Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
'See You in Court': ACLU Files Nearly 400 Cases Versus Trump
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 5 years ago on
August 6, 2020

Share

NEW YORK — The day after Donald Trump’s election in November 2016, the American Civil Liberties Union posted a message to him on its website: “See you in court.”

As president, Trump hasn’t personally squared off against the ACLU from the witness stand, but the broader warning has been borne out. As of this week, the ACLU has filed nearly 400 lawsuits and other legal actions against the Trump administration, some meeting with setbacks but many resulting in important victories.

Among other successes for the ACLU, it prevailed in a U.S. Supreme Court case blocking the administration from placing a citizenship question on the 2020 census. It also spearheaded legal efforts that curtailed the policy of separating many migrant children from their parents.

“The assault on civil liberties and civil rights is greater under this administration than any other in modern history,” said the ACLU’s president, Anthony Romero. “It’s meant we’ve been living with a three-alarm fire in every part of our house.”

Since the day Trump took office, the ACLU — according to a breakdown it provided to The Associated Press — has filed 237 lawsuits against the administration and about 160 other legal actions, including Freedom of Information Act requests, ethics complaints and administrative complaints.

Of the lawsuits, 174 have dealt with immigrant rights, targeting the family separation policy, detention and deportation practices and the administration’s repeated attempts to make it harder to seek asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The other lawsuits address an array of issues high on the ACLU’s agenda: voting rights, LGBT rights, racial justice and others. In one long-running case, the ACLU succeeded in blocking the administration’s policy of barring young immigrant women in government custody from getting abortions.

“Donald Trump has provided a full employment program for ACLU lawyers on all of our issues,” Romero said.

FILE – In this Oct. 16, 2017, file photo Omar Jadwat, director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, carries court documents after a news conference outside a federal courthouse in Greenbelt, Md. As of this week, the ACLU has filed nearly 400 lawsuits and other legal actions against the Trump administration, some meeting with setbacks but many resulting in important victories. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

Many of the ACLU’s Recent Lawsuits Remain Unresolved

By comparison, the ACLU says it filed 13 lawsuits and other legal actions against President George W. Bush’s administration in his first term, mostly alleging encroachments on civil liberties related to counter-terrorism policies.

Many of the ACLU’s recent lawsuits remain unresolved. Of those that have been decided, Romero said, the ACLU has won far more often than it has lost, though a precise breakdown was unavailable.

Among the setbacks, ACLU national legal director David Cole said, one of the most disappointing involved Trump’s efforts to ban foreign nationals from several predominantly Muslim countries. Lawsuits by the ACLU and its allies successfully blocked implementation of the first two versions of the ban, but the Supreme Court allowed a third version to go into effect in 2018.

By a similar 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court also allowed the implementation of the Trump administration policy barring transgender people from enlisting in the military. Lower courts had supported efforts by the ACLU and other groups to scrap the ban.

Another LGBT rights case recently ended in a major victory for the ACLU and its allies when the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in June that gays, lesbians and transgender people were protected from employment discrimination under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. One of the ACLU’s clients, Aimee Stephens, was fired from her job at a Michigan funeral home because she was transgender; she died just a few weeks before the high court ruled in her favor.

There’s no question the ACLU has caught the attention of Trump and his administration.

The Republican president, at an “Evangelicals for Trump” rally in January, derided the ACLU as a “group of beauties” who had filed a lawsuit accusing public schools in Smith County, Tennessee, of improperly promoting Christian religious beliefs.

“We will not allow faithful Americans to be bullied by the hard left,” Trump said.

In a May 2018 speech, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions assailed the ACLU for a lawsuit that led to a drop in stop-and-frisk arrests by Chicago police.

Trump’s Presidency Has Increased ACLU Memberships and Donations

“If you want crime to go up, let the ACLU run the police department,” Sessions said.

Recently, the ACLU has drawn criticism from a longtime supporter, George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley. He worries that the organization is aligning too closely with the Democratic Party and is now less willing than in the past to support unpopular causes, such as the free-speech rights of far-right activists.

In an email, Turley questioned the wisdom of the “torrent of lawsuits” against the Trump administration.

“The result was less of a sniper strategy and more of a saturated bombing strategy,” he wrote.

Even as it spars with the administration, the ACLU notes that Trump’s presidency has been beneficial in some respects — fueling huge increases in donations and membership.

Romero says the ACLU national office and its state affiliates received about $175 million in donations in the three months after Trump’s election. It says it has increased its headquarters staff from 386 to 605 and now has 122 attorneys, up from 84 in November 2016.

