaching of evolution in public schools; and the Scottsboro Case, in which eight indigent African-American youths, dubbed the "Scottsboro Boys," were accused of raping two white women near a small Alabama town. The ACLU's association with the cases—particularly the Scopes "Monkey Trial"—garnered considerable attention for the organization, as did its establishment of a national committee to bring about the release of the labor radicals Tom Mooney and Warren Billings, who had been convicted of planting a bomb that killed ten people during a "Preparedness Parade" in San Francisco in 1916, prior to America's entry into World War I. Baldwin referred to the case as "the most scandalous of any frame-up of labor leaders in our history." In contrast, the ACLU initially displayed little interest in contesting Prohibition, and ACLU leaders like Baldwin, Thomas, and John Haynes Holmes demonstrated a puritanical attitude regarding such controversial writings as D. H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover (1928), despite having earlier challenged censorship in cities like Boston. Nevertheless, by the early 1930s, the ACLU, through its attorneys or amici curiae briefs, had helped to establish the principle that the rights articulated in the First Amendment were "preferred" ones, entitled to considerable protection against government encroachments.

Baldwin's directorship and his involvement with a series of united front and Popular Front groups identified the ACLU with the American left. In 1938, critics called for an investigation of the ACLU by the newly formed House Committee on Un-American Activities. Concerns about such a possibility, coupled with the announcement of the Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact later that year, produced a decision that proved far-reaching for both the ACLU and American politics in general. In early 1940, the national office of the ACLU adopted an exclusionary policy that precluded board members from belonging to totalitarian organizations. This resulted in the infamous "trial" of longtime ACLU activist and Communist Party member Elizabeth Gurley Flynn before her fellow ACLU board members and her removal from the board. During the postwar red scare, an increasing number of organizations adopted similar anti-communist provisions.

The ACLU's stellar reputation for protecting the rights of all was called into question during World War II when the ACLU national leadership, despite Baldwin's opposition, failed to contest the internment of Japanese-Americans and aliens. In the early Cold War era, as redbaiting intensified, the organization provided little support for leftists who were coming under attack. Following Baldwin's retirement in early 1950, the ACLU, in keeping with its recently acquired respectability, became more of a mass organization. It also began to focus less exclusively on First Amendment issues. It supported the legal action by the NAACP that eventually culminated in the monumental ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954), which declared that segregation in public schools violated the Fourteenth Amendment. By the 1960s, the ACLU was concentrating more regularly on the right to privacy, equal protection, and criminal procedural rights.

Not all were pleased with the expanded operations of the ACLU, particularly a decision in 1977 to back the right of American Nazis to march in Skokie, Illinois, where many Holocaust survivors from Hitler's Europe resided. Thousands resigned their ACLU memberships, and financial pressures mounted. The organization again proved to be something of a political lightning rod when Republican Party presidential candidate George H. W. Bush, in the midst of a nationally televised debate in 1988, attacked his Democratic Party opponent, Michael Dukakis, as "a card-carrying member of the ACLU." Spearheaded by Executive Director Ira Glasser, the ACLU continued to be involved in such controversial issues as creationism and prayer in the school, which it opposed, and abortion and gay rights, which it championed. As of 2001, the ACLU had approximately 300,000 members.

Bibliography

Cottrell, Robert C. Roger Nash Baldwin and the American Civil Liberties Union. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000.

Walker, Samuel. In Defense of American Liberties: A History of the American Civil Liberties Union. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.

—Robert C. Cottrell

Since 1920, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has fought energetically for the rights of individuals. The private, nonprofit organization is a multipurpose legal group with three hundred thousand members committed to the freedoms in the Bill of Rights. Although these liberties — free speech, equality, due process, and privacy — are guaranteed to each citizen, they are never completely secure. Governments and majorities can easily weaken them or even take them away. The ACLU has had enormous success fighting such cases: many of the most important Supreme Court decisions of the twentieth century have been won with its involvement, and it continues to fight thousands of lawsuits in state and federal courts each year. The ACLU also lobbies lawmakers and speaks out on a wide variety of civil liberties and civil rights issues. Its passionate devotion to these concerns makes it highly controversial.

The ACLU dates to World War I, a dark era for civil liberties. War fever gripped the United States, and official hostility toward dissent ran high. Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer orchestrated much of this hostility from Washington, D.C., by ordering crackdowns on protesters, breaking strikes, prosecuting conscientious objectors, and deporting thousands of immigrants. One group in particular stood up to him: the American Union against Militarism (AUAM), led by social reformers and radicals. Among its founders was the pacifist Roger Baldwin, a former sociology teacher. In 1917, as the United States prepared to enter the war, Baldwin gave the group a broader mission by transforming it into the Civil Liberties Bureau, dedicated to the defense of those the government saw fit to crush and corral. Anti-Communist hysteria worsened the civil liberties picture between 1919 and 1920, and the upstart bureau had its hands full as Palmer, and his assistant, J. Edgar Hoover, staged massive police raids that netted thousands of alleged subversives at a time.

