Campaigns & Initiatives
Learn more about and support the ACLU's work to defend civil liberties and civil rights in every corner of the country.
Featured
Campaign
May 2024
We Show Up: Coming Together to Fight For Civil Rights and Liberties
For over 100 years, the ACLU has been showing up in the courts, in the streets, and in the halls of power to defend the rights that the Constitution guarantees to everyone.
In the past year alone, the ACLU community fought to secure abortion rights in Michigan, defended trans youth from political attacks in Arkansas and Texas, and blocked Florida from censoring lessons about race and gender in college classrooms. With the support of our members, supporters, volunteers, and staff, we will keep showing up whenever civil rights and civil liberties are under attack.
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Campaign
May 2024
Defend Your Right to Learn: Join In The Fight Against Classroom Censorship
In 2023, more than 100 classroom censorship bills aimed at restricting students and teachers from discussing race, gender, or sexual orientation were introduced in states across the country. Thirty-two bills became law. The year prior, the country saw the highest number of attempted book bans in 20 years with more than 1,000 demands to censor library books and resources, many of which targeted titles by or about Black and LGBTQ people.
The ACLU has challenged classroom censorship laws and book bans across the country. Today, we’re expanding on that work by pushing back against attempts to restrict diversity, equity and inclusion programs. We won’t stand for the erasure of marginalized communities in our schools.
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Initiative
Mar 2024
State Supreme Court Initiative
The U.S. Supreme Court is increasingly not an option to protect, let alone expand, civil liberties and civil rights. Last year’s Supreme Court term was the most conservative in a century, as President Trump’s three nominees exercised their newfound power to rule against liberty and shrink our constitutional rights.
But state supreme courts offer promise in the face of a hostile federal judiciary. That’s why we’re taking the fight to the states – we want to show up with as many resources and tools as we have available. The ACLU is launching a dedicated effort, called the State Supreme Court Initiative, to fight for the expansion of rights through state supreme courts, both through litigation and advocacy work.
The State Supreme Court Initiative will build on the organization’s existing work in state supreme courts and will expand the organization’s litigating capacity. With lawyers in every state in the country, the ACLU is uniquely situated to do this important work and to develop cross-state expertise on state constitutional litigation.
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All Campaigns & Initiatives
Initiative
Mar 2024
Abortion Criminal Defense Initiative
The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade is having life-altering and life-threatening consequences for women and other people who can become pregnant. The decision revoked the federal constitutional right to abortion, and with it our agency over our health, our lives, and our futures. In some states, the government may now prosecute people involved in abortion care.
This unprecedented moment in the fight for reproductive rights demands a nationwide system to ensure that health care providers, individuals that provide funding and practical support, and patients know that they will have access to a zealous defense should they be prosecuted. No one should have to navigate the injustice of this system alone.
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Initiative
Reproductive Freedom
+2 Issues
Abortion Criminal Defense Initiative
The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade is having life-altering and life-threatening consequences for women and other people who can become pregnant. The decision revoked the federal constitutional right to abortion, and with it our agency over our health, our lives, and our futures. In some states, the government may now prosecute people involved in abortion care.
This unprecedented moment in the fight for reproductive rights demands a nationwide system to ensure that health care providers, individuals that provide funding and practical support, and patients know that they will have access to a zealous defense should they be prosecuted. No one should have to navigate the injustice of this system alone.
Mar 2024
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Campaign
Nov 2023
Protecting Indigenous Students' Right to Wear Tribal Regalia
Graduation is a time of celebration and community. After centuries of attempted genocide and erasure of Indigenous culture and tradition, the ability to celebrate commencement in a culturally appropriate way is deeply important for Indigenous students. Tribal regalia worn at commencement are a symbol of resistance, resilience, and reclamation by students of their right to an education that honors their culture and heritage. But for some Indigenous students, graduation can be fraught with uncertainty or controversy over their ability to wear tribal regalia during commencement ceremonies. Some schools still prohibit Indigenous students from wearing items at graduation, claiming that it would violate the school’s dress code and speculating, without any basis, that it would disrupt the ceremony.
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Campaign
Racial Justice
Protecting Indigenous Students' Right to Wear Tribal Regalia
Graduation is a time of celebration and community. After centuries of attempted genocide and erasure of Indigenous culture and tradition, the ability to celebrate commencement in a culturally appropriate way is deeply important for Indigenous students. Tribal regalia worn at commencement are a symbol of resistance, resilience, and reclamation by students of their right to an education that honors their culture and heritage. But for some Indigenous students, graduation can be fraught with uncertainty or controversy over their ability to wear tribal regalia during commencement ceremonies. Some schools still prohibit Indigenous students from wearing items at graduation, claiming that it would violate the school’s dress code and speculating, without any basis, that it would disrupt the ceremony.
Nov 2023
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Campaign
Oct 2023
Systemic Equality: Equal Access, Better Futures
Since our nation’s founding, discriminatory policies and laws have created an unequal system in which Black communities have had their civil rights and liberties denied and have been systematically locked out of opportunities in education, housing, employment and more.
Through our Systemic Equality agenda, the ACLU will use nationwide litigation, advocacy, and public education to advance laws and policies rooted in racial equity and end discriminatory policies, laws, and practices that have an outsized impact on Black communities.
The ACLU will also continue to evolve our own culture, systems, and processes to drive progress toward our internal racial justice commitments, including by committing sustained recruitment and hiring efforts to recruit more diverse talent pools, developing initiatives to promote and retain Black leadership, engaging Black-owned and Black-led businesses, and more.
When we have full and equal access to education, jobs, housing, voting rights, and more, better futures are possible.
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Campaign
Capital Punishment
+5 Issues
Systemic Equality: Equal Access, Better Futures
Since our nation’s founding, discriminatory policies and laws have created an unequal system in which Black communities have had their civil rights and liberties denied and have been systematically locked out of opportunities in education, housing, employment and more.
Through our Systemic Equality agenda, the ACLU will use nationwide litigation, advocacy, and public education to advance laws and policies rooted in racial equity and end discriminatory policies, laws, and practices that have an outsized impact on Black communities.
The ACLU will also continue to evolve our own culture, systems, and processes to drive progress toward our internal racial justice commitments, including by committing sustained recruitment and hiring efforts to recruit more diverse talent pools, developing initiatives to promote and retain Black leadership, engaging Black-owned and Black-led businesses, and more.
When we have full and equal access to education, jobs, housing, voting rights, and more, better futures are possible.
Oct 2023
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