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waka waka if you remove this it is an infringment on my right to free speech and ill get the ACLU to help sue you and they probaly will help me. ([[User:Dormantfascist|Dormantfascist]] 16:56, 1 October 2006 (UTC))
{{Infobox_Organization |
name = American Civil Liberties Union |
image = American Civil Liberties Union logo.png |
caption = ACLU logo |
membership = 500,000 |
language = English |
general = N/A |
headquarters = [[New York City]], [[New York]] |
formation = 1920 |
website = [http://aclu.org/ www.aclu.org]
}}

The '''American Civil Liberties Union''' ('''ACLU''') is a major [[United States|American]] [[non-profit]] [[organization]] with headquarters in [[New York City]], whose 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]]".<ref name="about">{{cite web | title=About Us
| work= American Civil Liberties Union web site | publisher =ACLU
| url=http://www.aclu.org/about/ | accessdate=2006-05-03}}</ref>
It works through litigation, legislation, and community education.<ref name="about" />

[[Lawsuit]]s brought by the ACLU have been influential in the development of [[U.S. constitution]]al law. The ACLU provides [[lawyer]]s and legal expertise in cases in which it considers civil liberties to be at risk. In many cases where it does not provide legal representation, the ACLU submits ''[[amicus curiae]]'' [[brief (law)|briefs]] in support of its positions. According to its annual report, the ACLU has over 500,000 members as of the end of 2005.

The ACLU has been harshly critical of elected officials and policies from many political parties over the years, including both [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrats]] and [[Republican Party (United States)|Republicans]]. Outside of its legal work, the organization has also engaged in [[lobbying]] of elected officials and political [[activism]].
<ref>{{cite news | last =Saunders | first =Dylan
| title =Mock filibuster cut short after Senate calls it quits
| work =Michigan Daily | publisher =University of Michigan | date =[[2006-01-31]]
| url =http://www.michigandaily.com/news/2006/01/31/News/Mock-Filibuster.Cut.Short.After.Senate.Calls.It.Quits-1545353.shtml | accessdate =2006-08-16 }}</ref>
The ACLU is one of the most influential [[non-governmental organization]]s (NGOs) in the United States today; controversial, its stances have drawn criticism from across the political spectrum.

==History==
In 1917, [[Roger Nash Baldwin]] became head of the [[National Civil Liberties Bureau]] (NCLB), an independent outgrowth of the [[American Union Against Militarism]], which opposed American intervention in [[World War I]]. The NCLB provided legal advice and aid for [[conscientious objector]]s 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. [[Jeannette Rankin]], [[Crystal Eastman]] and [[Albert DeSilver]], along with other former members of the NCLB, assisted Baldwin with the founding of the ACLU. [http://www.aclu.org/about/index.html]

In the year of its birth, the ACLU was formed to protect aliens threatened with [[deportation]], and U.S. nationals threatened with criminal charges by [[U.S. Attorney General]] [[Alexander Mitchell Palmer]] for their [[communist]] or [[socialist]] activities and agendas (see [[Palmer Raids]]). It also opposed attacks on the rights of the [[Industrial Workers of the World]] (IWW) and other [[trade union|labor union]]s 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 [[totalitarian dictatorship]] in any country, or who by his public declarations indicates his support of such a principle." [http://infoshare1.princeton.edu/libraries/firestone/rbsc/finding_aids/aclu1920/] 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 of the USA]] and the [[IWW]] [http://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/unitarians/baldwin.html]. As a result of these policies many leftist attorneys saw the [[National Lawyers Guild]] as a superior alternative to the ACLU.{{fact}} The ACLU has been criticized by some of its later members for this policy, and in the 1960s there was an internal push to remove this prohibition. [http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2005_09_04-2005_09_10.shtml#1126047007] {{fact}} <!-- This citation is to a blog entry that makes reference to a 1960s "push" but isn't really a source; another citation is needed. -->

In the 1988 presidential election, then-[[Vice President]] [[George H.W. Bush]] called then-[[Governor]] [[Michael Dukakis]] a "card-carrying member of the ACLU," which Dukakis proudly acknowledged. [http://www.pbs.org/newshour/debatingourdestiny/dod/1988-broadcast.html] The phrase now serves as part of a jocular recruitment slogan for the ACLU.

