We're Fighting For Our Freedoms -- No Matter Who is President
As we near Election Day, the ACLU is in conversation with state and local activists about how to prepare for, and respond to, the election outcome. Many people we spoke with are grappling with how they can best protect their communities and fight back against unprecedented attempts to restrict our rights. Right now, there’s real concern about how to combat the dystopian, authoritarian vision for America that Project 2025 and other extremist figures have promised.
Many ACLU supporters also tell us that it already feels like Project 2025 is in operation in their community. They are living with state-level bans on abortion, ideological purges in their schools, and intimidation and harassment from anti-civil rights law enforcement officials and threats by vigilante groups. No matter who wins the White House, they will continue to live with attempts to impose an extreme, anti-civil liberties agenda on their communities.
The gravity of this moment is clear to all of us. We need to come together now to prepare a sustained and coordinated advocacy campaign for civil liberties and civil rights protections where we live. We need a firewall for freedom: a barrier that stops the fiery spread of constant attacks on our civil liberties and civil rights.
How to Build a Firewall for Freedom
Without the assistance of state and local government agencies, a presidential administration will find it much harder to act on its worst threats, such as mass deportations. That is why we are calling on state governments to ensure a firewall between state and local personnel, resources or data and federal or out-of-state law enforcement agencies that attempt to violate our constitutional freedoms. When federal or out-of-state law enforcement agencies request information or assistance they could use to undermine the civil rights of residents, state agencies can and should decline to provide it. We urge state legislatures to pass measures that affirm and enforce this firewall for freedom.
We also urge state and local leaders to pass laws, issue directives and reaffirm state constitutional protections for the right to protest, data privacy, and student non-discrimination. This support is vital to educators, health care providers and families who may face attacks or harassment from either a turbocharged federal law enforcement or another state’s prosecutors.
At the local level, we urge mayors and city councils to come together to protect and support families who could be targeted by mass deportation efforts, attempts to criminalize gender non-conformity and other anti-trans discrimination, and other attacks. We will also urge state and local leaders to move forward on racial and criminal justice in a climate that will remain challenging no matter who wins the presidency.
How We Speak Out for Our Freedoms
Even in legislatures and city councils where they are in the minority, individual elected leaders have powerful voices. We urge them to stand alongside impacted community members, bear witness to abuses, and speak out. This will be vital to pushing back on the xenophobia, racism, and bigotry that we have unfortunately seen in far too many of our communities.
Trump has threatened to use the military and federal law enforcement agencies to go after his political opponents. Sadly, we have already seen similar action from state and local law enforcement. For example, accosted voters and the attacked faith-based communities, voting rights protections organizations, immigrant communities, and reproductive health nonprofits. It is vital for state and local elected leaders to present a counternarrative to such attacks, and an alternative vision of governance built on freedom and rights.
How We’re Fighting Back
The ACLU has challenged unlawful attacks on our rights and freedoms for more than 100 years. We know that states are the frontlines in this fight for justice. They have the power to build the firewall we described that will protect our communities. We are prepared to use every tool at our disposal to continue this fight — no matter who wins the presidential election — and we have a plan.
For months, the ACLU’s legal and advocacy experts have been developing a roadmap to work with Congress and in statehouses to protect and expand abortion access, pass nondiscrimination laws, and more in the event of Kamala Harris or Donald Trump presidency. This plan is outlined in addressing the key policy concerns of either candidate. In the coming months, our affiliates throughout the country will lead the charge to enact state firewalls to protect residents and push back on any unconstitutional tactics, whether pursued by a president or other states.
This important work starts now, and it starts with you. . Let’s get to work.
