The American Civil Liberties Union ( ACLU ) Essay, Research Paper
The American Civil Liberties Union ( ACLU )
Where make you travel if person is endangering your personal rights? Do you
travel to the constabulary, or possibly to the authorities? What if the constabulary and authorities
are the parties endangering your rights? All you have to make is merely name the
ACLU ( American Civil Liberties Union ) . Sounds like a commercial doesn & # 8217 ; t it. The
ACLU blankets the United States with its legal protection. It is involved in so
many facets of the battle for civil autonomies that it is hard to cover it
all. To to the full understand what the ACLU has done for the United States would take
much longer than I have. Therefore, I have picked a twosome of incidents that, to
me, represent what the ACLU is, and how they have affected our society.
The ACLU, American Civil Liberties Union, is an organisation that began
the battle to protect the civil autonomies of the American people. The ACLU is
defined as being a US non-partisan organisation offering legal assistance and other
aid in instances of misdemeanor of civil autonomies. ( Websters ) Civil autonomies
incorporate a significant organic structure of jurisprudence including: freedom of address and imperativeness,
separation of church and province, free exercising of faith, due procedure of jurisprudence,
equal protection, and privateness. ( Walker 3 ) The Encyclopedia of the Fundamental law
defines civil autonomies as & # 8220 ; those rights that an single citizens may asseverate
against the government. & # 8221 ; In a formal sense, the ACLU is a private volunteer
organisation dedicated to supporting the Bill of Rights. Officially established
in 1920, the
ACLU now claims over 270,000 members. With offices in most of the provinces and the
District of Columbia the ACLU justifiably calls itself & # 8221 ; the state & # 8217 ; s largest
jurisprudence firm. & # 8221 ; ( Walker 4 )
The ACLU, despite its baronial end, has a awful public image. The
ground for such hatred or support is the fact that civil autonomy instances by and large
affect moral and personal issues. These issues are those that incite feelings
from all corners of society. The rights the ACLU is by and large protecting are
those sections of society that least agree with mainstream society. The ACLU has
promised to protect the rights of everyone. Those rights include the free address
rights of such despised groups as the Ku Klux Klan, Nazis, and Communist. The
Skokie Case is an illustration of the authoritative freedom of address instance the ACLU would
undertake. This instance which hit the media April 28, 1977, concerned the right of
American Nazi Frank Collin to show in Skokie, IL. ( Walker 323 ) This instance
like many earlier and after defended the rights of a individual adopting one of
the most universally detested political orientation in the state. While the ACLU was
merely making its occupation it about had to close down when many withdrew their
ranks and support.
The ACLU became the twit of the 1988 Presidential run. The race
between George Bush and Michael Dukakis brought the ACLU to the head of
media attending. The ACLU became the faltering block of the Dukakis & # 8217 ;
presidential command. The Bush run asked for ammo to assist bit off at
Dukakis early lead. The staff came back with a quotation mark, for a address, naming
Dukakis a & # 8220 ; card transporting member of the ACLU who opposed the decease
penalty. & # 8221 ; ( Dionne 311 ) He was pro-gun control, pro-abortion, and had as the Bush
run put it, & # 8220 ; & # 8230 ; vetoed the pledge of allegiance. & # 8221 ; Dukakis, in short, was a
authoritative, impenitent & # 8220 ; 1960ss liberal. & # 8221 ; ( Dionne 311 ) This accusal gave
Dukakis a broad repute in a run that was center of the route propensity
toward conservativism. In this instance the truth injury. & # 8220 ; In the Bush preparation,
belonging to the ACLU meant ne’er equilibrating an single claim against a societal
claim. & # 8221 ; ( Dionne 314 ) Unfortunatly the antonyms sounds suspiciously similar lawlessness.
The impudent side to this is the negative promotion accidentally helped to
increase the rank and strength of the ACLU. & # 8221 ; In the terminal it added about
70,000 new members possibly half as a direct consequence of the run & # 8230 ; transcending
even the extremum [ rank ] of the Watergate years. & # 8221 ; ( Walker 369 )
The ACLU is the watchdog of civil autonomies. They protect us by
supporting those we might detest. They have shaped political relations, the legal system, and
media. I may non wish the broad policies of the ACLU and its members, but I
hold to esteem the rules and ideals it was founded on and still elaborate
today.
Bibliography
& # 8220 ; American Civil Liberties Union. & # 8221 ; Webster & # 8217 ; s New Lexicon Dictionary. 1989
Walker, Samuel. In Defense of American Autonomies: A History of the ACLU. New
York: Oxford UP, 1990.
Norman Dorsem, & # 8220 ; Civil Liberties. & # 8221 ; in Leonard Levy, ed. , Encylopedia of the
Constitution ( New York: Macmillan, 1986 ) , pp. 263-270
Dionne, E.J. Why Americans Hate Politics. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1991