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]] led to a 20% increase in membership between August 2001 and December 2002, when total enrollment reached 330,000 [http://www.post-gazette.com/localnews/20021202aclusidebarp8.asp]. The growth continued, and in August 2004, ACLU membership was at 400,000 [http://www.madison.com/tct/news/images/index.php?ntid=7175&ntpid=0].

The ACLU has been a vocal opponent of the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001, the [[Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003|PATRIOT 2]] Act, and associated legislation made in response to the threat of domestic terrorism that it believes violates either the letter or the spirit of the [[United States Bill of Rights|U.S. Bill of Rights]]. In response to a requirement of the USA PATRIOT Act, the ACLU withdrew from the [[Combined Federal Campaign]].[http://www.aclu.org/safefree/general/18526prs20040731.html] The requirement was that ACLU employees must be checked against a federal anti-terrorism watch list. The ACLU estimates that it will lose approximately $500,000 in individual contributions as a result of this policy.
''See also:'' [[American Civil Liberties Union v. Ashcroft (2004)]]
<!--Need more here on PATRIOT Act challenges, and ACLU activities post-9/11 in general, including stats on increase in membership. If not here, then in Patriot Act articles.-->

==Leadership==
Currently, the leadership of the ACLU includes Executive Director [[Anthony D. Romero]] and President [[Nadine Strossen]]. 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 of the United States|U.S. Supreme Court]], founded the ACLU's Women's Rights Project in 1972.

==Structure==
The ACLU has its national headquarters located in New York City. The organization does most of its work through locally based affiliates, organized into fifty chapters, generally corresponding to state lines ([[California]] has two chapters, while [[The Dakotas]] share one). These affiliates maintain a certain amount of autonomy from the national organization, and are able to work independently from each other. Many of the ACLU's cases originate from the local level and are handled by lawyers from the local affiliates.
<!-- An example illustrating state chapter autonomy would be useful here. The illustration using the internment issue was removed; see the talk page. -->

Affiliates (the state organizations) are the basic unit of the ACLU's organization. In a twenty-month period beginning January 2004, the ACLU's [[New Jersey]] chapter, to take one example, 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 affiliate is registered as both a 501c3 and 501c4 entity. All membership dues and tax-deductible donations are shared between the affiliates and the national office.

==Positions==
While the bulk of the ACLU's cases involve the [[First Amendment]], [[Equal Protection]], [[Due Process]], and the [[Privacy|right to privacy]] (see, ''e.g.'', the [[Louisiana]] chapter [http://www.laaclu.org/Complaints/complaints.html]), the organization has taken positions on a wide range of important issues. Broadly, the ACLU supports:
[[Image:Antonio Villaraigosa.jpg|right|thumb|260px|[[Los Angeles]] Mayor [[Antonio Villaraigosa]] speaking at an [[ACLU]] event. Villaraigosa is a former board member and president of the ACLU Southern California affiliate.]]
*[[Separation of church and state in the United States|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 "[[moment of silence|moments of silence]]" [http://www.aclu.org/religion/gen/16039res20020311.html] in public schools or schools funded with public [[money]];
*[[Status_of_religious_freedom_in_the_United_States|Religious Liberty]]: Defends the individual right of Americans of all religions to practice and/or display affirmations of their faith in public.[http://www.aclu.org/religion/tencomm/16254res20050302.html]
*Full [[freedom of speech]] and of the press, including school [[newspaper]]s;
*[[Reproductive rights]], including the right to use [[contraception]] and to have an [[abortion]];
*Full civil rights for [[Lesbian]], [[Gay]], [[Bisexual]] and [[Transgender]] people, including government benefits for homosexual couples equal to those provided for heterosexual ones;
*[[affirmative action]] as a means of redressing past discrimination and achieving a racially diverse student body [http://www.aclu.org/RacialEquality/RacialEqualityMain.cfm];
*The rights of [[defendant]]s and suspects against [[Constitutionality|unconstitutional]] [[police]] practices;
*The [[decriminalization]] of [[recreational drug use|drugs]] such as [[heroin]], [[cocaine]] and [[marijuana]] [http://www.aclu.org/DrugPolicy/DrugPolicy.cfm?ID=12401&c=19];
*[[Privacy]] as it "works to preserve the American tradition that the government not track individuals or violate privacy unless it has evidence of wrongdoing." [http://aclu.org/privacy/index.html]
*[[Immigration|Immigrants']] rights by "challenging unconstitutional laws and practices, countering the myths upon which many of these laws are based." [http://aclu.org/immigrants/index.html]

