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| Formation | 1990 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Washington, D.C., U.S. |
Founder | Pat Robertson |
Key people | Jay Sekulow,Jordan Sekulow |
| Website | aclj.org |
TheAmerican Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ) is apolitically conservative, Christian-based legal organization in the United States. It is headquartered inWashington, D.C., and associated withRegent University School of Law inVirginia Beach, Virginia.
The ACLJ was founded in 1990 by law school graduate and evangelical ministerPat Robertson with the stated "mandate to protect religious and constitutional freedoms". ACLJ generally pursuesconstitutional issues andconservative Christian ideals in courts of law.[1][2][3][4][5] The leaders of the ACLJ also occasionally engage in public debates to present their perspective on legal and constitutional issues.
The ACLJ is described as being "committed to ensuring the ongoing viability of freedom and liberty in the United States and around the world" by "focusing on U.S. constitutional law, European Union law and human rights law" to protect "universal, God-given and inalienable rights," according toCharity Navigator.
The ACLJ arose in part as a right-leaning political answer to theAmerican Civil Liberties Union, which has a different interpretation of First Amendment protection of religious rights.[6] The name and acronym, ACLJ, were chosen to contrast with the ACLU.[6]It has attracted much media attention for its lawsuits, such as its campaign to oppose changes to the constitution ofKenya that, according to the group, would permitabortion andIslamic law,[7][8] and its attempts to block the construction of an Islamic cultural center near the former site of theWorld Trade Center.[9] The ACLJ supported blocking the construction of the center throughNew York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.
In November 2010, the ACLJ asked that the U.S. Justice Department investigate theCongressional Muslim Staffer Association's weekly prayer session onCapitol Hill, alleging that the organization demonstrated "a pattern of inviting Islamic extremists with ties to terrorism to participate in these events".[10]
In 2018, ACLJ attorneyJay Sekulow was on PresidentDonald Trump's personal legal team.[11] Another Sekulow client at the time was the American Christian pastorAndrew Brunson, in detention and facing charges in Turkey.[12]
The ACLJ is a member of the advisory board ofProject 2025,[13] a collection ofconservative andright-wing policy proposals fromthe Heritage Foundation to reshape theUnited States federal government and consolidateexecutive power.[14]
Since 2011, donations to ACLJ are routed through Sekulow's family-runChristian Advocates Serving Evangelism (CASE),[15][16] and many "transactions that benefit members of the Sekulow family are disclosed on the CASE returns, but not the ACLJ's."[17][16] ACLJ's and CASE's tax returns show that between 1998 and 2011 they paid more than $33 million to Sekulow, members of his family, and businesses owned or co-owned by them.[17] from 2011 to 2015, the two charities paid $5.5 million to Sekulow and members of his family, and $23 million to their businesses.[15]
Sekulow is half-owner of the for-profit corporation Constitutional Litigation and Advocacy Group[15] whose governor and executive officer is Stuart Roth,[18] one of his partners in the law firm and real estate business that declared bankruptcy in 1986.[19] From 2011 to 2016, the ACLJ paid the group $23 million, "its largest outside expense."[15]
In 1997 Jay Sekulow and Thomas Patrick Monaghan, chief counsel and senior counsel of the ACLJ, respectively, set up the European Center for Law and Justice (ECLJ) inStrasbourg as part of the ACLJ's international strategy. Sekulow is chief counsel for the ECLJ. The following year the ACLJ set up the Slavic Center for Law and Justice (SCLJ) in Moscow. Both organizations on the European mainland have a full-time staff of religious rights attorneys.[20] The ECLJ is active in theUnited Nations organization and in theCouncil of Europe, and represents the interests of some Christians in theCourt of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
The ACLJ is one of several American Christian groups that are promotingconservative Christian laws in Africa, supporting controversial movements regarding LGBT rights, including support in Uganda for criminalizing homosexuality.[21]
The ACLJ has been criticized by theACLU for its stance on puttingprayer in public school, and byAmericans United for conflating support ofseparation of church and state with beinganti-religious.[22] TheHuman Rights Campaign is critical of the ACLJ's finances citing that the organization does not meet "10 out of 20 of theBetter Business Bureau’s standards for charity accountability" and that ACLJ obfuscates how much (someone named) Sekulow earns from the organization.[23][24][25]
Charity Navigator issued a "Low Concern" advisory for the District of Columbia branch[26] and a "Moderate Concern" for the Virginia Beach branch[27] about the group afterThe Washington Post reported that ACLJ has paidDonald Trump's personal attorneyJay Sekulow and his family millions of dollars.[28][29]
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