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Our mission is to realize this promise of the United States Constitution for all and expand the reach of its guarantees. Learn about what's happening across the most pressing civil liberties issues of our time, and what you can do. Capital Punishment. Civil Liberties. Criminal Law Reform.
The ACLU was founded to ensure the promise of the Bill of Rights and to expand its reach to people historically denied its protections. In our first year, we fought the harassment and deportation of immigrants whose activism put them at odds with the authorities. In 1939, we won in the Supreme Court the right for unions to organize.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit human rights organization founded in 1920. The organization strives "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 ."
For nine decades the ACLU has been at the center of one critical, history-making court case after another. Our communications and public education staff employ a wide range of strategies to educate the general public on the critical civil liberties facing our nation.
The ACLU played a central role in all major civil liberties debates of the 1960s, including new fields such as gay rights, prisoner's rights, abortion, rights of the poor, and the death penalty. [173] Membership in the ACLU increased from 52,000 at the beginning of the decade to 104,000 in 1970. [175]
We need you with us to keep fighting — donate today. Contributions to the American Civil Liberties Union are not tax deductible. A monthly gift helps us respond to urgent threats and plan ahead. Sign up for ACLU emails to stay informed and take action to protect people's rights.
Regardless of your immigration status, you have guaranteed rights under the Constitution. Everyone has basic rights under the U.S. Constitution and civil rights laws. Learn more here about what your rights are, how to exercise them, and what to do when your rights are violated.