The ACLU has opposed some campaign finance 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.

Regarding [[Gun politics|gun control]] laws, the official policy of the national ACLU argues that the [[Second Amendment to the United States Constitution|Second Amendment]] is "intended mainly to protect the right of the states to maintain militias to assure their own freedom and security against the central government" and is not intended to "confer an unlimited right upon individuals to own guns or other weapons." [http://www.aclu.org/PolicePractices/PolicePractices.cfm?ID=9621&c=25]

The ACLU has been noted for vigorously defending the right to express unpopular, controversial, and extremist opinions from any part of the political spectrum.

==Notable cases==
Since its founding, the ACLU has been involved in many cases (see the [[List of ACLU Cases]] for a more complete list). A few of the most significant are discussed here.

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 ACLU lost the case and Scopes was fined $100. The Tennessee Supreme Court later upheld the law but overturned the conviction on a technicality.

In 1942, a few months after the [[Japan]]ese [[attack on Pearl Harbor]], the ACLU affiliates on the West Coast sharply criticized the government's policy on enemy aliens and U.S. citizens descended from enemy ancestry. This included the relocation of [[Japanese American Internment|Japanese-American citizens]], [[internment]] of aliens, prejudicial curfews (''[[Hirabayashi v. United States]]'', 1943), and the like. The national board of the ACLU took a mildly pro-government position: it accepted the internment in principle and only demanded that relocatees, once cleared of any suspicion of wrongdoing, be released from the concentration camps in which they were held.{{fact}}

<!--missing blurb on the 1947 case which brought the idea of the separation of church and state into American legal practice-->
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 school]]s.[http://www.aclu.org/racialjustice/gen/15901lgl19521011.html]

In 1968, the ACLU successfully argued against state bans on interracial marriage, in the case of ''[[Loving vs. Virginia]]''.

In 1973, the ACLU was the first major national organization to call for the [[impeachment]] of President [[Richard M. Nixon]], giving as reasons the violation by the Nixon administration of civil liberties. 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 [[abortion]]s.

In 1977, the ACLU filed suit against the Village of [[Skokie, Illinois]], seeking an injunction against the enforcement of three town ordinances outlawing [[Nazism|Nazi]] parades and demonstrations. (Skokie had a large [[Judaism|Jewish]] population.) A federal district court struck down the ordinances in a decision eventually affirmed by the [[U.S. Supreme Court]]. The ACLU's action in this case led to the resignation of about 15 percent of the membership from the organization (25 percent in [[Illinois]]), especially of Jewish members.

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."[http://www.lib.niu.edu/ipo/1978/ii781111.html]

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.

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]]. [http://www.aclu.org/safefree/nsaspying/23491lgl20060117.html#attach] On August 17, 2006, that court ruled that the warrantless wiretapping program is unconstitutional and ordered it ended immediately. [http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=newsOne&storyID=2006-08-17T164546Z_01_N17346570_RTRUKOC_0_US-SECURITY-EAVESDROPPING.xml]

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]][http://www.aclu.org/safefree/nsaspying/26235prs20060725.html] and two others in California requesting injunctions against [[AT&T]] and [[Verizon]]. [http://www.aclu.org/safefree/nsaspying/25685prs20060526.html] On August 10, 2006, the lawsuits against the telecommunications companies were transferred to a federal judge in San Francisco. [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/08/11/BAGRGKGL4S1.DTL&type=politics]

==Funding==
The ACLU receives funding from a large number of sources. The distribution and amount of funding for each chapter varies from state to state. To take one particular 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 chapters with fewer resources, such as that in [[Nebraska]], receive subsidies from the national ACLU [http://www.aclunebraska.org/faq.htm#10].

