American Civil Liberties Union facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
American Civil Liberties Union

Predecessor	National Civil Liberties Bureau
Formation	January 19, 1920; 105 years ago (1920-01-19)
Founders	Jeannette Rankin Roger Nash Baldwin Crystal Eastman Helen Keller Walter Nelles Morris Ernst Albert DeSilver Arthur Garfield Hays Jane Addams Felix Frankfurter Elizabeth Gurley Flynn
Type	501(c)(4) nonprofit organization
Purpose	Civil liberties advocacy
Headquarters	125 Broad Street, New York City, U.S.
Region served	United States
Membership	1.84 million (2018)
President	Deborah Archer
Executive Director	Anthony Romero
Budget	$309 million (2019; excludes affiliates)
Staff	Nearly 300 staff attorneys
Volunteers	Several thousand attorneys

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American group started in 1920. It works to protect the rights and freedoms of everyone in the United States. These rights are promised by the Constitution and other laws.

The ACLU helps people by going to court (this is called litigation). They also talk to lawmakers to change policies (this is called lobbying). As of 2018, the ACLU had over 1.8 million members. Its yearly budget is more than $300 million. The ACLU has offices in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. They offer legal help when they believe someone's civil liberties are at risk. This can mean representing people in court or writing legal arguments for other lawyers to use.

The ACLU also supports certain policies. For example, they are against the death penalty. They support marriage equality and the right for LGBT people to adopt. They work to stop discrimination against women, minority groups, and LGBT people. They also want to reduce the number of people in prison. The ACLU supports the rights of veterans and people who have been convicted of minor crimes to find housing and jobs. They also believe in keeping government and religion separate.

The ACLU is made up of two main parts. One part, the American Civil Liberties Union, works on social welfare. The other part, the ACLU Foundation, is a public charity. Both parts work to protect civil rights through legal action, advocacy, and education. Donations to the Foundation are tax-deductible. Only the social welfare group can do unlimited political lobbying. Both groups share offices and staff.

How the ACLU is Organized

Who Leads the ACLU?

The ACLU is led by a president and an executive director. As of March 2024, these leaders are Deborah N. Archer and Anthony Romero. The president leads the board of directors and helps with fundraising. The executive director manages the daily work of the organization. The board of directors has 80 members. These include representatives from each state office and other chosen members. The ACLU's main office is in 125 Broad Street, a tall building in Lower Manhattan, New York City.

Sometimes, the leaders of the ACLU do not agree on everything. These disagreements can lead to big debates. For example, in 1937, they debated whether to defend Henry Ford's right to share anti-union writings. In 1939, they argued about whether people who supported communism should be leaders in the ACLU. In the 1950s, during the Cold War, they were split on defending communists. In 1968, they disagreed about representing Benjamin Spock's anti-war actions. In 1973, during the Watergate Scandal, they were divided on whether to ask for President Nixon to be removed from office. In 2005, they debated if employees should be stopped from talking about internal disagreements.

How the ACLU Gets Money

In the year ending March 31, 2014, the ACLU and its Foundation together earned $100.4 million. This money came from grants (50%), member donations (25.4%), donated legal services (7.6%), and gifts left in wills (16.2%). Membership fees are seen as donations. Members choose how much they pay each year, with an average of about $50.

In the same year, the ACLU and Foundation spent $133.4 million. Most of this (86.2%) went to programs. The rest was for management (7.4%) and fundraising (8.2%). From 2011 to 2014, the Foundation usually handled about 70% of the total budget, and the ACLU handled about 30%.

The ACLU asks for donations for its charity foundation. The ACLU is approved by the Better Business Bureau. Charity Navigator has given the ACLU a four-star rating, which is very good. Local ACLU offices raise their own money. However, some also get money from the national ACLU. The national organization helps smaller offices that do not have enough money to support themselves. For example, the Wyoming ACLU office received help until it closed in 2015.

In 2004, the ACLU turned down $1.5 million from the Ford Foundation and Rockefeller Foundation. This was because the foundations included a rule from the USA PATRIOT Act in their donation agreements. This rule said that no money could go to "underwriting terrorism or other unacceptable activities." The ACLU saw this rule as a threat to civil liberties because it was too broad and unclear.

The ACLU often takes legal action against government bodies. Governments are usually protected from having to pay money in lawsuits. However, in some cases, laws allow people who successfully sue government agencies to get money. For example, the Civil Rights Attorney's Fees Award Act of 1976 says the government can be held responsible in some civil rights cases. Under these laws, the ACLU and its state offices sometimes share in money paid by government agencies.

For example, the Georgia ACLU office received $150,000 after suing a county. They wanted a Ten Commandments display removed from a courthouse. Another similar case in Georgia led to a $74,462 payment. The State of Tennessee had to pay $50,000, Alabama $175,000, and Kentucky $121,500 in similar cases.

ACLU State Offices

Most of the ACLU's work is done by its local offices. There is at least one office in every state, as well as in Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. California has three offices. These local offices work on their own. Each office has its own staff, director, board, and budget. Each local office also has two non-profit groups. One is the ACLU Foundation, which does not do lobbying. The other is the ACLU, which can lobby. Both groups share staff and offices.

ACLU state offices are the main part of the ACLU's structure. They handle lawsuits, lobby lawmakers, and educate the public. For example, in 2020, the ACLU's New Jersey office argued 26 cases in the New Jersey Supreme Court. This was about one-third of all cases heard in that court. They also sent over 50,000 emails to officials and had 28 full-time staff.

ACLU state affiliates
State	ACLU state affiliate	Notes
Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California	ACLU of Northern California ACLU of Southern California ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties
Colorado	ACLU of Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware	ACLU of Delaware
District of Columbia
Florida	ACLU of Florida
Georgia
Hawaii	ACLU of Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine	ACLU of Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts	ACLU of Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri	ACLU of Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey	American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey
New Mexico
New York	New York Civil Liberties Union
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania	ACLU of Pennsylvania
Puerto Rico	ACLU of Puerto Rico National Chapter
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas	ACLU of Texas	URL
Utah
Vermont
Virginia	ACLU of Virginia	URL
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming	ACLU of Wyoming

What the ACLU Believes In

The ACLU has clear positions on many important issues:

