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TheAmerican Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a group of twonon-profit organizations that fight for what they believe are importantcivil liberties issues. It was started in 1920 by Crystal Eastman, Roger Nash Baldwin, and Walter Nelles.[1]
ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states,Washington, D.C., andPuerto Rico.
Some issues that are important to the ACLU are theFirst Amendment to the United States Constitution (which says that people havefree speech andfreedom of religion, as well as other rights),privacy, the right of people to be treated fairly if they are accused of acrime andarrested, and the right for everybody to be treated the same under the law.[2]
One way the ACLU tries to reach its goals is by helping people incourt whom it believes are not being treated fairly by the law. The ACLU haslawyers that file lawsuits for people it represents. The ACLU also tries to change laws by teaching people about issues and bylobbying thegovernment about what it believes.
Some people in the United States disagree with the ACLU. Someconservatives do not like that the ACLU believes that people have the right to anabortion and that it believes in theseparation of church and state.[3] Also, some of the people or groups that the ACLU has represented in court have been unpopular, such as theWestboro Baptist Church, which is famous forprotesting thefunerals of Americansoldiers who diedat war.