The ACLU and its affiliated tax-exempt foundation receive annual support from the [[Ford Foundation|Ford]], [[Rockefeller Foundation|Rockefeller]], [[Carnegie Corporation of New York|Carnegie]], [[Field Foundation|Field]], [[Tides Foundation|Tides]], [[Gill Foundation|Gill]], [[Arcus Foundation|Arcus]], [[Horizons Fund|Horizons]], and other foundations.

In October of 2004, the ACLU rejected $1.5 million from both the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations. The Foundations had adopted language from the USA PATRIOT Act into 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.[http://www.aclusc.org/Page/Clipping/NYTimes/041019Strom.html] The ACLU also withdrew from the [[Combined Federal Campaign]], a federal charity drive, losing an estimated $500,000, taking a stand against the attached condition that it would "not knowingly hire anyone on terrorism watch lists." [http://www.aclu.org/safefree/general/18525leg20040731.html]

===Court awarded attorney's fees===

The ACLU sometimes collects legal fees in the common event that they are involved on the winning side of a legal judgment. For example, it shared with other plantiffs in a $156,960 judgement against the State of [[Nebraska]] in a gay marriage case now on appeal [http://www.journalstar.com/articles/2005/08/02/local/doc42efae0b8e7f7297850171.txt].

The awarding of legal fees to groups like the ACLU in civil rights cases is controversial. The Public Expression of Religion Act of 2005, for example, introduced by Representative [[John N. Hostettler]], seeks to alter prior civil rights legislation to prevent monetary judgements in the particular case of violations of church-state separation [http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:H.R.2679:]. Also, groups such as the [[American Legion]] have taken stances opposing the ACLU's right to collect fees under such legislation [http://www.legion.org/word/aclu.rtf].

On the other hand, the recovery of legal fees by non-profit legal advocacy organizations is common practice across the political spectrum. The [[pro-life]] [[Thomas More Law Center]], for example, generally seeks, and is successful in, recovery of legal fees in the same manner as the ACLU [http://www.thomasmore.org/news.html?NewsID=227], [http://www.thomasmore.org/news.html?NewsID=383].

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 judgements: 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 [http://www.oyez.org/oyez/resource/case/959/]; [http://www.chainyounger.com/pa_cases_against_government.html#1].

In some cases, the law permits plantiffs who successfully sue government agencies to collect damages. In particular, a 1976 federal law, the Civil Rights Attorney's Fees Awards Act, among other similar laws, leaves the government liable in some civil rights cases. Under laws such as this, the ACLU and its state chapters sometimes share in monetary judgements against government agencies.

Another factor in this controversy is that in many cases where the ACLU represents plantiffs, the case is handled not by ACLU attorneys, but by independent law firms providing their services ''[[pro bono]]''. In these cases, the law firm may sue for legal fees; in such circumstances the money would be awarded to the firm, not to the ACLU. [http://www.stcynic.com/blog/archives/2005/08/volokh_on_stopt.php]

A separate example involves a string of church-state cases. The Georgia chapter was awarded $150,000 in fees after suing a county for the removal of a [[Ten Commandments]] display [http://www.acluga.org/press.releases/0507/barrow.county.html] from its courthouse; a second Ten Commandments case in the State, in a different county, led to a $74,462 judgment [http://www.acluga.org/docket.html]. 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 [http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2003/07/09/loc_kytencommandments09.html], [http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_10cb.htm].

The [[Center for Reclaiming America for Christ]] estimates the total court awarded damages in to be in the millions. [http://www.reclaimamerica.org/Pages/News/newspage.asp?story=2859].