• Fairness in Hiring and Education: The ACLU supports programs that help make sure everyone has an equal chance. This includes in jobs and schools.
• Money in Politics: The ACLU believes that how political campaigns are funded needs to change. They support public funding for elections. They also want to know who is donating money. However, they are against limiting how much money can be spent on political speech.
• Changing Criminal Laws: The ACLU wants to end overly harsh sentences. They believe these sentences prevent a fair and equal society.
• The Death Penalty: The ACLU is against the death penalty in all situations.
• Freedom of Speech: The ACLU strongly supports free speech. This includes the right to express unpopular or controversial ideas. However, they have discussed prioritizing cases where speech does not cause serious harm or stop progress towards equality.
• Gun Rights: The national ACLU believes the Second Amendment protects a group's right to own guns, not just individuals. However, they are against creating a list of gun owners. They also support the right to carry guns under the Fourth Amendment.
• Human Rights: The ACLU works for the rights of children, people with disabilities, immigrants, and LGBT people. They also support other international human rights.
• Immigrants' Rights: The ACLU supports civil liberties for all immigrants in the United States.
• LGBTQ+ Rights: The ACLU supports equal rights for all lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people. They work to end discrimination. They support equal rights in jobs, housing, marriage, and adoption for LGBT couples.
• National Security: The ACLU is against limiting civil liberties for national security reasons. They have spoken out against government spying, holding people without trial, and torture.
• Prisoners' Rights: The ACLU believes that putting people in prison should be a last choice. They think prisons should focus on helping people get better. They also advocate for prisoners to be treated fairly under the Constitution.
• Privacy and Technology: The ACLU supports using technology in ways that protect privacy. They are against uses that reduce freedoms or lead to a "surveillance society." They want to expand privacy rights and give people more control over their personal information.
• Racial Justice: The ACLU works to fight racial discrimination in all parts of society. This includes schools, the justice system, and how the death penalty is used. However, they are against states banning the Confederate flag.
• Religion: The ACLU supports the right of religious people to practice their faith freely. They believe the government should not favor any religion or non-religion. They are against school-led prayer but protect students' right to pray in school. They also oppose using religious beliefs to discriminate against others.
• Vaccination Policy: The ACLU supports vaccine rules for public places and businesses. They believe there is no right to spread infectious diseases. They support a public health approach to managing illnesses. They are against putting people with infectious diseases in jail. However, the ACLU is against vaccine passports.
• Voting Rights: The ACLU believes that anything that makes it harder to vote should be removed. This is especially true if it affects minority or poor citizens more. They also believe that minor convictions should not cause people to lose their right to vote.
• Women's Rights: The ACLU works to end discrimination against women everywhere. They encourage the government to actively stop violence against women.

Who Supports and Opposes the ACLU?

Many people and groups support the ACLU. In 2017, there were over 1 million members. The ACLU also gets many grants from hundreds of charities each year. Other groups that have worked with the ACLU include the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the American Jewish Congress, and the National Rifle Association of America.

The ACLU has faced criticism from different sides. Some people who consider themselves liberal have criticized the ACLU. For example, when the ACLU did not allow communists in its leadership. Or when it defended Neo-Nazis. Others have criticized the ACLU for supporting the NRA in 2018.

On the other hand, some people who consider themselves conservative have criticized the ACLU. For example, when it argued against official prayer in public schools. Or when it opposed the Patriot Act.

The ACLU has supported the rights of both conservative figures like Rush Limbaugh and Oliver North, and liberal figures like Dick Gregory and Benjamin Spock.

A main source of criticism comes from cases where the ACLU defends people or groups with very unpopular views. Examples include the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis, the Nation of Islam, the Westboro Baptist Church, or the Unite the Right rally. The ACLU defends their right to free speech, even if their ideas are offensive.

A Look at ACLU History

The Early Years

The ACLU grew out of the National Civil Liberties Bureau (CLB). This group was started in 1917 during World War I by Crystal Eastman and Roger Nash Baldwin. The CLB focused on freedom of speech, especially against the war. They also supported people who refused to fight in the war for moral reasons.

In 1920, the CLB became the American Civil Liberties Union. At that time, other groups like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) also worked on civil rights. But the ACLU was the first group that protected the rights of all people, not just one specific group.

Roger Nash Baldwin led the ACLU for its first few decades. He was a strong leader who attracted many supporters. The ACLU's main office in New York was mostly run by people from New York. Most of the ACLU's money came from wealthy donors.

Focus on Free Speech

In the 1920s, the ACLU mostly focused on freedom of speech. This included speech related to workers' rights. Because of this, conservative groups often attacked the ACLU. Leaders within the ACLU had different ideas on how to fight for civil rights. Some, like Baldwin, believed in direct action. Others felt that taking lawsuits to the Supreme Court was the best way to make changes.

The ACLU also worked to promote free speech in public schools. In 1921, the ACLU was banned from speaking in New York public schools. The ACLU also supported cases against racial discrimination, working with the NAACP. The ACLU defended free speech for everyone, no matter their views. For example, they defended the Ku Klux Klan's right to hold meetings in 1923, even though the ACLU opposed the KKK's views. In the 1920s, the ACLU did not focus on issues like art censorship, government searches, or privacy.

The Communist Party USA was often targeted by the government. This made them a main client of the ACLU. However, communists sometimes acted aggressively. This led to frequent disagreements between them and the ACLU. This difficult relationship lasted for many years.

Helping Public Schools

By 1925, the ACLU had not seen much success. But that changed when they convinced John T. Scopes to break Tennessee's law against teaching evolution. This led to the famous The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes. Clarence Darrow, an ACLU committee member, led Scopes' legal team. The ACLU lost the case, and Scopes was fined. However, the Tennessee Supreme Court later overturned the conviction on a technicality.

The Scopes trial was a huge success for the ACLU in terms of public attention. The ACLU became well-known across America. The ACLU continued to fight for the separation of church and state in schools for many decades.

A major free speech victory in the 1920s involved Baldwin himself. He was arrested for trying to speak at a workers' rally in New Jersey. In 1928, an appeals court ruled that free speech rights must be understood broadly. This was a big moment for the civil rights movement. It showed that courts were starting to favor civil rights.

The most important ACLU case of the 1920s was Gitlow v. New York. In this case, Benjamin Gitlow was arrested for sharing writings that promoted communism. The Supreme Court did not overturn Gitlow's conviction. However, it agreed with the ACLU that the First Amendment's freedom of speech also applied to state laws, not just federal ones.

The Oregon Compulsory Education Act of 1926 required most children to attend public school. The ACLU joined with the Knights of Columbus to challenge this law. The case became Pierce v. Society of Sisters. The Supreme Court ruled that the law was unconstitutional. They said that parents, not the state, have the right to decide how their children are educated. This decision protected the religious freedom of parents to send their children to religious schools.

Expanding Free Speech Rights

Leaders of the ACLU disagreed on the best ways to promote civil liberties. Some thought new laws were the best long-term solution. Others believed that Supreme Court decisions were the best way to guarantee rights. A series of Supreme Court decisions in the 1920s showed a change in the country. People were becoming more willing to protect freedom of speech and assembly through court rulings.