Learn More About the Issues on This Page
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News & CommentaryDec 2024
Civil Liberties
We Need to Know More About State Supreme Court CasesWe Need to Know More About State Supreme Court Cases
State Supreme Courts interpret laws that impact some of the most intimate parts of our lives. Communities have a right to know what’s on the docket. -
Press ReleaseDec 2024
Civil Liberties
New ACLU Report Reveals Most State Supreme Courts Fail to Meet Key Transparency MeasuresNew ACLU Report Reveals Most State Supreme Courts Fail to Meet Key Transparency Measures
NEW YORK — Nearly half of all state supreme courts across the country fail to regularly post new cases they are considering, with only six meeting four key transparency measures already implemented by the U.S. Supreme Court, according to a new report published today by the American Civil Liberties Union. The report identifies significant steps that state supreme courts should take to inform the public about their cases, which have only grown in importance as the federal judiciary has become more hostile to protecting core rights and advocates have turned to state protections and state court litigation in response. Based on an analysis of the practices and policies of the highest courts in each state, including D.C., the report “Scorecard for State Supreme Court Transparency: How Does Your State Stack Up?” ranks each state supreme court in five tiers based on compliance with four key transparency measures. These measures include posting new cases online in a timely manner, providing timely information about legal issues presented by cases, making dockets accessible and free for the public, and making merits briefing accessible and free for the public. “State courts regularly hear — and are the final word on — cases affecting abortion rights, voting rights, criminal justice reform, and more. Yet, in many instances, the highest state courts do not provide meaningful public access to information about cases affecting the rights and liberties of millions of people. We urge state supreme courts to bring more transparency to the critical work they do,” said Julie Murray, co-director of the ACLU’s State Supreme Court Initiative. “In the face of a federal judiciary increasingly unwilling to protect core rights and an incoming administration that threatens to exacerbate that problem, state courts are an important defense for our liberty. They should be leaders in transparency, too,” said Bridget Lavender, Skadden Fellow with the Initiative. The report emphasizes that state courts “play an outsized role” in many parts of the law, but their ability to “guard our liberties depends in significant part on whether those courts adopt transparent processes.” It further highlights that state supreme courts have led the way on enormously consequential decisions in recent years. In particular, some state supreme courts have recognized the right of same sex couples to marry, and did so long before federal courts. They have also declared the death penalty unconstitutional under state law despite contrary federal law, protected access to reproductive health care as a right even as that right was being stripped away at the federal level, and provided more robust protection to people subject to unreasonable searches and seizures. The report urges state supreme courts to take action to improve their transparency practices, taking notes from the courts that have already implemented these measures. It notes that regularly posting new cases and the issues they represent, and providing timely access to dockets and merits briefing allows the public, the press, and the legal community to track cases as they unfold, identify cases with statewide consequences, and understand what’s at stake. -
Press ReleaseNov 2024
National Security
+2 Issues
ACLU Urges House to Kill Bill that Could Give Trump Admin Power to Crush Dissent and Go After Political EnemiesACLU Urges House to Kill Bill that Could Give Trump Admin Power to Crush Dissent and Go After Political Enemies
WASHINGTON — The American Civil Liberties Union strongly urges the House of Representatives to vote NO on H.R. 9495, the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act, which would grant Donald Trump and his handpicked secretary of the Treasury power to investigate and effectively shut down any tax-exempt organization — including news outlets, universities, and civil society groups — by stripping them of tax-exempt status based on an unilateral accusation of wrongdoing. “Passing this bill would hand the incoming Trump administration a dangerous new tool it could use to stifle free speech, target political opponents, and punish disfavored groups,” said Kia Hamadanchy, senior policy counsel at ACLU. “The freedom to dissent without fear of government retribution is a vital part of any well-functioning democracy, which is why Congress must block H.R. 9495 before it’s too late.” While there is a 90-day “cure” period in which a designated nonprofit can mount a defense, it is a mere illusion of due process. The government may deny organizations its reasons and evidence against them, leaving the nonprofit unable to rebut allegations. This means that a nonprofit could be left entirely in the dark about what conduct the government believes qualifies as "support," making it virtually impossible to clear its name. Last month, the ACLU and a diverse array of over 130 other tax-exempt organizations — including human rights, reproductive health, and immigrants’ rights groups — wrote to Congress urging them to vote no. The letter also explains that the groups do not oppose the provisions in H.R. 9495 that relate to preventing the IRS from imposing fines and penalties on hostages while they are held abroad. Indeed, these provisions have already passed the Senate on their own, and if the House of Representatives were to pass a version of this bill that did not include the text of H.R. 6408, it could be sent immediately to President Biden for his signature. -
News & CommentaryNov 2024
Civil Liberties
Donald Trump Will Return to the White House in January. The ACLU is Ready.Donald Trump Will Return to the White House in January. The ACLU is Ready.
Starting in 2016, the ACLU filed more than 400 legal actions against Trump and his administration. As Trump returns to the White House, we’re ready to return to the courts and Congress to fight for our civil liberties.