American Civil Liberties Union

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an organization founded in 1920, with the mission of defending and preserving the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to all people in the U.S. Constitution . The ACLU currently has more than 1.7 million members, 500 staff attorneys, thousands of volunteer attorneys, and several offices throughout the United States.

Within its organizational mission, the ACLU engages in activities such as litigation , legislative lobbying, and educational outreach to:

• Fight for racial justice.
• Maintain freedom of and from religion.
• Preserve freedom of speech .
• Defend liberty in times of national crisis.
• Apply the Bill of Rights to criminal justice .
• Protect women’s equality.
• Safeguard reproductive freedom.
• Fight for equality of the LGBTQ+ community.
• Guarantee the right to vote.

For detailed information about the ACLU please visit their website: www.aclu.org/faqs

[Last reviewed in June of 2022 by the Wex Definitions Team ]

Keywords

• lawsuits-court

Wex

• ACADEMIC TOPICS
• trial process/advocacy
• CIVICS
• civil rights
• human rights
• the Constitution
• THE LEGAL PROCESS
• class actions
• courts
• wex definitions
• civil procedure
• constitutional law
• government