Starting in 1926, the ACLU began to work on censorship of art and books. That year, H. L. Mencken purposely broke a Boston law by sharing copies of his banned magazine, American Mercury. The ACLU defended him and won. The ACLU also won other cases, including United States v. One Book Called Ulysses in 1933. This case overturned a ban on the book Ulysses by James Joyce.

The ACLU eventually expanded its free speech efforts beyond labor and political speech. They started working on movies, newspapers, radio, and books. By the early 1930s, censorship in the United States was decreasing.

Two big victories in the 1930s strengthened the ACLU's fight for free speech. In Stromberg v. California (1931), the Supreme Court sided with the ACLU. They confirmed a communist party member's right to salute a communist flag. This was the first time the Supreme Court used the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment to make states follow the First Amendment. In Near v. Minnesota (1931), the Supreme Court ruled that states cannot stop a newspaper from publishing just because it has a reputation for being scandalous.

The 1930s: A New Era

The late 1930s brought a new time of tolerance in the United States. National leaders praised the Bill of Rights. They saw it as key to democracy, especially in protecting minority groups. The 1939 Supreme Court decision in Hague v. Committee for Industrial Organization confirmed the right of communists to promote their cause. Even conservative groups began to support civil liberties. By 1940, the ACLU had achieved many of its early goals. Many of its policies had become law.

In 1929, Baldwin saw that there was a lot of support for civil liberties in the US. He suggested that the ACLU expand its work. This included focusing on police brutality, Native American rights, African American rights, art censorship, and international civil liberties. The board approved his plan, except for the international efforts.

The ACLU helped pass the 1932 Norris–La Guardia Act. This federal law stopped employers from preventing workers from joining unions. It also ended the practice of using court orders to stop strikes and labor organizing. The ACLU also helped reduce police misconduct. They published a report called Lawlessness in Law Enforcement in 1931. In 1934, the ACLU worked for the Indian Reorganization Act. This law gave some power back to Native American tribes. It also set penalties for kidnapping Native American children.

The ACLU focused on educating people about institutional racism in the South. They published Black Justice in 1931. This report showed how African Americans faced discrimination in voting, segregation, and the justice system. The ACLU also helped create the important Margold Report. This report outlined a plan to fight for civil rights for Black people. The ACLU planned to show that "separate but equal" policies were illegal because Black people were never truly treated equally.

By 1932, the ACLU had achieved great success. The Supreme Court had accepted the ACLU's ideas about free speech. The public was also becoming more supportive of civil rights. But the Great Depression brought new challenges to civil liberties. In 1930, there was a big increase in free speech lawsuits and lynchings. All meetings of unemployed people were banned in Philadelphia. The Franklin D. Roosevelt administration proposed the New Deal to fight the depression. ACLU leaders had mixed feelings about the New Deal. Many felt it meant more government control over personal lives.

The Supreme Court's major shift in policy began with De Jonge v. Oregon (1937). In this case, a communist labor organizer was arrested for calling a meeting to discuss unions. The ACLU won a big victory when the Supreme Court ruled that "peaceable assembly for lawful discussion cannot be made a crime." This case started an era where new Supreme Court justices protected civil liberties.

Senator Robert F. Wagner proposed the National Labor Relations Act in 1935. This law gave workers the power to form unions. The ACLU had fought for workers' rights for 15 years. But they initially opposed this act. Some ACLU leaders worried about the increased power it gave to the government. The new National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) created a problem for the ACLU. In 1937, it ordered Henry Ford to stop sharing anti-union writings. Some ACLU leaders supported this action, siding with labor. But others supported Ford's right to free speech. This disagreement showed a deeper split within the ACLU.

The ACLU's support of the NLRB was important. It was the first time the ACLU accepted that a government agency could protect civil liberties. Before 1937, the ACLU believed that citizens and private groups were best at upholding civil rights.

Some groups within the ACLU suggested new directions. In the late 1930s, some local offices wanted to focus on providing legal aid in low-income areas. The ACLU directors rejected this idea. Other members wanted the ACLU to become more political. They wanted to be more willing to compromise their ideals to make deals with politicians. The ACLU leadership also rejected this.

The ACLU has often defended people with unpopular views. This has led to many important court cases and new civil liberties. One such group was the Jehovah's Witnesses. They were involved in many Supreme Court cases. The most important cases involved laws requiring flag salutes. Jehovah's Witnesses believed that saluting a flag went against their religious beliefs. In 1938, two children were convicted for not saluting the flag. The ACLU supported their appeal, but the Supreme Court upheld the conviction in 1940. However, three years later, in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, the Supreme Court changed its mind.

Communism and Totalitarianism

The rise of totalitarian governments in Germany, Russia, and other countries affected civil liberties in the US. People became more against communism. Civil liberties were limited.

The ACLU leaders disagreed on whether to defend pro-Nazi speech in the United States. Some ACLU members who supported workers were against Nazism and fascism. They objected when the ACLU defended Nazis. However, the ACLU defended many pro-Nazi groups. They defended their rights to free speech and free association. In the late 1930s, the ACLU worked with the Popular Front. This was a group of liberal organizations linked to the United States Communist Party. The ACLU benefited because these groups could fight local civil rights battles more effectively. The connection with the Communist Party led to accusations that the ACLU was a "Communist front."

The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) was formed in 1938. It aimed to find disloyalty and treason in the United States. The ACLU was mentioned several times in HUAC hearings. This led to the HUAC mentioning the ACLU in its 1939 report. This badly hurt the ACLU's reputation. Even though the report said it could not "definitely state whether or not" the ACLU was a Communist organization. While the ACLU defended its image, it also protected witnesses harassed by the HUAC. The ACLU was one of the few groups to protest against the Smith Act in 1940. This law would later be used to imprison many people who supported Communism. The ACLU defended many people prosecuted under the Smith Act.

ACLU leaders were split on whether to remove communists from their leadership. Some, like Norman Thomas, wanted to distance the ACLU from communism. Others, like Harry F. Ward, believed there should be no political test for ACLU leadership. A difficult struggle happened in 1939. The anti-communists won in February 1940. The board voted to ban anyone who supported totalitarianism from ACLU leadership. Ward resigned, and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn was voted off the board. Many people felt this 1940 decision betrayed the ACLU's basic principles. The decision was reversed in 1968. Flynn was put back on the ACLU board after her death in 1970.

World War II and Civil Liberties

During World War II, the ACLU had a mixed record on civil liberties. There were fewer lawsuits for disloyalty than in World War I. This was because most people supported the war effort after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

President Roosevelt pressured the Attorney General to take legal action against his critics. The Attorney General charged thirty people with violating the Smith Act. These people were tried together in Washington, D.C., in 1944. Roger N. Baldwin and others wanted the ACLU to speak out against the trial. But the board of directors disagreed.