In 1920, the Civil Liberties Bureau became the ACLU. Joining Baldwin in launching the new organization were several distinguished social leaders, including the author Helen A. Keller, the attorney and future Supreme Court justice Felix Frankfurter, and the socialist clergyman Norman Thomas. The ACLU quickly joined the U.S. Congress and the American Bar Association in denouncing Attorney General Palmer for his raids — and the outcry helped end his tyrannical career. Weighing the effectiveness of public activism, Baldwin reflected, in the first annual ACLU report, "[T]he mere public assertion of the principle of freedom … helps win it recognition, and in the long run makes for tolerance and against resort to violence." In its weekly "Report on Civil Liberties Situation," the group watched over a torrent of abuses: a mob forcing a Farmer-Labor party delegation in Washington State to salute the U.S. flag; a Russian chemist being arrested in Illinois for distributing "inflammatory" handbills; and the lynching and burning of six black men in Florida after a black man attempted to vote.

From the beginning, strict political neutrality was the ACLU's rule. The group did not oppose political candidates, and declared itself neither liberal nor conservative. This position had an important consequence: the ACLU would defend the civil liberties of all people— including those who were weak, unpopular, and despised — without respect to their views. This principle made for strange bedfellows. As the Boston Globe recalled in its eulogy for Baldwin,

[A]t one point Mr. Baldwin was engaged simultaneously in defending the rights of the Ku Klux Klan to hold meetings in Boston, despite the orders of a Catholic mayor; of Catholic teachers to teach in the schools of Akron, despite the opposition of the Ku Klux Klan; and of Communists to exhibit their film, "The Fifth Year," in Providence, despite the opposition of both the Catholics and the Ku Klux Klan.

Consequently, while carving out a unique place for the ACLU in U.S. law, these defenses also won the organization enemies.

Within a few years, the ACLU was widely known. Its first victory before the Supreme Court came in the landmark 1925 case Gitlow v. People of New York, 268 U.S. 652, 45 S. Ct. 625, 69 L. Ed. 1138, in which the Court threw out the defendant's conviction under New York's "criminal anarchy" statute (New York Penal Law § 160, 161, Laws 1909, C. 88; Consol. Laws 1909, C. 40), for advocating the overthrow of the U.S. government in a printed flyer. Gitlow established that the Fourteenth Amendment, which applies to the states, includes freedom of speech in its liberty guarantee. By 1926, the ACLU was involved in the debate over church-state separation. It joined the so-called Scopes Monkey Trial, arguing against a Tennessee law that forbade teaching the theory of evolution in public schools (Scopes v. State, 152 Tenn. 424, 278 S.W. 57 [1925]; 154 Tenn. 105 289 S.W. 363 [1927]). Besides bringing the group to national and worldwide attention, Scopes set it on a course from which it never veered: fighting government interference in religious matters. It staged this fight with equanimity, opposing official help and hindrance to religion, and it soon backed the Jehovah's Witnesses in a series of key Supreme Court cases. This involvement laid the groundwork for the Supreme Court's ruling, in a 1962 challenge originally brought by the ACLU, that school prayer is unconstitutional (Engel v. Vitale, 370 U.S. 421, 82 S. Ct. 1261, 8 L. Ed. 2d 601).

Between the 1930s and the mid-1990s, the ACLU won (as counsel) or helped to win (through amicus briefs) several Supreme Court cases that profoundly changed U.S. law and life. Among these were Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483, 74 S. Ct. 686, 98 L. Ed. 873 (1954) (declaring racially segregated schools unconstitutional); Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643, 81 S. Ct. 1684, 6 L. Ed. 2d 1081 (1961) (severely limiting the power of police officers and prosecutors to use illegally obtained evidence); Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479, 85 S. Ct. 1678, 14 L. Ed. 2d 510 (1965) (invalidating a state law that banned contraceptives and, for the first time, locating the concept of privacy in the Bill of Rights); Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S. Ct. 1602, 16 L. Ed. 2d 694 (1966) (requiring the police to advise suspects of their rights before interrogation); Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1, 87 S. Ct. 1817, 18 L. Ed. 2d 1010 (1967) (striking down the laws of Virginia and fifteen other states that made interracial marriage a criminal offense); Brandenburg v. Ohio, 395 U.S. 444, 89 S. Ct. 1827, 23 L. Ed. 2d 430 (1969) (invalidating state sedition laws aimed at radical groups); and Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 93 S. Ct. 705, 35 L. Ed. 2d 147 (1973) (recognizing a woman's constitutional right to an abortion).

