American Civil Rights Union
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The American Civil Rights Union (ACRU) is an American constitutional rights organization founded by former Reagan Administration official Robert B. Carleson in 1998. It was founded in response to views that the most prominent civil liberties organization, the American Civil Liberties Union, was too leftward leaning;[1] ACRU has been described as a conservative civil liberties advocacy group.[2] The ACRU has filed numerous amicus briefs in court cases involving election integrity, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), gun ownership and property rights cases, and cases involving the Boy Scouts of America including the 2000 U.S. Supreme Court case of Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, defending the Boy Scouts' freedom of association right to create their own criteria for leaders and members. Christopher Coates is the ACRU General Counsel, J. Kenneth Blackwell and Robert Knight are Senior Fellows, Ken Klukowski is a Fellow, Jan LaRue is a Senior Legal Analyst, and Carleson's widow, Susan, is chairwoman.[3]
The ACRU's main focus areas are:
- Election Integrity
- Property Rights
- Freedom of Religion
- Equality Under the Law
- Right to Keep and Bear Arms
- Individual Liberty and Federalism
Stopping Vote Fraud
The ACRU argues for voter photo ID laws and successfully sued counties in Mississippi and Texas that had more people registered to vote than age-eligible residents. The group has also filed a number of briefs in federal courts arguing for enforcement of laws protecting the one-person, one-vote concept and requiring proof of citizenship. The ACRU's election integrity campaign can be viewed at www.defendelectionintegrity.org.[4]
Property Rights
The ACRU submits briefs in cases challenging rulings by various federal authorities, including the Environmental Protection Agency, that violate private property rights. Example: In November 2014, the ACRU sided with farmers in California's San Joaquin Valley over a ruling by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that gave a tiny fish, the delta smelt, precedence over the farmers' need for water. In 2011, the ACRU filed a brief in support of an Idaho couple's successful challenge of an EPA ruling that prevented them from building on their property.
Upholding the Second Amendment
The ACRU has filed briefs in every major case involving the Second Amendment, including the landmark Heller case in 2008. The 2015 ACRU publication, The Truth about Gun Control, traces the history of gun control in tyrannical regimes and in the post-Civil War South, where it was used against African-Americans.
Freedom of Religion
The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion , or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." Over the years, the ACRU has filed briefs in a number of cases in which the ACLU and atheist groups have attempted to remove American heritage symbols such as military cemetery crosses. These include the Mt. Soledad Cross in San Diego, and the roadside memorials erected to honor slain Utah state troopers.
Opposition to Same Sex Marriage
The ACRU filed a brief at the U.S. Supreme Court in defense of California's voter-approved constitutional marriage amendment, and another brief in defense of the federal Defense of Marriage Act and the California amendment. In Washington Times columns,[5][6] ACRU Senior Fellow Robert Knight has criticized societal redefinition of marriage, as has Senior Fellow Ken Blackwell for Catholic Online.
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).
- The Truth About Voter ID (2014), by Don Feder.
- The Truth About Jim Crow (2014)
- [1] The Truth about Gun Control (2015)
References
- ^ Robert Carleson; Peter Ferrara (2 January 2002). "ACLU joins the security fray".
- ^ "National conservative civil liberties group supports argument that Menendez recall is constitutional". 2 April 2010.
- ^ Human Events URL accessed 2008-04-06.
- ^ "The Election Integrity Defense Project". Defendelectionintegrity.org. Retrieved 2016-04-13.
- ^ Civil rights and wrongs - Forcing gay marriage on Americans would be an act of tyranny - Washington Times - May 3, 2015
- ^ Saying No to Illicit Rulings - Washington Times - Feb. 1, 2015