The ACLU also had a mixed record on fighting wartime limits on the press. They were silent when the U.S. Post Office stopped mailing privileges for Father Charles E. Coughlin's magazine. But they helped publishers of other newspapers when their mailing rights were taken away. The ACLU could not stop harassment of the Black press by the FBI. Some people said the ACLU was "born in World War I and died in World War II" because of its failures.

After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt ordered the creation of military "exclusion zones." This led to the forced relocation of all West Coast Japanese Americans to inland camps. Most of these people were American citizens. Opinions within the ACLU were divided. The board decided not to challenge the forced removal of Japanese American citizens. In June, they told West Coast offices not to support cases arguing the government had no constitutional right to do this.

ACLU offices on the West Coast were more involved in fighting anti-Japanese prejudice. They were closer to the issue and already working on cases. The Seattle office helped with Gordon Hirabayashi's lawsuit. The Los Angeles office continued to represent Ernest Kinzo Wakayama. The San Francisco office, led by Ernest Besig, refused to stop supporting Fred Korematsu. His case had started before the June order.

The West Coast offices wanted a test case to take to court. But it was hard to find a Japanese American willing to break the internment orders. Only 12 of the 120,000 Japanese Americans affected disobeyed. Korematsu, Hirabayashi, and two others were the only ones whose cases reached the Supreme Court. Hirabayashi v. United States came before the Court in 1943. The justices upheld the government's right to exclude Japanese Americans. The ACLU donated $1,000 to the case and submitted a legal argument. Besig, unhappy with the defense, filed another argument directly addressing Hirabayashi's constitutional rights.

Korematsu v. United States was the most controversial of these cases. Besig and Collins refused to give in to pressure from the national ACLU office. They insisted on challenging the government's right to remove citizens from their homes. The ACLU board threatened to remove the San Francisco office's national affiliation. The case was decided in 1944. The Court again upheld the government's right to relocate Japanese Americans. However, Korematsu's, Hirabayashi's, and Yasui's convictions were later overturned in the 1980s.

The national ACLU office was even less willing to defend anti-war protesters. In 1942, most of the board passed a rule. It said the ACLU would not defend anyone who interfered with the United States' war effort. This included thousands of Japanese Americans who gave up their US citizenship during the war. Many of these people later regretted their decision. Ernest Besig and Wayne Collins filed a lawsuit on their behalf. They argued that the renunciations were made under pressure. The national organization stopped local offices from representing these people. This forced Collins to work on the case alone.

The Cold War Era

Anti-Communist feelings were strong in the United States during the Cold War, starting in 1946. Government investigations caused many people with Communist ties to lose jobs or be jailed. The ACLU was divided on whether to defend alleged Communists in the late 1940s. Some leaders were against communism and felt the ACLU should not defend them. Others felt that communists deserved free speech protections. This uncertainty lasted until 1954, when the civil liberties group won. This led to most anti-Communist leaders resigning.

In 1947, President Truman created the Federal Loyalty Program. This program allowed the Attorney General to make a list of groups considered dangerous. Groups on the list were not told they were being considered. They also could not argue against it. The government did not share any facts for including them on the list. The ACLU leaders were divided on whether to challenge this program. But some challenges were successful.

Also in 1947, the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) called ten Hollywood directors and writers, the Hollywood Ten, to testify. They refused to identify communists. All were jailed for refusing to cooperate with Congress. The ACLU supported some artists' appeals, but they lost. Hollywood then created a blacklist. This stopped anyone with left-leaning ties from working. The ACLU supported legal challenges to the blacklist, but these failed. The ACLU was more successful with an education effort. Their 1952 report, The Judges and the Judged, described the unfair actions behind the blacklist. This report helped turn public opinion against McCarthyism.

The federal government targeted the US Communist Party in 1948. They charged its top twelve leaders in the Foley Square trial. The case was about whether simply being a member of a totalitarian political party was enough to say members wanted to overthrow the US government. The ACLU chose not to represent any of the defendants. They were all found guilty. Later, the ACLU supported the party leaders during their appeal. The Supreme Court upheld the convictions in Dennis v. United States. The ACLU publicly condemned this decision and vowed to fight it.

The Dennis decision led to the prosecution of hundreds of other Communist party members. The ACLU supported many communists during their appeals. However, most convictions were upheld. The two California offices felt the national ACLU was not supporting civil liberties strongly enough. They started more Cold War cases than the national office.

The ACLU challenged many loyalty oath requirements across the country. But courts upheld most of these laws. Until 1957, the Supreme Court upheld almost every law that limited the liberties of communists. Even though the ACLU reduced its defense of communists during the Cold War, it was still heavily criticized. Critics included the American Legion, Senator Joseph McCarthy, the HUAC, and the FBI. Several ACLU leaders were sympathetic to the FBI. Because of this, the ACLU rarely investigated complaints about FBI abuse of power during the Cold War.

In 1950, the ACLU board asked executive director Baldwin to resign. They felt he lacked the skills to lead the growing organization. Baldwin objected, but the board voted to remove him. Patrick Murphy Malin replaced him. Under Malin, membership tripled to 30,000 by 1955. This started 24 years of continuous growth. Malin also oversaw the expansion of local ACLU offices.

The ACLU, once controlled by a few New Yorkers, became more democratic in the 1950s. In 1951, the ACLU changed its rules. This allowed local offices to vote directly on ACLU policy decisions. A conference, open to all members, was also started that year. In later years, this conference became a place for members to suggest new directions for the ACLU, including rights for the poor.

The McCarthy Era

In the early 1950s, the ACLU continued to take a middle path during the Cold War. When singer Paul Robeson was denied a passport in 1950, the ACLU chose not to defend him. He was not accused of any illegal acts. The ACLU later changed its mind. They supported William Worthy and Rockwell Kent in their passport cases. These cases led to legal victories in the late 1950s.

During the communist witch-hunts, many people used their Fifth Amendment right to avoid sharing information about their political beliefs. Government agencies and private groups then assumed these people were communists. They fired anyone who used the Fifth Amendment. The national ACLU was divided on whether to defend employees fired for this reason. But the New York office successfully helped teacher Harry Slochower in his Supreme Court case. This case reversed his firing.

The Fifth Amendment issue led to a big change in 1954. This change finally ended the ACLU's uncertainty. It removed the anti-communists from ACLU leadership. In 1953, the anti-communists proposed rules that assumed guilt for people who used the Fifth Amendment. These rules were the first to be voted on by local offices. The local offices outvoted the national headquarters and rejected the anti-communist rules.