As a counterbalance to any incentive for collecting judgments to cover legal fees in cases where they prevail, any organization leaves itself liable to potentially damaging judgements if it is found to be filing a "frivolous" suit.[http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2005_07_31-2005_08_06.shtml#1123261056]

==Controversial stances==
The organization's policy is that free speech rights must be available to all citizens and residents of the United States. This policy sometimes leads to cases where the Union defends unpopular people and organizations. The Union has taken on cases to defend the free speech rights of clients as diverse as [[Ku Klux Klan]] members, [[neo-Nazi]] groups, [[North American Man/Boy Love Association]] (a group which supports legalization of [[pederasty]]) and the [[Westboro Baptist Church]], a group which uses signs reading "God hates fags" in its protest actions at soldier's funerals. In these and other cases, the ACLU has defended the free speech rights of people and organizations even when the content of that speech is in conflict with the ACLU's own positions and goals.

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. It also defended Lieutenant Colonel [[Oliver North]], whose conviction was tainted by coerced testimony&mdash;a violation of his [[Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution|fifth amendment rights]].

The ACLU's stance on [[Spam (electronic)|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." [http://archives.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/06/09/amend.spam.idg/] This analysis is rejected by many spam fighters as failing to address the effects of spam on network infrastructure and costs. [http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/spam/chapter/ch01.html] This 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; already by 1997 the ACLU had taken a strong position that nearly all spam legislation was improper [http://www.anu.edu.au/mail-archives/link/link9709/0306.html], although it has supported "[[opt-out]]" requirements in some cases. The ACLU opposed the 2003 [[CAN-SPAM Act of 2003|CAN-SPAM]] act [http://www.aclu.org/freespeech/commercial/10953leg20030730.html] suggesting that it could have a [[chilling effect]] on speech in cyberspace.

==Critics of the ACLU==
The ACLU's involvement in hundreds of legal cases over the years has led to a great deal of criticism from numerous points of view. In many situations, the criticism may be focused on the ACLU's stance in a particular case or group of cases; in others, the criticism focuses on the general principles that guide the ACLU's choices of what cases to take a position on.

A wide variety of groups oppose some or all of the ACLU's positions listed above; several general themes of criticism are discussed here.

===Conservative critics===
Many critics of the ACLU consider themselves, or are commonly regarded as, [[American Conservatism|conservative]]s. Such critics often allege that the ACLU does not truly dedicate itself to the defense of constitutional rights, but that it seeks to advance a [[Leftist]] or [[American liberalism|liberal]] agenda (see, ''e.g.'', [http://stoptheaclu.com/archives/2006/01/04/who-is-stop-the-aclu/], [http://people.howstuffworks.com/aclu.htm]). Some point to its opposition to [[capital punishment]], which has been declared constitutional by the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] since 1976, although it had been declared unconstitutional in practice from 1972 to 1976. The ACLU continues to argue that the death penalty violates the [[Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Eighth Amendment]] restriction against "cruel and unusual punishment," the [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourteenth Amendment]] guarantee of equal protection, and that it is contrary to [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights|international human rights]] norms.

Critics also argue that the ACLU has not been consistent in defending all civil liberties, pointing out that it is not active in protecting [[Gun politics in the US|gun rights]]. Critics claim gun rights enjoy similar constitutional protection to other civil rights and should be treated equally by the ACLU if it is not motivated by a partisan agenda. The organization declares itself officially "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 weapons by individuals is not constitutionally protected." [http://www.aclu.org/PolicePractices/PolicePractices.cfm?ID=9621&c=25] Some contend that, unlike the First Amendment, the Second Amendment does not provide individual rights. The courts have made conflicting rulings on the topic.

Some critics argue that this position is inconsistent with their stated philosophy, and have suggested that the ACLU may only adopt this stance to appease liberal-leaning supporters of the group who also support gun control. Critics also point out that the ACLU does not take up cases that involve possible abuses by the [[Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives|ATF]] that go beyond the debate over the private ownership of firearms. [http://www.civilrightsunion.org/acluwatch/socalledgun.htm] The ACLU has been involved in a few gun rights cases; most recently the ACLU of Texas joined with the [[National Rifle Association|NRA]] in favor of a proposed Texas law, HB 823, in 2006, and claiming that current legislation allowed for the harassment of gun owners [http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2005/03/pack-your-pistola-and-hit-road.html].

