News & Commentary

The ACLU is a 50-state network of staffed affiliate offices in most major cities, more than 300 chapters in smaller towns, and regional offices in Denver and Atlanta. Work is coordinated by a national office in New York, aided by a legislative office in Washington that lobbies Congress. The ACLU has more than a dozen national projects devoted to specific civil liberties issues: AIDS, arts censorship, capital punishment, children's rights, education reform, lesbian and gay rights, immigrants' rights, national security, privacy and technology, prisoners' rights, reproductive freedom, voting rights, women's rights and workplace rights.

The ACLU has more than 60 staff attorneys, who collaborate with at least 2,000 volunteer attorneys in handling close to 6,000 cases annually -- making the ACLU the largest public interest law firm in the nation. The ACLU appears before the U.S. Supreme Court more than any other organization except the U.S. Department of Justice.

"So long as we have enough people in this country willing to fight for their rights, we'll be called a democracy."
ACLU founder Roger Baldwin

The ACLU is governed by an 84-member national Board of Directors which has one representative from each state affiliate and 30 at-large members elected by the affiliate and national boards. The affiliate boards, in turn, are elected by all ACLU members within their jurisdiction. On a day-to-day basis, each affiliate is autonomous and makes its own decisions about which cases to take and which issues to emphasize. They collaborate with the national office in pursuit of common goals.

Click here to learn more about ACLU affiliates across the country.

When Roger Baldwin founded the ACLU in 1920, civil liberties were in a sorry state. Citizens were sitting in jail for holding antiwar views. U.S. Attorney General Palmer was conducting raids upon aliens suspected of holding unorthodox opinions. Racial segregation was the law of the land and violence against blacks was routine. Sex discrimination was firmly institutionalized; it wasn't until 1920 that women even got the vote. Constitutional rights for gays and lesbians, the poor, prisoners, mental patients, and other special groups were literally unthinkable. And, perhaps most significantly, the Supreme Court had yet to uphold a single free speech claim under the First Amendment.

"We must remember that a right lost to one is lost to all. The ACLU remembers and it acts. The cause it serves so well is an imperative of freedom." - William Reece Smith, Jr., former president, American Bar Association

The ACLU was the first public interest law firm of its kind, and immediately began the work of transforming the ideals contained in the Bill of Rights into living, breathing realities.

We invite you to take pride in protecting fundamental American values of freedom, fairness, and equality for all by becoming a proud card-carrying member of the ACLU. Our work sticking up for the little guy is part of a great American tradition.

The ACLU works daily in the courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the rights and freedoms our founders guaranteed in the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and the laws of the United States.

WHO WE ARE
We are a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that reaches out to and represents anyone whose fundamental freedoms have been violated. We are the largest organization defending civil rights and civil liberties in the world.

The ACLU protects American values and preserves American freedoms. Our job is to conserve America's civic values - as expressed in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights - and defend these rights even when its unpopular to do so.

Protecting the freedoms of those with whom the majority disagrees or despises is the only way to keep those precious rights alive for future generations. Sticking up for the little guy is fundamental to preserving the integrity of our democracy.

HOW LARGE?
The ACLU's work is sustained by more than 500,000 members and supporters who play an active role in defending freedom.

The American Civil Liberties Union is the nation's foremost advocate of individual rights - litigating, legislating, and educating the public on a broad array of issues affecting individual freedom in the United States. The ACLU has won important victories in a range of cases.

The American system of government is built on two basic, counterbalancing principles: 1) that the majority of the people, through democratically elected representatives, governs the country and 2) that the power of even a democratic majority must be limited to insure individual rights. In every era of American history, the government has tried to expand its authority at the expense of individual rights. The American Civil Liberties Union exists to make sure that doesn't happen, and to fight back when it does.

The ACLU is not a public defender like Legal Services or Legal Aid. It does not handle criminal cases or civil disputes or choose sides according to financial criteria. Nor do we take political sides; we are neither liberal nor conservative, Republican nor Democrat. The ACLU is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, 500,000-member public interest organization devoted exclusively to protecting the basic civil liberties of all Americans, and extending them to groups that have traditionally been denied them. In its nine decades of existence, the ACLU has become a national institution, and is widely recognized as the country's foremost advocate of individual rights.

If you believe your civil liberties have been violated, contact your local ACLU affiliate, the ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties, at P.O. Box 87131, San Diego, CA 92138-7131, 619/232-2121.

The First Amendment says, Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Unabridged, from spoken word artists Steve Connell and Sekou (tha misfit), is a new collection of poetry written especially for the ACLU that celebrates the power of words and captures the passion behind several of our current battles in the courtrooms and in Congress.

Listen in and stay tuned for more...

In spite of the Supreme Court's ringing endorsement of students' rights in the landmark Tinker decision, constitutional violations are far too common in public schools across the country. Articles about controversial subjects written for student newspapers are censored. Lockers and backpacks are searched without reasonable suspicion. Minority students are disproportionately directed to lower track programs. Majoritarian religious practices are officially sanctioned by teachers and school administrators. Female students are excluded from certain extracurricular activities, and gay students are intimidated into silence.

Teachers and administrators have a responsibility to provide a safe environment for the students that is conducive to learning. They also have a responsibility to respect each student's individual rights. These two missions are not incompatible. Kids have rights too!

At least twice a year, the ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties publishes The (ironically titled) Blacklist, a listing of San Diego's must-see arts and cultural events in all forms of media that explore civil liberties and social justice themes. Following is an electronic version. To download a copy, click on the link below.

If you have know of upcoming art events that touch on civil liberties or social justice themes that should be listed, please send us your event to be added!

The ACLU is proud to announce the formation of the Artist Friends of the San Diego ACLU, comprising artists of all mediums to help generate public support for civil liberties and freedom of expression in the arts.

Our honorary chair, Pete Seeger, the legendary folk singer and former ACLU client, stands out among the many artists the ACLU has protected over the years for his lifelong commitment to civil liberties, social justice and the environment. The ACLU successfully represented Seeger in 1960 when he was nearly prohibited from performing at Hoover High School for refusing to sign an anti-communist loyalty oath.

With our artist friends, we will host occasional forums and performances that bring together the arts and civil liberties.

We will publish the (ironically titled) Blacklist, a listing of the must-see performances, exhibits, readings, openings and shows that address civil liberties or social justice themes.

To do so, we need your help! If you work in the arts, are an artist, author or performer in any medium or genre and support civil liberties, please contact us! If you know about upcoming art events that touch on civil liberties or social justice themes that should be included on our Blacklist, please contact us.

Artist Friends of the San Diego ACLU
Honorary Chair
Pete Seeger

Members
Rae Armantrout, UCSD Writing Professor, Pulitzer Prize winner
Doris Bittar, painter
Alan DiBona, Theater Professor
Kevin Greene, IP Law Professor
Wade Harb, Painter
Linda Moore, Linda Moore Art Gallery
Abe Ordover, Abe Ordover Art Gallery
Gregory Page, Musician
Tim Pyles, 94.9 DJ
Jeff Slattery, Art Law Professor

Organizational Members
Aja Project (Sandra Ainslie, Executive Director)
The Book Works (Lisa Stefanacci, Owner)
Playwrights Project (Cecelia Kouma, Executive Director)
San Diego Asian Film Festival (Lee Ann Kim, Executive Director)
San Diego Writers, Ink (Judy Reeves, Executive Director)
So Say We All (Justin Hudnall, Executive Director)
UCSD Theatre & Dance (Arthur Wagner, Founder and Emeritus Faculty)