Rarely did these victories endear the ACLU to its opponents. Liberals often — though not always — applauded the effort and the result. They praised, for instance, the ACLU fight against the Customs Bureau for banning James Joyce's novel Ulysses, and its battle to secure publication of the Pentagon Papers during the Vietnam War. Conservatives often found the ACLU meddlesome and the results of its meddling ruinous. Southerners denounced its war on segregation, antiabortion groups blamed it for legal abortion, and Vice President George Bush even labeled it "the criminal's lobby" for its insistence on combating police illegality. At times, the organization outraged nearly everyone, as when it went to court to win the right of Nazis to march in public in Skokie, Illinois. Yet throughout its many controversies, the ACLU seldom seemed to go against its charter. Especially in the early 1990s, it did not avoid cases even when taking them on meant clashing with such traditional allies as feminists and university professors over its support of the freedom to publish pornography and opposition to campus speech codes.

The ACLU is often called the nation's foremost advocate of individual rights. With dozens of Supreme Court cases and thousands of state and federal rulings behind it, it is a firmly established force in U.S. law. Its reach goes beyond the courts. Watchful of lawmakers, it frequently issues public statements on pending national, state, and local legislation, campaigning for and against laws. It also pursues special projects on women's rights, reproductive freedom, children's rights, capital punishment, pris- oners' rights, national security, and civil liberties. In these areas, its goal is not merely the defense of existing liberties but also their expansion into quarters where they are not generally enjoyed.

The ACLU's national headquarters is in New York City. The group maintains a legislative office in Washington, D.C., and a regional office in Atlanta, along with chapters in each state. These state chapters follow the decisions of the national executive board, yet are also free to pursue cases on their own.

See: Bill of Rights; Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas; Civil Rights; Engel v. Vitale; Gitlow v. New York; Griswold v. Connecticut; Roe v. Wade; Scopes, John T..

An organization founded in 1920 in the wake of the red scare to defend civil liberties. The ACLU has often defended the rights of individuals aligned with unpopular causes, including American communists and Nazis.

American Civil Liberties Union
Formation	1920
Headquarters	New York, NY
Membership	500,000 members[1]
President	Susan Herman
Website	http://www.aclu.org/

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) consists of two separate non-profit organizations: the ACLU Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization which focuses on litigation and communication efforts, and the American Civil Liberties Union, a 501(c)(4) organization which focuses on legislative lobbying.^[2] The ACLU's stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States."^[1][3] It works through litigation, legislation, and community education.^[1] Founded in 1920 by Crystal Eastman, Roger Baldwin and Walter Nelles,^[4] the ACLU was the successor organization to the earlier National Civil Liberties Bureau founded during World War I.^[5] The ACLU reported over 500,000 members at the end of 2005.

Lawsuits brought by the ACLU have been influential in the evolution of Constitutional law.^[6] The ACLU provides legal assistance in cases in which it considers civil liberties to be at risk. Even when the ACLU does not provide direct legal representation, it often submits amicus curiae briefs.

Outside of its legal work, the organization has also engaged in lobbying of elected officials and political activism.^[7] The ACLU has been critical of elected officials and policies of both Democrats and Republicans.

Contents 1 History 2 Leadership, funding and organizational structure 2.1 Leadership 2.2 Funding 2.2.1 Foundations 2.2.2 Court awarded damages and attorney's fees 2.3 Organizational structure 3 Positions 4 Controversial stances 5 Notable historical cases 5.1 1920–1960 5.2 1960–2000 5.3 2000–present 6 Bibliography 7 See also 8 References 9 External links

History

Roger Nash Baldwin became head of the National Civil Liberties Bureau (NCLB) in 1917. An independent outgrowth of the American Union Against Militarism, the Bureau opposed American intervention in World War I. The NCLB provided legal advice and aid for conscientious objectors and those being prosecuted under the Espionage Act of 1917 or the Sedition Act of 1918. In 1920, the NCLB changed its name to the American Civil Liberties Union, with Baldwin continuing as its director and Walter Nelles as chief counsel. Jeannette Rankin, Jane Addams, Crystal Eastman, Albert DeSilver, Helen Keller, along with other former members of the NCLB, assisted Baldwin with the founding of the ACLU.^[1] Among the founding members was Felix Frankfurter, who later became an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.^[8] DeSilver and Nelles were Baldwin's closest associates.^[9][10]

The ACLU was formed to protect aliens threatened with deportation, along with U.S. nationals threatened with criminal charges by U.S. Attorney General Alexander Mitchell Palmer for their communist or socialist activities and agendas^[11] (see Palmer Raids). It also opposed attacks on the rights of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and other labor unions to meet and organize.

In 1940, the ACLU formally barred communists from leadership or staff positions, and would take the position that it did not want communists as members either. The board declared that it was "inappropriate for any person to serve on the governing committees of the Union or its staff, who is a member of any political organization which supports totalitarianism in any country, or who by his public declarations indicates his support of such a principle."^[12] The purge, which was led by Baldwin, himself a former supporter of communism, began with the ouster of Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, a member of both the Communist Party USA and the Industrial Workers of the World.^[13]

Conservatives and Republicans have frequently criticized the ACLU. One well-known example occurred during the 1988 presidential election: then-Vice President George H. W. Bush noted that his opponent Michael Dukakis had described himself as a "card-carrying member of the ACLU" and used that as evidence that Dukakis was "a strong, passionate liberal" and "out of the mainstream."^[14] The phrase subsequently was used by the organization in an advertising campaign.^[15]

