American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), organization founded by Roger Baldwin and others in New York City in 1920 to champion constitutional liberties in the United States. The ACLU works to protect Americans’ constitutional rights and freedoms as set forth in the U.S. Constitution and its amendments. The ACLU works in three basic areas: freedom of expression, conscience, and association; due process of law; and equality under the law.

The ACLU seeks to further particular aspects of civil liberties by affecting the outcome of specific legal cases in the courts. Since its founding the ACLU has initiated test cases as well as intervened in cases already in the courts. Thus, it may directly provide legal counsel in a case, or it may comment on the civil-liberties issues in a case by filing a “friend of the court” (amicus curiae) brief.

One of the ACLU’s most famous test cases was the Scopes trial (1925), ... (150 of 458 words)