In 1982, the ACLU became involved in a case involving the distribution of [[child pornography]] (''[[New York v. Ferber]]'', 458 U.S. 747 [http://www.oyez.org/oyez/resource/case/279/].) In an amicus brief, the ACLU argued that the [[New York state]] 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 [http://campus.westlaw.com/Find/Default.wl?SerialNum=1982191934&FindType=Y&AP=0-2&ReturnTo=CLID_RT4918149&POP=False&IT=BRIEF&TF=15&TC=1&mt=CampusLegal&fn=_top&sv=Split&vr=2.0&sp=princeton-2000&rs=WLW5.09]. The ACLU's stance on this case has drawn great criticism from conservatives [http://euphoria.jarkolicious.com/journal/2005/06/16/516/]. 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." [http://www.aclu.org/Privacy/Privacy.cfm?ID=10364&c=252].

The group has also come under fire, again mostly from conservative critics, for fighting against [[Megan's Law|Megan’s Law]], a law whose supporters say protects children from sex offenders. Though the ACLU has fought Megan’s Law(s) in many states, it has been unable to attain significant victories in these cases.

[[Bill O'Reilly (journalist)|Bill O'Reilly]] has frequently and variously referred to the ACLU as "the most dangerous organization in America," a "terrorist group," and as an "anti-American" and "[[fascist]] organization" on his various broadcasts, during which he frequently [[Bill O'Reilly (journalist)#American Civil Liberties Union|criticizes the group]].[http://mediamatters.org/items/200406080005][http://mediamatters.org/items/200503030007]. In "Profile in sanity" [http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BillOReilly/2006/08/20/profile_in_sanity], for instance, he suggests basic hypocrisy is at hand when he points out that "the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) sued when the NYPD instituted random bag searches on the subway. Yet a sign at the NYCLU building warned that the organization had the right to search the bags of all people entering there."

The ACLU has recently come under fire when the Florida chapter appointed [[Parvez Ahmed]], the National Board Chairman of [[CAIR]] to the Florida chapter's board; CAIR has been accused of terrorist ties [http://www.frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=21884]. Ahmed has spoken in favor of blasphemy laws to prevent publication of the controversial [[Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy|Danish cartoons]] depicting Mohammed. [http://counterterror.typepad.com/the_counterterrorism_blog/2006/03/aclus_islamist_.html]

===Religious critics===
The ACLU also has religious critics. At the grassroots level, the ACLU often involves itself in cases involving the [[separation of church and state]]. Some [[Christians]], including many who may be considered [[conservative Christian]], take issue with its positions. Many in this community contend that the ACLU is part of an effort to remove all references to religion from American government.

In 2004, for example, the ACLU of Southern California (ACLU/SC) threatened to sue the city of [[Redlands, California]] if it did not remove a picture of a cross from the city's seal. The ACLU/SC argued that having a cross on the seal amounted to a government-sponsored endorsement of Christianity and violated separation of church and state. The city complied with the ACLU/SC and removed the cross from all city vehicles, business cards, and police badges. However, the issue was put on the November 2005 ballot [http://www.redlandsseal.org]. The ACLU/SC also threatened [[Los Angeles County, California]] if it did not remove an image of a cross from its seal, yet the centerpiece of the Pagan goddess [[Pomona]] was not mentioned. As in the Redlands case, the county board complied with the demands and voted to remove the cross and Pomona from its seal as well. There was a petition against the changing of the seal, which ended on [[August 15]], [[2005]] [http://www.savetheseal.net/].