After the September 11, 2001 attacks and the ensuing debate regarding the proper balance of civil liberties and security, including the passage of the USA PATRIOT Act, the membership of the ACLU increased by 20%, bringing the group's total enrollment to 330,000.^[16] The growth continued, and by August 2008 ACLU membership was greater than 500,000.^[17]

Leadership, funding and organizational structure

Leadership

Nadine Strossen, Former President (1991-2008)

Currently, the leadership of the ACLU includes Executive Director Anthony Romero^[18] and President Susan Herman.^[19] The national board of directors consists of representatives elected by each state affiliate as well as at-large delegates elected by boards of each affiliate. Each state affiliate has an Executive Director and Board of Directors.

Notably, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a current Justice of the Supreme Court, was the first director of the ACLU's Women's Rights Project.^[20] And Judith Krug, Director of the American Library Association Office for Intellectual Freedom^[21] since 1967,^[22] was for three years concurrently on the Board of Directors of the Illinois Division of the ACLU. "She has been very successful in promulgating the ACLU's views within the country's libraries, and the ACLU has honored her with awards."^[23]

In 2005, in response to increasing internal strife, the ACLU national board attempted to impose what many critics labeled a "gag rule" on its employees. The proposal included the rule that "a board member may publicly disagree with an ACLU policy position, but may not criticize the ACLU Board or staff." The measures proved highly unpopular with free speech advocates within the ACLU, and were eventually shelved.^[24]

Funding

The ACLU receives funding from a large number of sources. For example, in 2004, the ACLU and its affiliate, the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation reported revenues totaling $85,559,887. Of that total, 87% was from donations and dues from the public, 1.8% from program services, including awards of legal fees, royalty income, and literature sales, and the remainder from investment income and income from sale of assets. The distribution and amount of funding for state affiliates varies from state to state. For example, the ACLU of New Jersey reported $1.2 million in income to both the ACLU-NJ and its affiliated tax-exempt foundation in the 2005 fiscal year. Of that income, 46% came from contributions, 19% came from membership dues, 18% came from court awarded attorney fees, 12% came from grants, 4% came from investment income and the remainder from other sources. Its expenses in the same period were $800,000, of which 12% went to administration and management. Smaller affiliates with fewer resources, such as that in Nebraska, receive subsidies from the national ACLU.^[25]

Foundations

In October 2004, the ACLU rejected $1.5 million from both the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations 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.^[26]

Court awarded damages and attorney's fees

In 2004, court-awarded damages and attorney fees composed a 3% (net) of ACLU Foundation funding; state affiliates also receive money from such fees, although the national headquarters does not.^{[citation needed]}

Recovery of attorney's' fees by non-profit legal advocacy organizations is common practice. The pro-life Thomas More Law Center, for example, generally seeks, and is successful in, recovery of attorney's fees in the same manner as the ACLU.^[27][28] In 2005, the Thomas More law center derived 4.8% of its funding from court-awarded legal fees in this manner.^[29]

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.^[30][31]

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.^[32] Under laws such as this, the ACLU and its state affiliates sometimes share in monetary judgments against government agencies.^[33]

The ACLU has received court awarded fees in numerous church-state cases. The Georgia affiliate was awarded $150,000 in fees after suing a county demanding the removal of a Ten Commandments display from its courthouse;^[34] a second Ten Commandments case in the State, in a different county, led to a $74,462 judgment.^[35] Meanwhile, 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.^[36][37] The Public Expression of Religion Act of 2005, introduced by Representative John Hostettler, sought to alter the rules put in place by the Civil Rights Attorney's Fees Award Act of 1976 to prevent monetary judgments in the particular case of violations of church-state separation.^[38] Also, groups such as the American Legion have taken stances opposing the ACLU's right to collect fees under such legislation.^[39]

Organizational structure

Howard Simon, executive director of the Florida chapter, joins in a protest of the Guantanamo Bay detentions with Amnesty International.

The national headquarters of the ACLU is located in New York City. The organization does most of its work through 53 locally based affiliates and associated chapters, each of which have staff and a board of directors. The affiliates generally correspond to state (or equivalent) lines; Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico each have an affiliate, California has three affiliates, Pennsylvania has two, Missouri has two (one combined with Kansas), The Dakotas share one. These affiliates maintain a certain amount of governing autonomy from the national organization, and are able to work independently from each other, if they choose to do so. Many of the ACLU's cases originate or are handled from the local level and are also handled by local lawyers from the individual affiliates.

Affiliates (the state organizations) are the basic unit of the ACLU's organization and engage in litigation, lobbying, and public education. For example, in a twenty-month period beginning January 2004, the ACLU's New Jersey chapter was involved in fifty-one cases according to their annual report—thirty-five cases in state courts, and sixteen in federal court. They provided legal representation in thirty-three of those cases, and served as amicus in the remaining eighteen. They listed forty-four volunteer attorneys who assisted them in those cases.

