Historic ACLU Cases
The American Civil Liberties Union Lists Its Landmark Victories
ACLU is still detested by many Americans despite helping to win more than 100 cases involving individual freedoms and rights.
The often-maligned, frequently-hated American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is reminding Americans of more than 100 court fights it has waged in the past century to protect citizen legal rights and freedoms.
The list, which is being distributed as part of the ACLU’s 2008 fund raising campaign, could stir as much controversy as support for the organization.
While it has successfully defended and supported a wide spectrum of groups, ACLU has generated the anger of millions of Americans by the positions it has taken on religion, patriotism and the American flag.
Many of its once-controversial stands, however, have resulted in freedoms and rights which are now taken for granted. That list includes:
- Numerous cases in which it fought racial segregation;
- A 1939 case establishing the freedom of assembly in public places such as streets and parks;
- A 1966 decision forcing the Georgia state legislature to seat Senator-Elect Julian Bond even though Bond had supported Vietnam war resisters;
- A 1994 decision upholding a Missouri woman’s right to post an anti-war sign in her window;
- 2001 and 2004 rulings outlawing the execution of juveniles and the mentally retarded;
- The 1938 defeat of a Georgia ordinance requiring groups to obtain a city manager’s permit to distribute "literature of any kind;"
- A 1963 decision giving indigent defendants the right to a state-appointed lawyer.
But, ACLU is still under intense criticism for:
- Its opposition to prayer in school and government organizations;
- Its defense of flag burning or desecration of the American flag;
- Its defense of obscene language on the Internet;
- Its opposition to the death penalty;
- Its occasional defense of unpopular organizations like the Ku Klux Klan, the American Nazi party, and Chicago minority gangs.
The organization operates on the premise that "if the rights of society's most vulnerable members are denied, everybody's rights are imperiled."
That policy accounts for much of its unpopularity because its clients have included, according to its website, racial and ethnic minorities as well as "lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender people; women; mental-health patients; prisoners; people with disabilities; and the poor."
On the opposite spectrum, it has supported the rights of affluent individuals and groups to make large political contributions, citing the contributions as forms of free expression.
The ACLU has also generated much opposition by insisting that "civil liberties must be respected, even in times of national emergency," often putting it in conflict with government actions against suspected terrorists.
Going into 2008, the ACLU website claimed more than 500,000 members and supporters, plus offices "in almost every state." It is financed by membership dues and contributions as well as grants from individuals and private foundations. It does not receive any government funding.
The organization said it handles nearly 6,000 court cases annually. It divides its cases into eight categories:
- Freedom of expression
- Freedom of association
- Freedom of the press
- The right to fair procedures
- The right to privacy
- Religious liberty
- Equality under the law
- Checks and balances in government
The ACLU was founded in 1920 by what it says was "a roomful of civil liberties activists."