The anti-communists refused to accept the results. They brought the issue up again at the 1954 conference. ACLU member Frank Porter Graham fought back with a counter-proposal. It stated that the ACLU "stand[s] 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 fight, but they were outnumbered by the local offices. The anti-communists finally gave up and left the board in late 1954 and 1955. This ended eight years of uncertainty within the ACLU leadership. After this, the ACLU became more determined against Cold War anti-communist laws. Many people believe the period from 1940 to 1954 was a time when the ACLU abandoned its main principles.

McCarthyism declined in late 1954. This was after journalist Edward R. Murrow and others publicly criticized McCarthy. The debates over the Bill of Rights during the Cold War started a new era for American Civil liberties. In 1954, in Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court unanimously ended racial segregation in schools. After that, many civil rights victories followed.

The Supreme Court gave the ACLU two key wins in 1957. These were in Watkins v. United States and Yates v. United States. Both cases weakened the Smith Act. This marked the beginning of the end for questions about Communist party membership. In 1965, the Supreme Court made decisions, including Lamont v. Postmaster General, that upheld Fifth Amendment protections. This ended restrictions on political activity.

The 1960s: A Time of Change

The decade from 1954 to 1964 was very successful for the ACLU. Membership grew from 30,000 to 80,000. By 1965, it had offices in seventeen states. In 1964, the Supreme Court made rulings on eight cases involving the ACLU. The ACLU won seven of them. The ACLU helped with Supreme Court decisions that reduced censorship of art and books. They also protected freedom of association, stopped racial segregation, removed religion from public schools, and provided fair legal processes for criminal suspects. The ACLU's success came from changing public attitudes. Americans were more educated, tolerant, and open to different behaviors.

Legal battles about the separation of church and state started with laws from 1938. These laws required religious teaching in schools or provided state money for religious schools. The Catholic church strongly supported such laws. The main opponents were the ACLU, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the American Jewish Congress. The ACLU led the challenge in the 1947 Everson v. Board of Education case. In this case, Justice Hugo Black wrote, "The First Amendment has erected a wall between church and state.... That wall must be kept high and impregnable." The ACLU and others convinced the Court to declare such activities unconstitutional. Historian Samuel Walker says the ACLU's "greatest impact on American life" was its role in getting the Supreme Court to make so many public issues constitutional matters.

In 1948, the ACLU won the McCollum v. Board of Education case. This case challenged public school religious classes taught by clergy paid for by private money. The ACLU also won cases challenging schools in New Mexico that were taught by clergy and had religious symbols in classrooms. In the 1960s, the ACLU focused on promoting religion in classrooms. In 1960, 42 percent of American schools included Bible reading. In 1962, the ACLU said it was against in-school prayers, religious holiday observations, and Bible reading. The Supreme Court agreed with the ACLU. They banned New York's in-school prayers in the 1962 Engel v. Vitale decision. Religious groups across the country protested these decisions. They proposed a School Prayer Amendment to make in-school prayer legal. The ACLU helped lobby against the amendment. The 1966 congressional vote failed to get enough support.

However, not all cases were wins. The ACLU lost cases in 1949 and 1961. These cases challenged state laws requiring businesses to close on Sunday, the Christian Sabbath. The Supreme Court has never overturned such laws. But some states later removed many of these laws due to pressure from businesses.

Cities across America often banned movies they thought were "harmful" or "immoral." This censorship was supported by the 1915 Mutual v. Ohio Supreme Court decision. This decision said movies were just business and not protected by the First Amendment. The film The Miracle was banned in New York in 1951. But the ACLU supported the film's distributor and won a major victory in the 1952 decision Joseph Burstyn, Inc. v. Wilson. Further legal actions by the ACLU successfully defended films like M and La Ronde. This eventually led to the end of movie censorship. Hollywood continued to censor itself with its own Production Code. But in 1956, the ACLU called for Hollywood to get rid of the Code.

Fighting Racial Discrimination

Several civil liberties groups worked together for progress in the civil rights movement. These included the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the ACLU, and the American Jewish Congress. The NAACP mostly handled Supreme Court cases. The ACLU focused on police misconduct and supported the NAACP with legal arguments. In 1954, the ACLU filed a legal argument in Brown v. Board of Education. This case led to the ban on racial segregation in US public schools. Southern states then tried to target the NAACP. They tried to force it to share its membership lists. The ACLU's fight against racism was not just about segregation. In 1964, the ACLU helped people, mostly lower-income city residents, in Reynolds v. Sims. This case required states to create voting districts based on the "one person, one vote" principle.

Addressing Police Misconduct

The ACLU regularly dealt with issues of police misconduct. This started with the 1932 case Powell v. Alabama (right to an attorney). It continued with Betts v. Brady (right to an attorney) in 1942, and Rochin v. California (involuntary stomach pumping) in 1951. In the late 1940s, several local ACLU offices created committees to address policing issues. During the 1950s and 1960s, the ACLU greatly advanced legal protections against police misconduct. In 1958, the Philadelphia office helped create the nation's first civilian police review board in Philadelphia. In 1959, the Illinois office published the first report in the nation, Secret Detention by the Chicago Police. This report documented unlawful detention by police.

Some of the ACLU's biggest successes came in the 1960s. The ACLU won a series of cases that limited the power of police to gather evidence. In Mapp v. Ohio (1961), the Supreme Court required states to get a warrant before searching a person's home. The Gideon v. Wainwright decision in 1963 provided legal representation to poor people. In 1964, the ACLU convinced the Court, in Escobedo v. Illinois, to allow suspects to have an attorney present during questioning. And in 1966, Miranda v. Arizona required police to tell suspects their constitutional rights. This was later extended to young people in the 1967 ruling in re Gault. Many law enforcement officials criticized the ACLU for expanding the rights of suspects. However, police officers also used the ACLU's services. For example, the ACLU represented New York City policemen in their lawsuit. They objected to searches of their workplace lockers. In the late 1960s, civilian review boards in New York City and Philadelphia were ended, despite the ACLU's objections.

The Civil Liberties Revolution

The 1960s was a time of great change in the United States. Public interest in civil liberties grew very quickly. Civil liberties actions in the 1960s were often led by young people. They used tactics like sit ins and marches. Protests were often peaceful, but sometimes used more forceful methods. The ACLU played a key role in all major civil liberties debates of the 1960s. This included new areas like gay rights, prisoner's rights, rights of the poor, and the death penalty. ACLU membership grew from 52,000 at the start of the decade to 104,000 in 1970. In 1960, there were offices in seven states. By 1974, there were offices in 46 states.

During the 1960s, the ACLU changed its methods. It shifted from mostly handling legal appeals to directly representing people when they were first arrested. At the same time, the ACLU became more "emotionally engaged." In 1963, the ACLU published an important document called How Americans Protest. This document came from frustration with slow progress in fighting racism. It supported strong, even militant, protest methods.