Each legal foundation and political affiliate is registered as a 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) entity, respectively.

Positions

While the bulk of the ACLU's cases involve the First Amendment, Equal Protection, due process, and the right to privacy,^[40] the organization has taken positions on a wide range of issues. According to the ACLU, it supports:

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa speaking at an ACLU event. Villaraigosa is a former board member and president of the ACLU Southern California affiliate.

• Religious liberty: Defends the individual rights of Americans of all religions to practice and/or display affirmations of their faith in public, but not on public property with government sponsorship or endorsement.^[41][42]
• The decriminalization of drugs such as heroin, cocaine and marijuana.^[43]
• Separation of church and state; under this mandate, the ACLU:
  • Opposes the government-sponsored display of religious symbols on public property.
  • Opposes official prayers, religious ceremonies, and some kinds of "moments of silence"^[44] in public schools or schools funded with public money.
• Full freedom of speech and of the press, including school newspapers.
• Abolition of capital punishment.^[45]
• Reproductive rights, including access to contraception and abortion.
• Full civil rights for LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) people, including government benefits for same-sex couples equal to those provided for heterosexual ones.
• Affirmative action as a means of redressing past discrimination and achieving a racially diverse student body.^[46]
• The rights of defendants and suspects against unconstitutional police practices.
• Privacy as it "works to preserve the American tradition that the government not track individuals or violate privacy unless it has evidence of wrongdoing."^[47]
• Immigrants' rights by "challenging unconstitutional laws and practices, countering the myths upon which many of these laws are based."^[48]
• Concerning the Second Amendment, specifically gun control, the ACLU embraces the States' Right Model interpretation of the Second Amendment, which only recognizes a state's right to possess firearms; the national organization officially declares itself "neutral" on the issue of gun control, pointing to previous Supreme Court decisions such as United States v. Miller to argue that the Second Amendment applies to the preservation or efficiency of a well-regulated militia, and that "except for lawful police and military purposes, the possession of firearms by individuals is not constitutionally protected."^[49] However, state level ACLU affiliates are free to take positions differing from the national organization's; in 2008, the Nevada ACLU announced that they were changing their position to support "the individual’s right to bear arms subject to constitutionally permissible regulations."^[50]

The ACLU has opposed some campaign finance reform laws such as the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, which it considers an inappropriate restriction upon freedom of expression. It does not have a policy of blanket opposition to all laws on campaign finance.^[51]

While the ACLU does oppose the use of crosses in public monuments,^[52][53] there have been false allegations that the ACLU has urged the removal of cross-shaped headstones from federal cemeteries and has opposed prayer by soldiers; such charges have been deemed to be urban legends.^[54]

Controversial stances

Wikinews has related news: ACLU President Strossen on religion, drugs, guns and impeaching George Bush

The ACLU has for years been a controversial organization by nature,^[55] with most of their support coming from the left and opposition from the right. The reasons for opposition are varied, although conservatives often view the ACLU stance of separation of church and state as anti-religious,^[56] and their defense of both accused and convicted criminals as undermining law and order. Furthermore, the nature of the ACLU is that they defend even the most unpopular forms of speech and expression, notably those with which most other organizations would not wish to associate themselves. Often, its clients are notoriously unpopular such as Neo-Nazi organizations and the North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA), a group which supports lifting all age restrictions on pederasty. In the case of NAMBLA, the ACLU's Massachusetts affiliate represented the organization, on first amendment grounds, in a wrongful death civil suit that was based solely on the fact that a man who raped and murdered a child had visited the NAMBLA website.^[57] Although the ACLU does not endorse NAMBLA's message, its defense of the group has been widely criticized. Additionally, the ACLU has joined several court cases against government funding of organizations that discriminate against homosexuals and atheists, prominently including the Boy Scouts of America.^[58]

Among the most notable controversial cases which involved the ACLU are the following:

• The ACLU currently opposes, under the ex post facto clause of the Constitution, the retroactive application of Megan’s Law (which requires law enforcement authorities to identify convicted sex offenders to the public at large through various media outlets) to persons convicted before the law was passed.^[59][60] The ACLU initially opposed the bill in its entirety, considering it "misguided political posturing that [would] do nothing to reduce sex crimes,"^[61] but has not advocated that position recently.^{[citation needed]}
• The ACLU also defended Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North,^[57] whose conviction was tainted by coerced testimony — a violation of his fifth amendment rights.^[62]
• The ACLU fought for the Westboro Baptist Church and Shirley Phelps-Roper after legislation prevented the group from picketing outside of veterans' funerals.^[63] The Westboro Baptist Church is infamous 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."^[64] The suit was successful.^[65]
• The ACLU has filed 6 lawsuits against the Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana school board over what the group sees as teacher-led prayer in school activities.^[66]
• The ACLU defended Frank Snepp, formerly of the Central Intelligence Agency, from an attempt by the government agency to enforce a gag order against him.^[67]
• The ACLU has aided the Florida Justice Institute and WriteAPrisoner.com in supporting prisoner's rights, especially what the ACLU sees as the First Amendment right to post online profiles seeking pen pals during their incarceration and jobs upon their release.
• In 2006, the ACLU of Washington State and the Second Amendment Foundation jointly filed a lawsuit^[68] 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.