Membership has soared from about 400,000 to more than 1.8 million. Romero says many of the newcomers have been asking how they can help as volunteers in bolstering voting rights, immigrants’ rights and other causes.

Demonstrating its increased interest in electoral politics, the ACLU had directed $28 million of its national funds to its affiliates in battleground states such as Florida, Arizona and Texas. Since 2016, Romero said, the ACLU of Texas has been able to double its budget to $8.5 million and its staff to 65 employees.

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

ICE Smashes Car Window to Detain Asylum Seeker, Family Says

DON'T MISS

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Seeks Two-Month Delay of May 5 Trial

DON'T MISS

Temu and Shein Say They’re Raising Prices Due to Tariffs

DON'T MISS

Actor Michelle Trachtenberg Died of Complications From Diabetes, Says NYC Medical Examiner

DON'T MISS

AI Action Figures Flood Social Media (Accessories Included)

DON'T MISS

Commercial Salmon Season Is Shut Down Again. Will CA’s Iconic Fish Ever Recover?

DON'T MISS

White House to Use 30,000 Real Eggs for Easter Egg Roll Despite Shortages, Dividing Farmers

DON'T MISS

Merced Man Arrested in Madera County for Stealing Newborn Calves

DON'T MISS

Fresno Police Looking for Man Who Attacked Employees Over Beer

DON'T MISS

Over 100 Employees Leave US EIA, Putting Crucial Energy Data at Risk, Sources Say

UP NEXT

Zoom Down for Thousands of Users, Downdetector Shows

UP NEXT

Puerto Rico Goes Dark After Widespread Power Plant Failure

UP NEXT

Harper and Realmuto Homer to Help Lead the Phillies to a Win Over the Giants

UP NEXT

Will Smith’s 3-Run Homer Sends Dodgers Over Major League-Worst Rockies

UP NEXT

Retail Sales Rise 1.4% in March as Shoppers Stock Up on Big Ticket Items Ahead of Tariffs

UP NEXT

Autism Rates in US Children Hit Record Level in 2022, CDC Data Show

UP NEXT

Tens of Thousands of Jews Gather for Traditional Blessing in Jerusalem

UP NEXT

Dodgers Beat Rockies but Colorado Avoids Another Shutout in 4th Straight Loss

UP NEXT

WNBA Draftees Turn Attention to Making Rosters as Training Camp Opens in a Few Weeks

UP NEXT

Trump Administration Freezes $2.2 Billion in Grants to Harvard Over Campus Activism

Actor Michelle Trachtenberg Died of Complications From Diabetes, Says NYC Medical Examiner

15 hours ago

AI Action Figures Flood Social Media (Accessories Included)

15 hours ago

Commercial Salmon Season Is Shut Down Again. Will CA’s Iconic Fish Ever Recover?

15 hours ago

White House to Use 30,000 Real Eggs for Easter Egg Roll Despite Shortages, Dividing Farmers

15 hours ago

Merced Man Arrested in Madera County for Stealing Newborn Calves

15 hours ago

Fresno Police Looking for Man Who Attacked Employees Over Beer

15 hours ago

Over 100 Employees Leave US EIA, Putting Crucial Energy Data at Risk, Sources Say

16 hours ago

I Have Never Been More Afraid for My Country’s Future

18 hours ago

What To Know About California Reparations: Is State’s Apology the Beginning or the End?

18 hours ago

Zoom Down for Thousands of Users, Downdetector Shows

18 hours ago

ICE Smashes Car Window to Detain Asylum Seeker, Family Says

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — A Massachusetts family is demanding answers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, complaining its agents smash...

15 hours ago

15 hours ago

ICE Smashes Car Window to Detain Asylum Seeker, Family Says

15 hours ago

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Seeks Two-Month Delay of May 5 Trial

15 hours ago

Temu and Shein Say They’re Raising Prices Due to Tariffs

15 hours ago

Actor Michelle Trachtenberg Died of Complications From Diabetes, Says NYC Medical Examiner

15 hours ago

AI Action Figures Flood Social Media (Accessories Included)

15 hours ago

Commercial Salmon Season Is Shut Down Again. Will CA’s Iconic Fish Ever Recover?

15 hours ago

White House to Use 30,000 Real Eggs for Easter Egg Roll Despite Shortages, Dividing Farmers

A Merced man was arrested in Madera County after allegedly stealing three newborn black Angus calves, all of which were recovered and returned to their owner. (Madera County SO)
15 hours ago

Merced Man Arrested in Madera County for Stealing Newborn Calves

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend