Anthony D. Romero, JD, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union, was quoted on May 1, 2001 as having said the following during his official statement upon appointment of his position at the ACLU:
"The ACLU is the only organization that can serve as a wholesale bulwark against attacks on our civil liberties. While most civil rights and civil liberties organizations focus on a specific issue or a particular constituency, the ACLU is the only organization that defends all of our constitutional liberties and the rights of all Americans."
Sanford Levinson, JD, PhD, Professor of Law and Politics at the University of Texas, wrote the following position in a Mar. 28, 2007 email sent to ProCon.org:
"I of course believe that the ACLU is good for America, even if I happen to disagree on occasion with some of the specific positions taken by the organization. It has, by and large, vigorously defended the civil liberties of unpopular minorities and thus provides a valuable 'pushback' against a government disinclined to ask questions about the legitimacy of its own (mis)conduct."
Reclaim Democracy, a nonprofit organization with the mission "to build democracy through education, activism, and collaboration," wrote the following information in a Jan. 23, 2003 'sign-on' letter addressed to the ACLU Board of Directors titled "Bestowing Bill of Rights Protections on Corporations Undermines the Rights of Humans":
"For more than 80 years the work done by the American Civil Liberties Union has been of immeasurable value in protecting and extending freedom and democracy. Perhaps its greatest contribution has been in its advocacy of First Amendment rights. Few people realize the crucial role ACLU has had in the establishment of the free speech protections that many Americans mistakenly believe has been theirs since the founding of the nation."
Samuel Walker, PhD, Emeritus Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, was quoted as having said the following in an ExtraMile.us article written about ACLU founding director Roger Baldwin (accessed Jan. 16, 2009):
"Respect for civil liberties is not a natural impulse, certainly not in American society with its seething religious, ethnic and racial tensions... The ACLU history is eloquent testimony to the fact that the principles in the Bill of Rights acquire flesh and blood only when someone fights for them."
Bill Baird, Founder of Pro-Choice League, made the following comment during an Aug. 1, 2006 phone interview with ProCon.org:
"Far more important than law suits, the ACLU is a teaching
instrument. The ACLU is part of the social fabric, it teaches America
what civil rights are all about."
T. Jeremy Gunn, PhD, JD, Director of the ACLU Program on Religion and Belief, wrote the following statements in a Dec. 12, 2006 email sent to ProCon.org:
"Religion is pervasive in the public square in the United States - and it is constitutionally protected. The ACLU has long defended individuals, families, and religious communities who wish to manifest their religion in public. Particularly when compared to other industrialized democracies, religion plays a prominent role in American public life. Churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, cathedrals, and Gurdwaras are plainly visible in the public sphere and their right to display religious symbols and to construct religious edifices is protected by the Constitution and by statutes. The ACLU has actively supported the right of people to preach their religion in public places and to go door-to-door to spread their religious messages."
Austin Cline, MA, Agnosticism/Atheism guide for About.com, wrote the following opinion in an Oct. 8, 2004 About.com article titled "ACLU: Most Obnoxious Group in America?":
"The ACLU has consistently defended the rights of Christians to worship as their religion and conscience dictates, often against the attempts by other Christians to infringe upon those rights by having certain forms of Christianity privileged by the government. The ACLU has also consistently fought against the privileging of any one religion or any one sect over others."
Aryeh Neier, JD, President of the Open Society Institute, wrote the following statements in his book Defending My Enemy, published in 1979:
"From its founding in 1920, the primary purpose of the American Civil Liberties Union has been to defend freedom of speech... The ACLU, therefore, feels obliged to defend any group denied the freedom to speak... Many of the ACLU's battles in the noble cause of freedom of speech have been waged on behalf of despicable clients... [Because] abridgements of freedom are directed first against the most universally despised."
Kalamazoo Gazette, a Michigan-based daily newspaper, published the following opinion in a Jan. 10, 2007 editorial piece:
"Although many conservative groups rally their base by calling the ACLU as anti-Christian, communistic and anti-American, the truth is that the ACLU has gone to bat for anyone whose constitutional rights are in danger of being eroded - Christian, Jewish, Muslim, liberal, moderate or conservative."
A. Schneider, retired US Air Force Captain, wrote the following statements in a letter to The Retired Officer Magazine, that they published in their June 2002 issue:
"Far from attacking religious liberty, the ACLU is the premier organization in this country working to preserve religious liberty. It does this by making sure that no religious beliefs get mixed up with government in violation of the First Amendment to the Constitution. The United States was not founded as a Christian country. Many of the founders were deists who had good knowledge of the persecution (mostly by Christians against other Christians) that can occur when religion gets mixed up in government. They wanted the U.S. government to be secular and totally neutral with respect to religion, hence the First Amendment. The ACLU works hard to maintain that separation of church and state."
Bob Barr, JD, Lobbyist for the Marijuana Policy Project, was quoted as having said in a Dec. 2003 Reason.com interview:
"I had always known them [the ACLU] to be a very, very consistent
advocate for civil liberties, but we disagreed on so many issues that I
never really sought them out in terms of an ally. But shortly after I
came up to the Congress, I realized - and I think they realized the
same thing - that the size of government and the expansiveness of
government power were creating a smaller sphere of personal liberty and
personal privacy, and that we needed to find allies in this fight, and
work together on those issues in which we agree and agree to disagree
on the other issues."
Burton Caine, JD, former President of the ACLU Greater Philadelphia Branch, published the following statement on the ACLU Philadelphia website (accessed Sep. 29, 2006):
"As an active member of the ACLU for over 50 years including
President of the Greater Philadelphia Branch and member of the
Pennsylvania state board and several national committees, I have always
cherished my membership in the foremost civil rights organization in
the nation."
Elaine Cassel, JD, Professor of Law at Concord University School of Law, wrote the following position in a 2004 opinion piece titled "ACLU's Rejoinder to John Ashcroft: Setting the Record Straight on the PATRIOT ACT," published on OpEdNews.com:
"Visit the ACLU website to learn more about its vigilance in
protecting all of our civil liberties. The organization's tireless
attorneys and analysts have their hands full trying to keep one step
ahead of Ashcroft and his editors of the Constitution."
Alessandra Soler Meetze, Executive Director of the ACLU of Arizona, was quoted as having said the following during a Dec. 22, 2006 interview with the Arizona Capitol Times:
"I do think there is a lot of misinformation out there that the ACLU is out of the mainstream, that we're a radical left wing group. We're an organization that's been around for 86 years. We're essentially a conservative organization. We defend the fundamental principles that are outlined in the Constitution and we do so for everyone regardless of their political inclinations, their sexual orientation, their national origins, and so I think because of that we tackle very unpopular causes. We represent people who espouse racist beliefs, people who have committed heinous crimes. We can't really pick and choose who our clients are."
Douglas A. Fraser, former President of the United Auto Workers, was quoted as having said the following comment in 1992 by the ACLU in its briefing paper titled "Guardian of Liberty: American Civil Liberties Union":
"The ACLU's 60-year guardianship of the Bill of Rights has done much to advance the cause of working men and women."
Nadine Strossen, JD, former National President of the ACLU, wrote the following information in an introductory article of the ACLU's 2004 Annual Report titled "The Courage to Speak Out":
"[W]e [the ACLU] speak in measured, informed and nonpartisan ways - criticizing specific aspects of government actions that violate neutral civil liberties principles. People understand that what drives us is justice, not ideology."
Raul Cano, Bowling Green University alumnus, wrote the following statements in a Sep. 24, 2004 guest column for bgnews.com titled "Establishment Clause Misread":
"The ACLU is not anti-religion, it just takes offense when the
coercive forces of the state are used to push religion on the people of
this country... If the government was to ever try to get the Catholic
League, the Christian Coalition, or the ADL [Anti-Defamation League] off the internet, you can
be sure that the ACLU would come to their aid."
Kurt Vonnegut, MA, award-winning author of Slaughterhouse Five and Cat's Cradle, was quoted by The New York Times as having made the following statement in a Sep. 12, 2003 article titled "Celebrities Line Up To Criticize Bush in ACLU Campaign":
"What I've said again and again is that if any official from a dogcatcher on up treats you in a way which is clearly unconstitutional, don't call the FBI, call the ACLU."
George H.W. Bush, 41st President of the United States, made the following comments during the first Bush-Dukakis presidential debate held at Wake Forest University on Sep. 25, 1988:
"[I] don't agree with a lot of - most of the positions of the
ACLU. I simply don't want to see the ratings on movies [removed]. I don't want my
ten year old grandchild to go into an X-rated movie. I like those
ratings systems. I don't think they're right to try to take the tax
exemption away from the Catholic Church. I don't want to see the kiddie
pornographic laws repealed; I don't want to see 'under God' come out
from our currency. Now, these are all positions of the ACLU. And I
don't agree with them."
Gordon Bishop, syndicated columnist, wrote the following comments in his Sep. 25, 2005 article titled "ACLU Must Lose Its Tax-Exempt Status," published by the Atlantic Highlands Herald:
"The ACLU no longer represents the best interests in America, but
the worst interests, from pedophiles and sex offenders, to Marxists and
Communists. The ACLU has become an ugly destructive force undermining
the greatest nation civilization has ever known."
Chuck Norris, action film actor and columnist, wrote the following opinion in his Dec. 11, 2006 article published by WorldDailyNet.com, titled "ACLU: The Abolishing Christian Legacy Union":
"The ACLU will assure Muslim clerics and imams the right to pray on planes, fight for an atheist's rights to remove a cross, stand beside pro-abortionists, help illegal aliens cross our borders, and establish rights for the sexual deviant by forming the ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Project, but what is it doing for Christians and Christmas censorship?
While allegedly fighting against the tyranny of the majority, the ACLU itself rules religiously by litigation, lobbying, and supporting counter-culture Christian movements. So who died and appointed the ACLU as America's religious constitutional watchdog? Membership for the ACLU is only 500,000. America's population is 300 million. I think it's time that we helped them feel their size!"
Bill O'Reilly, TV and Radio host, made the following comments during the Mar. 1, 2005 airing of his talk show The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly:
"This ACLU has no strategy to fight the war on terror at all. Everything the United States government does - everything - they oppose. So look, I'm declaring war on the ACLU. I think they're a terrorist group. They're terrorizing me and my family. They're terrorizing me. I think they're terrorists."
Aryeh Spero, Rabbi and President of Caucus for America, wrote the following statements in a Mar. 17, 2005 article titled "Everything's a 'Civil Rights' Issue," posted on HumanEvents.com:
"Any neutral observer can't help but see the blatant selectivity groups such as the ACLU use when deciding whose 'rights' are worthy of defense, concerned, apparently, not for ordinary law-abiding citizens but mostly the hardened criminals, illegal aliens and, now, terrorists. The Non-American Civil Liberties Union is a more apt description of their mission."
Mary Meehan, writer and public speaker, wrote the following statements in her article "ACLU v. Unborn Children," published in 2001 by Human Life Review:
"[T]he ACLU's biggest problem is not its failure to live up to outsiders' standards. It sometimes violates its own traditions and principles in a radical way. This is especially true of its long and relentless campaign against the right to life of unborn children... The defender of free speech helps ensure that millions of human beings will never have a chance to speak - or to exercise freedom of religion, freedom of the press, the right of assembly, and the right to petition the government for redress of grievances."
Alan Sears, JD, President, CEO and General Counsel of the Alliance Defense Fund, wrote the following statements in his Oct. 13, 2005 article titled "The ACLU's Enthusiasm for Death," published by WorldDaily.net:
"The ACLU couches its aggressive activities... as a noble struggle for 'reproductive freedom.' But it's hard to classify any freedom as 'reproductive' that despises unborn children and endorses their savage destruction up to the moment when all but their skull has emerged from the womb. Indeed, it's hard to credit as 'freedom' a movement so single-minded in its determination to silence, even punish, so many expressions of alternative viewpoints... How can any organization be so vocally committed to happiness and 'freedom' but yet be so deeply opposed to recognizing the infinite value of - and the right to - life itself?"
Michael Novak, Director of Social and Political Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, wrote the following statements in a July 12, 2002 article "The Atheist Civil-Liberty Union?," published by the National Review Online:
"The American Civil Liberties Union has a public agenda, and that agenda appears to be this: to make the United States in all her public manifestations reflect an atheist's view of the nation's Founding and continuing existence."