Much ACLU work is done in the political arena where it faces frequent controversy as well.

• The ACLU has been a vocal opponent of the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001, the PATRIOT 2 Act of 2003, and associated legislation made in response to the threat of domestic terrorism. The ACLU believes such legislation violates either the letter or the spirit of the U.S. Bill of Rights. In response to a requirement of the USA PATRIOT Act, the ACLU withdrew from the Combined Federal Campaign.^[69] The requirement was 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."^[69]

See also: American Civil Liberties Union v. Ashcroft (2004)

• The ACLU opposes the use of capital punishment, calling it "the ultimate denial of civil liberties."^[70] The ACLU claims that the death penalty is unfairly applied to racial minorities and the poor, and considers it "cruel and unusual" punishment.^[71] The organization often opposes executions on the grounds that the present method of lethal injection sometimes goes awry.^[72]

• The ACLU's position on spam is considered controversial by a broad cross-section of political points of view. In 2000, Marvin Johnson, a legislative counsel for the ACLU, stated that proposed anti-spam 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."^[73] The debate found the ACLU joining with the Direct Marketing Association and the Center for Democracy and Technology in criticizing a bipartisan bill in the House of Representatives in 2000. As early as 1997 the ACLU had taken a strong position that nearly all spam legislation was improper,^[74] although it has supported "opt-out" requirements in some cases. The ACLU opposed the 2003 CAN-SPAM act^[75] suggesting that it could have a chilling effect on speech in cyberspace.

Notable historical cases

Main article: List of court cases involving the American Civil Liberties Union

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

1920–1960

In 1925, the ACLU persuaded John T. Scopes to defy Tennessee's anti-evolution law in a court test. Clarence Darrow, a member of the ACLU National Committee, headed Scopes' legal team. The prosecution, led by William Jennings Bryan, contended that the Bible should be interpreted literally in teaching creationism 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.^[76][77]

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 U.S. public schools.^[78]

1960–2000

In 1967, the ACLU successfully argued against state bans on interracial marriage, in the case of Loving v. Virginia.^[79]

In 1973, the ACLU was the first major national organization to call for the impeachment of President Richard Nixon, giving as reasons the Nixon administration's violations of civil liberties.^[11] That same year, the ACLU was involved in the cases of Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, in which the Supreme Court held that the constitutional right of privacy extended to women seeking abortions.

In 1977, the ACLU filed suit against the Village of Skokie, Illinois, seeking an injunction against the enforcement of three town ordinances outlawing Neo-Nazi parades and demonstrations. Skokie, Illinois at the time had a majority population of Jews, totaling 40,000 of 70,000 citizens. A federal district court struck down the ordinances in a decision eventually affirmed by the Supreme Court. The ACLU's action in this case led to a rift between the Jewish Defense League and the ACLU. According to David Hamlin, executive director of the Illinois ACLU, "...the Chicago office which chose to provide legal counsel to neo-Nazis who have been planning to march in Skokie, has lost about 25% of its membership and nearly one-third of its budget." 30,000 ACLU members resigned in protest.^[80][81][82] The financial strain from the controversy lead to layoffs at local chapters.^[83] In his February 23, 1978 decision overturning the town ordinances, US District Court Judge Bernard M. Decker described the principle involved in the case as follows: "It is better to allow those who preach racial hatred to expend their venom in rhetoric rather than to be panicked into embarking on the dangerous course of permitting the government to decide what its citizens may say and hear ... The ability of American society to tolerate the advocacy of even hateful doctrines ... is perhaps the best protection we have against the establishment of any Nazi-type regime in this country."^[84]

In the 1980s, the ACLU filed suit to challenge the Arkansas 1981 creationism statute, which required the teaching in public schools of the biblical account of creation as a scientific alternative to evolution. The law was declared unconstitutional by a Federal District Court.^[85]

In 1982, the ACLU became involved in a case involving the distribution of child pornography (New York v. Ferber).^[86] In an amicus brief, the ACLU argued that the law in question "has criminalized the dissemination, sale or display of constitutionally protected non-obscene materials which portray juveniles in sexually related roles," while arguing that child pornography deemed obscene under the Miller test deserved no constitutional protection and could be banned.^[87]

2000–present

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 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.^[88] The upcoming film American Violet depicts this case.^[89]

In a 2002 letter, the ACLU stated that it "opposes child pornography that uses real children in its depictions," but that material "which is produced without using real children, and is not otherwise obscene, is protected under the First Amendment."^[90]

In March 2004, the ACLU, along with Lambda Legal and the National Center for Lesbian Rights, sued the state of California on behalf of 6 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.^[91]

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.^[92]