In [[1990]], [[Pat Robertson]] founded the [[American Center for Law and Justice]], as a counterweight to the ACLU, which Robertson characterizes as "liberal" and "hostile to traditional [[American values]]." Another non-profit legal center, the [[Thomas More Law Center]], also describes itself as "Christianity's answer to the ACLU." [http://www.thomasmore.org/news.html?NewsID=332]

After the [[September 11, 2001 attacks]], the Rev. [[Jerry Falwell]] remarked that the ACLU, by trying to "secularize America," had provoked the wrath of God, and therefore caused those terrorist attacks. Falwell later apologized for the remark. Other critics of the ACLU do not make such strong accusations, but claim that the organization pushes the concept of separation of church and state beyond its original meaning.

On the other hand, the ACLU and Jerry Falwell sometimes find themselves on the same side. Notably, the ACLU filed an amicus brief supporting a suit by Falwell against the state of Virginia. The suit, which was successful, overturned the Virginia constitution's ban on the incorporation of Churches. In addition, the ACLU has defended the right of a Christian church to run anti-Santa ads on Boston subways, the right to religious expression by jurors, and the right of Christian students to distribute religious literature in school. [http://www.aclu.org/ReligiousLiberty/ReligiousLiberty.cfm?ID=17598&c=38]

While the ACLU does oppose the use of crosses in public monuments [http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20040331/news_7m31soledad.html], [http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=43799], there have been false allegations that the ACLU has urged the removal of cross-shaped [[headstone]]s from federal [[cemetery|cemeteries]] and has opposed prayer by [[soldier]]s; such charges have been deemed to be [[urban legend]]s. [http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/cemetery.asp]

Many religious groups like [[Jehovah's Witnesses]] and [[Muslim]]s have at times been defended by the ACLU. In the [[Mormon]] community, the ACLU is viewed positively by some, who cite [[Santa Fe Independent School Dist. v. Doe]], a case litigated by the ACLU on behalf of a Mormon student concerning [[school prayer]] [http://wenger.blogspot.com/2003_08_10_wenger_archive.html#106087652143939285]. However, a good number of Mormons, including some local leaders, are strongly against the activities of the ACLU [http://www.timesandseasons.org/archives/000198.html].

Jehovah's Witnesses were involved in twenty-three Supreme Court [[Jehovah's Witnesses and governments|rulings]] between 1938 and 1946 over religious objections to serving in the armed forces and over saluting the flag and reciting the pledge of allegiance [http://www.commondreams.org/views/022800-105.htm], over local and state ordinances prohibiting the Witnesses from publishing criticisms of the [[Roman Catholic]] church [http://www.commondreams.org/views/022800-105.htm], as well as over government reluctance to prosecute anti-Witness vigilantes. The ACLU was directly involved in these cases [http://www.kansaspress.ku.edu/petjud.html]. The ACLU's involvement with Jehovah's Witnesses continues, and they joined the Witnesses in a 2002 case over doorbell-ringing [http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/1272268.html].

===Feminist critics===
Some [[Anti-pornography movement|anti-pornography activists]], including [[Nikki Craft]] and [[Catharine MacKinnon]], who oppose pornography on [[feminist]] grounds, are also strong critics of the ACLU; in her lifetime, [[Andrea Dworkin]]'s positions on pornography also led her to similar stances. Craft started a group in the early 1990s called [http://www.nostatusquo.com/ACLU "Always Causing Legal Unrest (ACLU)"]; the resultant acronym confusion led the then-director of the ACLU of Northern California [[Dorothy M. Ehrlich]] to send a letter of protest [http://www.nostatusquo.com/ACLU/aclu/Ehrlich.html], but the Union did not pursue legal action against Craft's group.

