American Civil Liberties Union in the 1970s and 1980s in the United States
American Civil Liberties Union in the 1970s and 1980s
In 1973 the ACLU joined the legal battle to abolish criminal abortion laws in the landmark Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade. The ACLU filed a friend-of-the-court brief to urge the Court to recognize a woman’s right to an abortion based on the constitutional right to privacy. The Supreme Court ruled that a woman has a right to an abortion during the first six months of pregnancy. Shortly after the decision, the ACLU founded the Reproductive Rights Project. This program was created to ensure that all individuals have access to contraception, abortion, prenatal care, and childbearing assistance. The ACLU consistently has defended abortion rights in the courts, Congress, and state legislatures.
The ACLU’s stance on affirmative action, government policies used to increase educational and employment opportunities for minorities, has been controversial among its members. Starting in the early 1970s, the national organization implemented an internal affirmative action policy requiring that the ACLU’s board of directors and staff consist of 50 percent women and 20 percent minorities. Many ACLU members have voiced opposition to affirmative action, claiming that such policies discriminate by race. But the ACLU has maintained its position that affirmative action is needed to guarantee equal opportunities in schools and the workplace.
In the late 1970s thousands of ACLU members resigned in protest when the organization defended the right of the American Nazi Party to march through Skokie, Illinois, a predominately Jewish suburb of Chicago. Skokie had enacted laws to prevent the group from gathering in a public area. The ACLU fought for the group’s First Amendment rights – freedom of assembly and freedom of speech. The organization has always argued that all groups, no matter how unpopular, have a right to express their ideas in a peaceful manner. In Smith v. Collin (1978), a federal court ruling prohibited any official attempts to restrict the Nazis’ right to free speech.
Criticism of the ACLU also came from the highest levels of government in the 1980s. In 1981 U.S. Attorney General Ed Meese, who served under President Ronald Reagan, called the ACLU ‘a criminals’ lobby.’ Meese claimed the organization was too liberal. However, the ACLU often criticized Meese for not supporting various civil liberties. In 1988 Reagan’s eventual successor, George Bush, made a high-profile campaign issue out of the fact that his election opponent, Democratic Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, was a “card-carrying member of the ACLU.” However, Bush’s campaign did not hurt the ACLU. More than 50,000 people joined the organization in 1988 and 1989. (1)
In this Section: American Civil Liberties Union, American Civil Liberties Union Early Years, American Civil Liberties Union in the 1930S and 1940S, American Civil Liberties Union in the 1950s and 1960s, American Civil Liberties Union in the 1970s and 1980s and American Civil Liberties Union Developments.
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