In June 2004, the ACLU received numerous phone calls from angry parents after the Dover Area School District in Dover, Pennsylvania passed a curriculum change requiring that its high school biology students be read a one-minute statement saying that the theory of evolution is not fact and mentioning intelligent design as an alternative theory. Believing that the school was promoting a religious idea in the classroom and violating the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, several Dover parents called the ACLU to discuss a possible lawsuit against the school. The ACLU, along with Americans United for Separation of Church and State and Pepper Hamilton, LLP, went on to represent the parents, the plaintiffs, in Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District. After a more than 40-day trial, Judge John E. Jones III ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, finding that intelligent design is not science and permanently forbidding the Dover school system from teaching intelligent design in science classes.^[93]

In January 2006, the ACLU filed a lawsuit, ACLU v. NSA, in a federal district court in Michigan, challenging government spying in the NSA warrantless surveillance controversy.^[94] On August 17, 2006, that court ruled that the warrantless wiretapping program is unconstitutional and ordered it ended immediately.^[95] However, the order is stayed pending an appeal. The Bush administration did suspend the program while the appeal was being heard.^[96] 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 Sept. 11 terror attacks."^[97]

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^[98] and two others in California requesting injunctions against AT&T and Verizon.^[99] On August 10, 2006, the lawsuits against the telecommunications companies were transferred to a federal judge in San Francisco.^[100]

After the town of Hazleton, Pennsylvania passed an ordinance to punish landlords who rented to illegal immigrants and businesses who hired illegal immigrants, the ACLU and the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund sued Hazleton, saying the ordinance was unconstitutional.^[101][102] On July 26, 2007, a federal court agreed and struck down the Hazleton ordinance; Hazleton's mayor promised to appeal the decision.^[103]

In 2008, the ACLU stated that it would represent defendants arrested in Flint, Michigan for disorderly conduct when sagging (wearing pants low enough to show underwear), partly on the basis of unconstitutional racial profiling.^[104]

After the City of Indianapolis, Indiana began cracking down on when, where and how homeless persons can solicit donations, the ACLU sued Indianapolis, claiming the city's police unconstitutionally forced homeless persons to produce identification without probable cause.^[105]

Bibliography

• William A. Donohue, The Politics of the American Civil Liberties Union (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books, 1985) ISBN 0-88738-021-2
• Peggy Lamson, Roger Baldwin: Founder of the American Civil Liberties Union (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1976) ISBN 0-395-24761-6
• Samuel Walker, In Defense of American Liberties: A History of the ACLU (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990) ISBN 0-19-504539-4

See also

• American Civil Rights Union
• British Columbia Civil Liberties Association
• Canadian Civil Liberties Association
• Association for Civil Rights in Israel
• Freedom (political)
• Liberty (pressure group)
• National Emergency Civil Liberties Committee
• New York Civil Liberties Union
• Southern Poverty Law Center

