Sheila Suess Kennedy, JD Biography

"The ACLU has been the pre-eminent protector of the individual liberties protected by the Bill of Rights. Today, when there are many other legal organizations and public interest law firms that focus on constitutional issues and the rights of individuals, it can be easy to overlook the role that the ACLU played in defining how Americans understand individual liberty. We sometimes forget that the U.S. Constitution is not self-enforcing; that is, unless a lawsuit is brought that successfully asserts that a governmental action violates the Constitution or Bill of Rights, nothing will happen, and the violation will continue. That means that violations of the rights of people who cannot afford to hire a lawyer will not be redressed.

In the 1920's, when the ACLU was founded, there were no organizations willing to represent people without charge in order to insure government compliance with the Constitution and Bill of Rights. The ACLU represented workers trying to form unions, and was virtually the only predominantly white organization to oppose racism and denounce the then-resurgent Ku Klux Klan. The organization has been instrumental in a majority of important Supreme Court cases protecting free speech, religious liberty, due process and other important rights."