After four African-American college students staged a sit-in in a segregated North Carolina department store, the sit-in movement grew across the United States. From 1960–61, the ACLU defended Black students arrested for protesting in North Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana. The ACLU also provided legal help for the Freedom Rides in 1961. They helped with the integration of the University of Mississippi. They also helped with the Birmingham campaign in 1963 and the 1964 Freedom Summer. The NAACP managed most sit-in cases that went to the Supreme Court, winning almost every time. But the ACLU and other volunteer lawyers provided legal help to hundreds of protesters, both white and Black, who were arrested in the South. The ACLU joined with other civil liberties groups to form the Lawyers Constitutional Defense Committee (LCDC). This committee provided legal representation to many protesters. The ACLU provided most of the funding for the LCDC.

In 1964, the ACLU opened a major office in Atlanta, Georgia. This office focused on Southern issues. Much of the ACLU's progress in the South was due to Charles Morgan Jr., the leader of the Atlanta office. Morgan helped desegregate juries (Whitus v. Georgia). He also helped desegregate prisons (Lee v. Washington). And he helped reform election laws. In 1966, the Southern office successfully represented African-American congressman Julian Bond in Bond v. Floyd. This was after the Georgia House of Representatives refused to let Bond join. Another well-known case defended by Morgan was that of Army doctor Howard Levy. Levy was convicted of refusing to train Green Berets.

In 1969, the ACLU won a big victory for free speech. They defended Dick Gregory after he was arrested for peacefully protesting against the mayor of Chicago. The court ruled in Gregory v. Chicago that a speaker cannot be arrested for disturbing the peace if the hostility comes from the audience. This would be like a "heckler's veto."

The Vietnam War and Civil Liberties

The ACLU was involved in several legal aspects of the Vietnam War. This included defending people who refused to join the military. They also challenged whether the war was constitutional. They were involved in the possible removal of Richard Nixon. And they fought against using national security to stop newspapers from publishing.

David J. Miller was the first person charged for burning his draft card. The New York ACLU office appealed his 1965 conviction. But the Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal. Two years later, the Massachusetts office took David O'Brien's card-burning case to the Supreme Court. They argued that burning the card was a form of symbolic speech. But the Supreme Court upheld the conviction in United States v. O'Brien (1968). Thirteen-year-old Mary Tinker wore a black armband to school in 1965 to protest the war. She was suspended. The ACLU appealed her case to the Supreme Court and won in Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District. This important case established that the government cannot create "enclaves" like schools or prisons where all rights are lost.

Free speech rights not related to the war also advanced during the Vietnam War era. In 1969, the ACLU defended a Ku Klux Klan member. This person supported long-term violence against the government. The Supreme Court agreed with the ACLU's argument in the important decision Brandenburg v. Ohio. This ruling said that only speech that called for immediate violence could be outlawed.

A major crisis hit the ACLU in 1968. A debate started about whether to defend Benjamin Spock and the Boston Five. They faced federal charges for encouraging people to avoid the draft. The ACLU board was deeply split. Half the board was against the war. They felt the ACLU should help the Boston Five. The other half believed that civil liberties were not at risk. They thought the ACLU would be taking a political side. Behind this debate was the ACLU's long-standing tradition of being politically neutral. They provided legal advice regardless of the defendants' political views. The board finally agreed to a compromise. This allowed the ACLU to defend the anti-war activists without supporting their political views. Some critics say the ACLU became a political organization after the Spock case. After the Kent State shootings in 1970, ACLU leaders took another step towards politics. They passed a resolution condemning the Vietnam War. This resolution was based on legal arguments, including civil liberties violations.

Also in 1968, the ACLU held a meeting to discuss its two roles. One was providing "direct" legal support (defending accused people in their first trial). The other was appellate support (providing legal arguments during appeals to set widespread legal rules). Historically, the ACLU was known for its appeal work. This led to important Supreme Court decisions. But by 1968, 90% of the ACLU's legal work involved direct representation. The meeting concluded that both roles were important for the ACLU.

The Watergate Era

The ACLU supported The New York Times in its 1971 lawsuit against the government. The newspaper wanted permission to publish the Pentagon Papers. The court sided with the Times and the ACLU in the New York Times Co. v. United States ruling. This ruling said the government could not stop the publication of classified information before it was printed. The government had to wait until after it was published to take action.

On September 30, 1973, the ACLU became the first national organization to publicly call for the removal of President Richard Nixon. They listed six civil liberties violations as reasons. These included violations of political dissent rights, taking over Congress's war powers, creating a personal secret police, trying to interfere in a trial, and misusing government agencies. One month later, after the House of Representatives started an impeachment inquiry, the ACLU released a handbook. It detailed "17 things citizens could do to bring about the impeachment of President Nixon." This resolution, along with their earlier one against the Vietnam War, convinced many critics that the ACLU had become a liberal political organization.

New Civil Liberties and "Enclaves"

The decade from 1965 to 1975 saw an expansion of civil liberties. The ACLU responded by appointing Aryeh Neier as executive director in 1970. Neier started an ambitious plan to expand the ACLU. He created the ACLU Foundation to raise money. He also created several new programs to focus the ACLU's legal efforts. By 1974, ACLU membership had reached 275,000.

During these years, the ACLU worked to expand legal rights in three ways. First, new rights for people within government-controlled "enclaves." Second, new rights for members of what it called "victim groups." Third, privacy rights for all citizens. At the same time, the organization grew a lot. The ACLU helped develop the area of constitutional law that deals with "enclaves." These are groups of people who live under government control. Enclaves include mental hospital patients, military members, prisoners, and students (while at school). The term "enclave" came from Supreme Court justice Abe Fortas. He used the phrase "schools may not be enclaves of totalitarianism" in the Tinker v. Des Moines decision.

The ACLU started the legal field of student rights with the Tinker v. Des Moines case. They expanded it with cases like Goss v. Lopez. This case required schools to give students a chance to appeal suspensions.

As early as 1945, the ACLU had taken a stand to protect the rights of the mentally ill. In the 1960s, the ACLU opposed forcing people into mental hospitals. They only supported it if it could be shown that the person was a danger to themselves or others. The ACLU has also defended the rights of mentally ill people who are not dangerous but cause problems.

Before 1960, prisoners had almost no way to use the court system. Courts believed prisoners had no civil rights. That changed in the late 1950s. The ACLU began representing prisoners who faced police brutality or were denied religious reading material. In 1968, the ACLU successfully sued to end segregation in the Alabama prison system. In 1969, the New York office started a project to represent prisoners in New York prisons. Private attorney Phil Hirschkop found terrible conditions in Virginia prisons. He won an important victory in Landman v. Royster (1971). This case stopped Virginia from treating prisoners in inhumane ways. In 1972, the ACLU combined several prison rights efforts across the nation. They created the National Prison Project. The ACLU's work led to important cases like Ruiz v. Estelle. This case required reforms in the Texas prison system. In 1996, the US Congress passed the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA). This law put prisoners' rights into writing.