References

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8. ^ The ACLU as Guardian of Liberty Franklyn S. Haiman
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24. ^ Aclu V. Aclu
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38. ^ Report No. 109-657, H.R. 2679, available at GPO.
39. ^ American Legion
40. ^ See, e.g., the Louisiana chapter's "Complaint Guidelines".
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61. ^ Paul Van Slambrouck, "Sex-Crime Laws Draw More Flak", Christian Science Monitor, Aug. 13, 1998.
62. ^ Pacenti, John (2004-01-13). "Limbaugh to get legal boost from group he's often ripped". Palm Beach Post. http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/news/limbaugh/011304_limbaugh.html. 
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64. ^ ACLU, "ACLU of Eastern Missouri Challenges Law Banning Pickets and Protests One Hour Before or After a Funeral", July 21, 2006.
65. ^ American Civil Liberties Union : ACLU of Eastern Missouri Applauds Decision In Free Speech Case
66. ^ Mitchell, David. "School board sued over prayer". The Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA (Capitol City Press): p. B01. 
67. ^ Maeve A. Cowan, "Review of Frank Snepp, Irreparable Harm: A Firsthand Account of How One Agent Took on the CIA in an Epic Battle over Free Speech", H-Law, H-Net Reviews, March, 2002.
68. ^ ACLU of Washington State, "ACLU Suit Seeks Access to Lawful Information on Internet", Nov. 16, 2006 (last visited Jan. 7, 2008).
69. ^ ^{a b} ACLU, "Citing Government "Blacklist"; Policy, ACLU Rejects $500,000 from Funding Program ", July 31, 2004 (last visited Jan. 7, 2008).
70. ^ "The ACLU's Capital Punishment Project". American Civil Liberties Union web site. ACLU. http://www.aclu.org/capital/index.html. Retrieved 2007-03-19. 
71. ^ ACLU, "Race and the Death Penalty", Feb. 26, 2003 (last visited Jan. 7, 2008).
72. ^ Johnson, Alan (2007-06-07). "ACLU seeks execution records; inmate suffocated doctor says". The Columbus Dispatch (Ohio) (The Columbus Dispatch): p. 05B. 
73. ^ Adam S. Marlin, "First Amendment is obstacle to spam legislation", CNN, June 9, 2000.
74. ^ ACLU Cyber-Liberties Update, Sept. 2, 1997 (on the Red Rock Eater News Service listserve) (last visited Jan. 7, 2008).
75. ^ ACLU, "Letter to the Senate Urging Opposition to S.877, the "Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003"", July 30, 2003 (last visited Jan. 7, 2008).
76. ^ University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law, "Tennessee v. John Scopes: The 'Monkey Trial' (1925)", Famous Trials in American History, last updated April 25, 2005 (last visited Jan. 7, 2008).
77. ^ "The Evolution-Creationism Controversy: A Chronology". http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/scopes/scopeschrono.html. 
78. ^ ACLU, ACLU Amicus Brief in Brown v. Board of Education, Oct. 11, 1952 (PDF brief).
79. ^ Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1 (1967), available at UMKC Law School.
80. ^ Philippa Strum, When the Nazis Came to Skokie: Freedom for Speech We Hate (University Press of Kansas) (University of Kansas Press publisher's catalog description).
81. ^ "Membership woes hurt ACLU while others gain". http://cdm.digitalpast.org/cgi-bin/showfile.exe?CISOROOT=/skokiepo001&CISOPTR=36. 
82. ^ "2d suit to block Nazis from Skokie march fails". http://cdm.digitalpast.org/cgi-bin/showfile.exe?CISOROOT=/skokiepo001&CISOPTR=0. 
83. ^ The High Cost of Free Speech: A.C.L.U. dilemma: defending "hateful and heinous" ideas. Time (magazine). 1978-06-28. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,916244-1,00.html. Retrieved 2009-05-18. 
84. ^ Ed McManus, "Nazi March: What's It All About?", Illinois Issues, v.13, Nov. 1978 (available at Illinois Periodicals Online).
85. ^ McLean v. Arkansas Board of Education, 529 F. Supp. 1255 (E.D. Ark. 1982) ("transcription" by Clark Dorman, Jan. 30, 1996, at TalkOrigins).
86. ^ New York v. Ferber', 458 U.S. 747 (1982) (abstract at Oyez).
87. ^ "Letter to Reps. Smith and Scott on H.R. 4623, the "Child Obscenity and Pornography Prevention Act of 2002"". ACLU.org. 2002-05-08. http://www.aclu.org/privacy/speech/14793leg20020508.html. Retrieved 2007-11-20. 
88. ^ ACLU, "In Wake of ACLU Civil Rights Lawsuit Settlement, African Americans Affected by Texas Drug Task Force Scandal Call for Reconciliation at Town Meeting ", 6/2/2005 (last visited 4/10/09).
89. ^ ACLU: American Violet
90. ^ ACLU, "Letter to Reps. Smith and Scott on H.R. 4623, the "Child Obscenity and Pornography Prevention Act of 2002"", May 8, 2002 (last visited Jul. 9, 2008).
91. ^ ACLU, "California Marriage Case", (last visited 6/28/09).
92. ^ ACLU Comes to Rush Limbaugh's Defense Monday, January 12, 2004 By Catherine Donaldson-Evans Fox News
93. ^ Judge Rejects Teaching Intelligent Design
94. ^ Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief ("NSA Spying Complaint"), ACLU v. NSA (E.D. Mich. Jan. 17, 2006) (PDF of complaint available at ACLU website, "Safe and Free: NSA Spying" section of website).
95. ^ Ryan Singel, "Judge Halts NSA Snooping", Wired, Aug. 17, 2006.
96. ^ Marks, Alexandra (2007-04-03). "Privacy Advocates Fight for Ground Lost After 9/11". The Christian Science Monitor (The Christian Science Publishing Society): p. USA2. 
97. ^ "Court Rejects ACLU Challenge to Wiretaps". Breitbart.com (AP). 2008-02-19. 
98. ^ ACLU, "ACLU of Illinois Responds to Ruling in Terkel v. AT&T, July 25, 2006 (last visited Jan. 7, 2008).
99. ^ ACLU, "ACLU Files Lawsuit in California Court Demanding End to Privacy Violations by AT&T and Verizon", May 26, 2006 (last visited Jan. 7, 2008).
100. ^ "Surveillance lawsuits transferred to judge skeptical of Bush plan". http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/08/11/BAGRGKGL4S1.DTL&type=politics. 
101. ^ ACLU of Pennsylvania, "Lozano v. City of Hazleton webpage, including links to press releases, complaint, and other materials (last visited Jan. 7, 2008).
102. ^ Tom Head, "Top 10 Civil Liberties News Stories - Aug. 22, 2006 Edition", About.com (covering "ACLU Challenges Anti-Immigrant Hazleton Ordinance".
103. ^ Judge Voids Ordinance on Illegal Immigrants
104. ^ Enforcement of Flint Saggy Pants Rule is Unconstitutional and Must be Stopped
105. ^ Legal Docket | Police Practices

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