American Civil Liberties Union

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a major 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." (per its website)

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• It is easy to defend freedom of speech when the message is something many people find at least reasonable. But the defense of freedom of speech is most critical when the message is one most people find repulsive. That was true when the Nazis marched in Skokie. It remains true today.
  • ACLU Statement on Defending Free Speech of Unpopular Organizations. ACLU.org (2000-08-31). Retrieved on 2010-12-02.

• The ACLU has long argued that veterans and their families should be free to choose religious symbols on military headstones — whether Crosses, Stars of David, Pentacles, or other symbols — and that the government should not be permitted to restrict such religious expression in federal cemeteries.
  • Veterans Win Right to Post Religious Symbol on Headstones. ACLU.org (2007-04-23). Retrieved on 2010-12-02.

• Members of the military have a right to pray or not pray as they personally see fit, and that right is protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution. It is one of the fundamental rights they put their lives on the line to defend in service to their country. But the government should not be in the business of compelling religious observance, particularly in military academies, where students can feel coerced by senior students and officials and risk the loss of leadership opportunities for following their conscience.
  • Deborah A. Jeon, Legal Director, ACLU of Maryland, in ACLU Calls For End To Mandatory Prayer At U.S. Naval Academy. ACLU.org (2008-06-25). Retrieved on 2010-12-02.

About the ACLU

• The ACLU has stood foursquare against the recurring tides of hysteria that from time to time threaten freedoms everywhere.
  • Chief Justice Earl Warren

• America needs a civil liberties union. It no longer has one. I still make my contribution because the ACLU still does some good, but if things don't change, it could become an enemy of free speech.
  • Professor Alan Dershowitz, 25-year ACLU member

• I'm glad the ACLU raises the objections it does, because it forces the government and Congress to be mindful of First Amendment rights.
  • U.S. Representative Henry Hyde (2003)

• The ACLU is devoted to some very controversial principles — like the principle that everyone who is arrested should enjoy the same constitutional rights, regardless of their alleged crime or their character. We don't take that position to irritate people; we take that position because we believe in it. We believe in it, in part, in a spirit of enlightened self-interest, because the rights of each one of us are co-extensive with the rights of everyone who is arrested and prosecuted in the criminal courts. If we all don't enjoy the same rights, then no one enjoys any rights at all; some of us merely enjoy privilege.
  • Wendy Kaminer, in "6/24/95 Wendy Kaminer on Crime" (24 June 1995)

• The American Civil Liberties Union is closely affiliated with the communist movement in the United States, and fully 90 percent of its efforts are on behalf of communists who have come into conflict with the law. It claims to stand for free speech, free press, and free assembly; but it is quite apparent that the main function of the ACLU is to attempt to protect the communists in their advocacy of force and violence to overthrow the government, replacing the American flag by a red flag and erecting a Soviet government in place of the republican form of government guaranteed to each state by the federal Constitution... Since its beginnings, the ACLU has waged war against Christianity.
  • Special House Committee to Investigate Communist Activities (1931)

• Finally, the ACLU — we talked about this yesterday and I — and, you know, I have to pick on the ACLU because they're the most dangerous organization in the United States of America right now. There's by far. There's nobody even close to that. They're, like, second next to Al Qaeda.
  • Bill O'Reilly (2 June 2004)

Unsourced

• It's the Bill of Rights not suggestions.^{[citation needed]}
• Keep America Safe and Free.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Roger Nash Baldwin (co-founder)

External links

• Official site