Mission:
To ensure that the government adheres to the Bill of Rights. The ACLU focuses especially on the First Amendment, the Fourteenth Amendment rights to equal protection and due process, and the implicit right to privacy.
Founded:
In 1920, by a group of civil libertarians who were concerned about the wartime policies of President Woodrow Wilson.
Demographics:
The ACLU is made up of over 500,000 members who belong to 53 regional chapters. Every year it files over 2,000 civil liberties lawsuits, and is involved in numerous demonstrations, lobbying efforts, and other actions. Each chapter is governed by an elected volunteer board of directors, who hire an executive director and other paid staff. In most chapters, this includes at least two attorneys.
Supporters Say:
The ACLU is often the only organization willing to take on unpopular civil liberties cases, which makes it essential to the preservation of our system of liberal democracy.
Critics Say:
The ACLU is a liberal activist group that uses the Bill of Rights as a tool to support its agenda.
I Say:
As a proud Mississippi ACLU member and volunteer, I have a predictable and completely uninteresting point of view on this organization.