Ken McElroy, former columnist for the American Federalist Journal, wrote the following opinion in the Oct. 20, 2001 article "God Bless the ACLU," posted on his website Ken.McElroyOnline.com:
"[T]he primary objective of the secularists [the ACLU] is not to protect individual rights by interpreting the Bill of Rights in a consistent way, but to further their own agenda by interpreting the Constitution narrowly or broadly depending on what they like or don't like... "
Debbie Schlussel, JD, political commentator, wrote the following statements in her Sep. 15, 2000 article "Pedophilia Good, Religion, Bad?" published by Jewish World Review:
"[T]he radical, minority ACLU is picking which type of speech will really be free for America. That deviant, offensive speech, like flag burning, nude dancing, and instructions on how to build bombs, will be free; But moral, laudable speech, like voluntary prayer, will not. Remember that form of free speech known as silence? It's time for the ACLU to exercise it."
Joseph Farah, Editor and CEO of World Net Daily, wrote the following statements, in the Aug. 17, 2004 article titled "The Corporatistas," published by WorldNetDaily.com:
"Generally speaking, [the ACLU] is a terribly subversive organization. It is a clear and present danger to national security and the long-term health of our free republic."
Mark H. Creech, Reverend and Executive Director of the Christian Action League, wrote the following statement in "Protecting Christian Health-Care Providers," published by Agape Press (OneNewsNow.com) on Mar. 1, 2005:
"For Americans of conscience, I believe the ACLU and others like them are public enemy number one."
Jessica Gavora, former Senior Policy Advisor to Attorney General John Ashcroft, wrote the following statements in "The Quota Czars," published in the May/June 1997 issue of Policy Review:
"The ACLU betrays its historic commitment to individual liberties by defending racial preferences. The ACLU has some smart lawyers. The problem is they don't seem to realize - or care - that their tactics and objectives represent a betrayal of their historic mission."
Tom Kranawitter, PhD, former Vice-President of the Claremont Institute, wrote in the June 9, 2004 Claremont Institute article titled "LA County's Seal and the Real Agenda of the ACLU" that:
"[A]s Washington worried about the prospect of America losing religion and morality, the ACLU delights in it. As its record shows, the ACLU will not rest until every remnant of moral faith has been jettisoned from the public square and the public mind."
Phil Kent, Executive Director of the American Immigration Control Foundation, wrote in "Rein in the ACLU; Trying to Steal America's History," published on Dec. 14, 2004 by The Washington Times, that:
"The ACLU is attempting to steal our Judeo-Christian history so it can steal our country. Citizen pressure needs to be applied to force Congress to use every weapon at its disposal - including its Article III power to define jurisdiction of federal courts, a constitutional amendment, regulations to enforce existing laws, and the withholding of taxpayers' money from counties or states that try undermining our Judeo-Christian heritage."
Devvy Kidd, Founder and Director of the Project on Winning Economic Reform (POWER), wrote in the June 7, 2004 article titled "ACLU Demands LA County Remove Cross From Official Seal," and published by NewsWithViews.com, that:
"It is... shameful that elected public servants continue to cave into threats and strong-arming by the ACLU... Can they not see this relentless attack on Christianity by the Godless ACLU is the pursuit of communism under the guise of 'violation of the First Amendment'?"
Kevin McCullough, radio talk show host, wrote in the Dec. 2, 2005 WorldNetDaily.com article titled "'Merry Christmas' to the ACLU," that:
"The ACLU has taken it upon themselves - as a badge of honor, if you will - to attempt to systematically expunge the terms, definitions, and in many cases the symbols of the holiday... Through threats, intimidation and - in increasing numbers of actual cases of litigation - the anti-God organization leads the charge."
Sheldon Richman, Senior Fellow at The Future of Freedom Foundation, posted the following comments to the History News Network discussion board on June 19, 2004:
"The ACLU is worse than AWOL on the preventive detention of law-abiding people branded 'mentally ill and dangerous to themselves or others.' It enthusiastically supports such an atrocity as the 'right to treatment.' Sadly, the Bill of Rights is not for them. And let's not forget that the ACLU is unaware that something comes between the First and Third Amendments."
Alliance Defense Fund, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to "provide legal defense and advocacy of religious freedom, the sanctity of human life, and traditional family values," wrote the following on its website (accessed June 27, 2006):
"Far from the noble protector of our constitutional rights many Americans believe it to be, the ACLU has from its earliest days deliberately and patiently chipped away at the legal, moral, and religious foundations of our Republic"
California Patriot, an independent journal published at the University of California at Berkeley, wrote the following statements in their Dec. 2004 issue:
"The framers of the Constitution were religious men who wanted to be able to practice religion without interference. Ironically, it is not the government that is obstructing the free practice of religion; it is the ACLU."