Helping "Victim Groups"

During the 1960s and 1970s, the ACLU expanded its work to include what it called "victim groups." These included women, the poor, and homosexuals. Following requests from female members, the ACLU supported the Equal Rights Amendment in 1970. They created the Women's Rights Project in 1971. This project became very important in the legal field. It handled more than twice as many cases as the National Organization for Women. This included important cases like Reed v. Reed and Frontiero v. Richardson.

ACLU leader Harriet Pilpel brought up the issue of homosexual rights in 1964. Two years later, the ACLU officially supported gay rights. In 1972, ACLU lawyers in Oregon filed the first federal civil rights case. It claimed unconstitutional discrimination against a gay or lesbian public school teacher. In 1973, the ACLU created what became known as the Gay and Lesbian Rights Project. This project fought discrimination against homosexuals. This support continued into the 2000s.

The rights of the poor were another area the ACLU expanded into. In 1966 and 1968, activists within the ACLU encouraged the organization to adopt a policy. This policy would change the welfare system and guarantee a basic income for low-income families. But the ACLU board did not approve these ideas. However, the ACLU played a key role in the 1968 King v. Smith decision. In this case, the Supreme Court ruled that a state could not deny welfare benefits for children just because the mother lived with a boyfriend.

Protecting Privacy

The ACLU fought several battles to ensure that government records about individuals were kept private. They also wanted to give individuals the right to review their own records. The ACLU supported several laws. These included the 1970 Fair Credit Reporting Act. This law required credit agencies to share credit information with individuals. The 1973 Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act gave students the right to access their records. And the 1974 Privacy Act stopped the federal government from sharing personal information without good reason.

Accusations of Bias

In the early 1970s, conservatives and libertarians began to criticize the ACLU. They said it was too political and too liberal. Legal expert Joseph W. Bishop wrote that the ACLU started becoming partisan when it defended Spock's anti-war protests. Critics also blamed the ACLU for encouraging the Supreme Court to become too active in making laws. The ACLU became an issue in the 1988 presidential campaign. Republican candidate George H. W. Bush accused Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis (an ACLU member) of being a "card carrying member of the ACLU."

The Skokie Case

In 1977, the National Socialist Party of America, led by Frank Collin, asked the town of Skokie, Illinois, for a permit. They wanted to hold a demonstration in the town park. Skokie had a majority Jewish population at the time. Many of them were survivors of Nazi concentration camps. Skokie refused to give the NSPA a permit. They passed laws against hate speech and military uniforms. They also required an insurance bond. The ACLU helped Collin and appealed to federal court. They eventually won in NSPA v. Village of Skokie.

The Skokie case was widely reported across America. Jewish groups strongly objected to the demonstration. This led many ACLU members to cancel their memberships. The Illinois ACLU office lost about 25% of its members and nearly one-third of its budget. The financial stress led to layoffs at local offices. After the membership crisis calmed down, the ACLU sent out a fundraising appeal. It explained why they took the Skokie case. They raised over $500,000.

The Reagan Era

The start of Ronald Reagan's presidency in 1981 brought eight years of conservative leadership in the US government. Under Reagan, the government pushed a conservative social agenda.

In 1981, Arkansas passed a creationism law. It 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 decision.

During the 1988 presidential election, Vice President George H. W. Bush pointed out that his opponent, Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, had called himself a "card-carrying member of the ACLU." Bush used this to say that Dukakis was "a strong, passionate liberal" and "out of the mainstream." The ACLU later used this phrase in an advertising campaign.

Free Speech in Modern Times

In 2000, Marvin Johnson, a lawyer for the ACLU, said that proposed anti-spam laws limited free speech. He argued that forcing spam to be labeled was "compelled speech." He also said, "It's relatively simple to click and delete." The ACLU joined with other groups in criticizing a bill in the House of Representatives. As early as 1997, the ACLU had strongly opposed almost all spam laws. However, they have supported "opt-out" rules in some cases. The ACLU opposed the 2003 CAN-SPAM act. They suggested it could have a chilling effect on speech online. They have been criticized for this position.

In 2006, the ACLU challenged a Missouri law. This law banned protesting outside veterans' funerals. The ACLU filed the lawsuit to support the Westboro Baptist Church and Shirley Phelps-Roper. They were threatened with arrest. The ACLU said the law violated Shirley Phelps-Roper's rights to religious liberty and free speech. The ACLU won the lawsuit.

In 2009, the ACLU filed a legal argument in Citizens United v. FEC. They argued that a 2002 campaign finance law violated the First Amendment right to free speech. This stance caused a lot of disagreement within the ACLU. In 2012, the ACLU confirmed its support for the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling. At the same time, they supported more public funding for election campaigns. They also said they would strongly oppose any future constitutional amendment that limited free speech.

In 2012, the ACLU sued on behalf of the Ku Klux Klan of Georgia. They claimed the KKK was unfairly rejected from the state's "Adopt-a-Highway" program. The ACLU won the lawsuit.

Focus on Identity and Politics

Some people have claimed the ACLU is reducing its support for unpopular free speech. They say the ACLU is less likely to defend speech by conservatives. Instead, critics argue that the organization has become a progressive group focused on identity politics.

One reason for these claims was a statement by the ACLU president in 2017. After a counter-protester died during the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Virginia, the president said the ACLU would no longer support cases where activists wanted to carry guns at protests. Another reason was an internal ACLU memo from June 2018. This memo discussed factors for deciding whether to take a case. It listed "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 experts saw this as a step back from the ACLU's strong support of First Amendment rights. This was especially true because the ACLU had previously supported legal cases for groups like the KKK and Nazis. The memo's authors said it was not a change in official ACLU policy. It was meant as a guide for local offices to decide which cases to take.

In 2021, the ACLU responded to these criticisms. They denied reducing support for unpopular First Amendment causes. They listed 27 cases from 2017 to 2021 where they supported a party with unpopular views. These cases included one that challenged college rules on hate speech. Another defended a Catholic school's right to discriminate in hiring. And one defended anti-Semitic protesters who marched outside a synagogue.

In 2024, the National Labor Relations Board sued the ACLU. This was for an unfair labor practice case. The ACLU had fired an Asian attorney for criticizing her Black bosses. The ACLU said the employee's words were racially coded. They said it "caused serious harm to Black members of the A.C.L.U. community." According to Jeremy W. Peters of The New York Times, critics saw this firing as a sign of how far the group has moved from its main mission of defending free speech. They believe it has instead aligned with progressive politics focused on identity.