===Leftist and liberal critics===

The ACLU has been subject to criticism from the [[political left]]. Some critics object to the organization's advocacy for corporations' protection by the Bill of Rights known as [[corporate personhood]]. [http://news.pacificnews.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=300] [http://www.wilpf.org/issues/ccp/CCP_ACLU.htm] In contrast to the ACLU's position, the [[National Lawyers Guild]] passed a resolution in October 1996 which opposed corporate personhood. [http://www.wilpf.org/issues/ccp/corp/ACP/NLG_resolution.pdf]

In addition many leftists, including the [[Spartacist League (modern)]] and [[Liberation News (Internationalist)]], criticize what they see as a stronger willingness on the part of the ACLU to defend the civil liberties of groups such as the [[KKK]] and the [[American Nazi Party]]. [http://www.socialistaction.org/news/199907/scruz.html]

In October 1999 the Spartacist League organized a demonstration against a KKK rally in New York and listed amongst the obstacles placed in their way "the American Civil Liberties Union, which continued its revolting decades-long defense of 'constitutional rights' for the fascist terrorists." This was in reference to the lawyer for the KKK, Norman Siegel of the New York ACLU, that brokered a deal allowing the KKK to march with police protection and a sound permit, but denied even a sound permit for the labor/black mobilization against the Klan.[http://www.icl-fi.org/english/wv/archives/oldsite/1999/STOPKKK.HTM] Under political pressure that deal was later struck down and the sound permit was allowed.[http://www.lrp-cofi.org/PR/KlanPR60.html]

===Libertarian critics===
While some refer to the ACLU as a [[libertarian]] organization and while the ACLU has defended the [[Libertarian Party (United States)|US Libertarian Party]] in some cases [http://www.aclu.org/VotingRights/VotingRights.cfm?ID=10305&c=32], a number of libertarians and [[Objectivists]] oppose the ACLU for its support of laws that they view as distinctly anti-liberty, such as [[affirmative action]] and anti-discrimination laws that apply to private property. One objection held by some libertarians is the belief that private business owners, rather than the [[government]], should have the authority to decide which customers they serve and which employees to hire, even if these private business owners choose to base criteria on such things as race or gender.

Former ACLU member [[Nat Hentoff]] has criticized the organization in a libertarian vein for promoting affirmative action and for supporting what he sees as government protected liberal speech codes enacted on college campuses and the workplace [http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/hentoff092099.asp].

Law professor [[David Bernstein]]'s book "You Can't Say That! The Growing Threat to Civil Liberties from Antidiscrimination Laws" takes the ACLU to task for frequently seeking to undermine expressive rights when they conflict with antidiscrimination laws, as in the 2000 Supreme Court case of [[Boy Scouts of America v. Dale]]. Some libertarians have formed an organization they describe as the "libertarian ACLU" [http://www.lpwa.org/news/newsletter/may97/page13.htm] the [[Institute for Justice]].

== References ==
<references/>

==See also==
* [[Southern Poverty Law Center]]
* [[United States Constitution]]
* [[Freedom (political)]]
* [[Foundation for Individual Rights in Education]]
* [[Institute for Justice]]
* [[National Rifle Association]]

==External links==
*[http://www.aclu.org Official site]
*[http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=12666&c=206 Freedom Under Fire: Dissent in a Post-9/11 America]
*[http://www.aclu.tv/ The ACLU Freedom Files TV series]
*[http://www.topix.net/news/aclu ACLU News from Topix.net]
*[http://www.acluvsamerica.com/ The ACLU vs America; Exposing the Agenda to Redefine Moral Values], by [[Alliance Defense Fund]], [[Alan Sears]], and Craig Osten, 2005. ISBN 0-8054-4045-3; 978-0-8054-4045-4
*[http://www.acluprocon.org/ Is the ACLU good for America?]
*[http://www.stoptheaclu.org/ Stop the ACLU] a website critical of ACLU positions and tactics.

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[[Category:American Civil Liberties Union]]
[[Category:Civil liberties advocacy groups in the United States]]
[[Category:1917 establishments]]
[[Category:Civil rights]]
[[Category:Court cases litigated by the American Civil Liberties Union|*]]
[[Category:Government watchdog groups in the U.S.]]
[[Category:Immigration political advocacy groups in the United States]]
[[Category:Legal defence organizations]]
[[Category:LGBT rights activists]]

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Revision as of 16:56, 1 October 2006

waka waka if you remove this it is an infringment on my right to free speech and ill get the ACLU to help sue you and they probaly will help me. (Dormantfascist 16:56, 1 October 2006 (UTC))

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