American Civil Rights Union

Not to be confused with American Civil Liberties Union.

Founded by former Reagan Administration official Robert B. Carleson in 1998, the American Civil Rights Union (ACRU) is dedicated to protecting the civil rights of all Americans by publicly advancing a Constitutional understanding of our essential rights and freedoms. The ACRU monitors and counters organizations that threaten our constitutional rights. It files amicus briefs in critical civil rights cases, and defends the Constitution in print and broadcast media and on the Internet. The ACRU is committed to ensuring that those who believe in traditional moral values, such as the Boy Scouts of America, remain free to hold, express, teach and practice those beliefs.

The ACRU Policy Board consists of eight leading conservative attorneys, diplomats, and scholars:

• Hon. Edwin Meese III, former U.S. Attorney General
• Hon. William Bradford Reynolds, former assistant U.S. Attorney General for Civil Rights
• Dr. James Q. Wilson, professor, Pepperdine University School of Public Policy
• Ambassador Curtin Winsor, former U.S. Ambassador to Costa Rica
• Prof. Walter E. Williams, professor of economics, George Mason University
• Hon. Charles J. Cooper, former Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel
• Hon. Richard Bender Abell, former Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs
• Hon. J Kenneth Blackwell, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Commission

The ACRU Leadership and Staff are:

• Susan A. Carleson, Chairman, CEO and Treasurer
• Edwin Meese, Director
• Morton C. Blackwell, Director
• David A. Leedom, Director
• Wendy Borcherdt LeRoy, Director
• Peter J. Ferrara, Legal Director, General Counsel
• Betty Barrett, Secretary

The ACRU Mission Statement is as follows:

The American Civil Rights Union (ACRU) is dedicated to protecting the civil rights of all Americans by publicly advancing a Constitutional understanding of our essential rights and freedoms. The ACRU monitors and counters organizations that threaten our Constitutional rights. It files amicus briefs in critical civil rights cases, and defends the Constitution in print and broadcast media and on the Internet. The ACRU is committed to ensuring that those who believe in traditional moral values, such as the Boy Scouts of America, remain free to hold, express, teach and practice those beliefs.

The ACRU believes that the U.S. Constitution, including the Bill of Rights, is the greatest legal document ever written. The ACRU stands against harmful, anti-Constitutional ideologies that have taken hold in our nation’s courts, law schools and bureaucracies. While others promote entitlements and license in the name of “liberties” and “identity” politics, the ACRU defends the civil rights for all set forth at the American Founding.

As inheritors of this Constitutional republic, we affirm:

• That all people are created equal, endowed by their Creator with the unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
• That it is the purpose of government to secure our God-given rights, not to restrict them, nor to invent new rights.
• That it is the purpose of the judiciary to interpret the U.S. Constitution, not to make a selective interpretation, nor to legislate, nor to repeal clauses deemed inappropriate.
• That the free exercise of religion, the right of private organizations to associate freely, the right to free speech, and the right to keep and bear arms are essential civil rights to be protected, not undermined, by the judiciary.

The ACRU's main focus areas are:

• Property Rights
• Freedom of Religion
• Equality Under the Law
• Right to Keep and Bear Arms
• Individual Liberty and Federalism

Selected publications

• These Are the Times That Try Men's Souls: America --Then and Now -- in the Words of Tom Paine, edited by John Armor with illustrations by Olga Calco, 242 pages with index (2010).
• Government IS the Problem: Memoirs of Ronald Reagan's Welfare Reformer, by Robert B. Carleson, edited by Susan A. Carleson and Hans A. Zeiger, 160 pages with index (2009).

External links

• ACRU website
• Recall Congress Now
• Freedom to Listen
• America's Owner's Manual
• Save Radio Free America
• ACRU Charity Statistics
• ACRU Donors and Grants