LGBTQ+ Issues

In 2000, the ACLU lost the Boy Scouts of America v. Dale case. This case asked the Supreme Court to make the Boy Scouts of America change its rule. The rule stopped homosexuals from becoming Boy Scout leaders.

In March 2004, the ACLU, along with other groups, sued the state of California. They did this on behalf of six same-sex couples who were denied marriage licenses. This case eventually led to same-sex marriage being available in California in 2008. However, Proposition 8 was passed later that year, ending same-sex marriage. The ACLU and its partners then challenged Proposition 8 and won.

In 2011, the ACLU started its Don't Filter Me project. This project fights against LGBT-related Internet censorship in public schools in the United States.

In 2013, the ACLU reached a settlement with the federal government in Collins v. United States. This settlement provided full separation pay to service members who were discharged under "don't ask, don't tell" since November 10, 2004. These service members had previously only received half pay.

Anti-Terrorism Issues

After the September 11 attacks, the federal government put in place many new measures to fight terrorism. This included passing the Patriot Act. The ACLU challenged many of these measures. They claimed these measures violated rights related to due process, privacy, illegal searches, and cruel and unusual punishment. An ACLU policy statement says:

Our way forward lies in decisively turning our backs on the policies and practices that violate our greatest strength: our Constitution and the commitment it embodies to the rule of law. Liberty and security do not compete in a zero-sum game; our freedoms are the very foundation of our strength and security. The ACLU's National Security Project advocates for national security policies that are consistent with the Constitution, the rule of law, and fundamental human rights. The Project litigates cases relating to detention, torture, discrimination, surveillance, censorship, and secrecy.

During the debate about balancing civil liberties and security, ACLU membership grew by 20%. This brought the total to 330,000 members. Growth continued, and by August 2008, ACLU membership was over 500,000. It stayed at that level through 2011.

The ACLU has strongly opposed the Patriot Act of 2001 and the PATRIOT 2 Act of 2003. These laws were made in response to the threat of domestic terrorism. The ACLU withdrew from a charity drive because it required employees to be checked against a federal anti-terrorism watch list. The ACLU said 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. They did this on behalf of Nicholas Merrill, an Internet service provider owner. Under the Patriot Act, the government had issued secret orders to Merrill. These orders forced him to provide private Internet access information from some customers. The government also told Merrill he could not talk about it with anyone.

In 2006, the ACLU filed a lawsuit, ACLU v. NSA, in a federal court in Michigan. This lawsuit challenged government spying in the NSA warrantless surveillance controversy. In August 2006, the court ruled that the warrantless wiretapping program was unconstitutional. It ordered it to stop immediately. However, the order was paused for an appeal. The Bush administration did stop the program while the appeal was heard. In February 2008, the US Supreme Court rejected an appeal from the ACLU. The ACLU wanted to continue a lawsuit against the program that started after the September 11 attacks.

The ACLU and other groups also filed separate lawsuits against phone companies. The ACLU filed a lawsuit in Illinois (Terkel v. AT&T). This was dismissed due to state secrets. They filed two others in California asking to stop AT&T and Verizon. In August 2006, the lawsuits against the phone companies were moved 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. This is a civil lawsuit 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 in Afghanistan. This changed their long-held position against publicizing such information. This list was prompted by a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed in September 2009 by the ACLU. Their lawyers had also asked for detailed information about conditions and rules.

In August 2020, Anthony D. Romero wrote an opinion article for USA Today. In it, the ACLU called for the dismantling of the United States Department of Homeland Security. This was because of the deployment of federal forces in July 2020 during the George Floyd protests. In August 2020, the ACLU filed a lawsuit on behalf of seven protesters and three veterans. This was after the protests in Portland, Oregon. The lawsuit accused the Trump Administration of using too much force and making unlawful arrests with federal officers.

The Trump Administration and the ACLU

After Donald Trump was elected president in November 2016, the ACLU responded on Twitter. They said: "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. This order indefinitely banned Syrian refugees from entering the United States. It also stopped all refugee admissions for 120 days. And it blocked citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States for 90 days. These countries were Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. The ACLU responded by filing a lawsuit against the ban. They did this on behalf of Hameed Khalid Darweesh and Haider Sameer Abdulkhaleq Alshawi. These individuals had been detained at JFK International Airport. On January 28, 2017, District Court Judge Ann Donnelly temporarily stopped the immigration order. She said it was hard to see any harm from letting the newly arrived immigrants stay in the country.

In response to Trump's order, the ACLU raised over $24 million in two days. This came from more than 350,000 individual online donations. This was six times what the ACLU normally receives in online donations in a year. Celebrities like Chris Sacca, Rosie O'Donnell, Judd Apatow, Sia, John Legend, and Adele donated. The number of ACLU members doubled from the election to the end of January, reaching 1 million.

Donations and contributions increased greatly. They went from $106.6 million in 2016 to $274.1 million in 2017. The main reason for this increase was individual donations. People donated in response to the Trump presidency's actions that limited civil liberties. This surge in donations more than doubled the organization's total income from 2016 to 2017. Besides filing more lawsuits than in previous presidencies, the ACLU also spent more money on advertisements and messages. They weighed in on elections and pushed political concerns. This increased public presence led to some accusations that the organization had become more politically partisan.

See also

In Spanish: Unión Estadounidense por las Libertades Civiles para niños

Images for kids

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  Crystal Eastman was one of the co-founders of the CLB, the predecessor to the ACLU.

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  Norman Thomas was one of the early leaders of the ACLU.

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  The ACLU defended H. L. Mencken when he was arrested for distributing banned literature.

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  Elizabeth Gurley Flynn was voted off the ACLU board in 1940 because of her Communist Party membership but reinstated posthumously in 1970.

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  The ACLU was internally divided when it came to defending the rights of Japanese Americans who had been forcibly relocated to internment camps.

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  The ACLU chose not to support Eugene Dennis or other leaders of the US Communist Party, and they were all imprisoned, along with their attorneys.

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  In the 1950s, the ACLU chose not to support Paul Robeson and other leftist defendants, a decision that would be heavily criticized in the future.

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  Supreme Court justice Hugo Black often endorsed the ACLU's position on the separation of church and state.

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  The ACLU contends that the Bill of Rights protects individuals who burn the U.S. flag as a form of expression.

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  The ACLU was the first national organization to call for the impeachment of Richard Nixon.

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  Ruth Bader Ginsburg co-founded the ACLU's Women's Rights Project in 1971. She was later appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States by President Bill Clinton.

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  The ACLU defended Oliver North in 1990, arguing that his conviction was tainted by coerced testimony.

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  The ACLU represented Internet service provider Nicholas Merrill in a 2004 lawsuit which challenged the government's right to gather information about Internet access secretly.

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  Abdi Soltani, executive director of Northern California ACLU, speaks at a San Francisco protest of the U.S. immigration ban.