American Civil Liberties Union rides high on the anti-Trump wave

The nearly century-old American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) says it is suddenly awash in donations and new members as it does battle with President Donald Trump over the extent of his constitutional authority, with nearly $80m (£64m) in online contributions pouring in since the election.

That number includes a record $24m surge over two days after Trump issued and executive order banning people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States. The organisation said its membership has more than doubled since the election to a record of nearly 1.2 million, and its Twitter following has tripled.

“It feels like we’re drinking from a fire hydrant,” said the ACLU executive director, Anthony Romero, adding that the election has brought immigration, refugee, reproductive, civil and voting rights “to a high boil”.

“What’s really heartening is people are paying attention. They’re aware of the crisis on the horizon,” he said. “There’s a real sense of urgency.”

After his election, the ACLU greeted the age of Trump on its website and magazine with a fresh slogan: “See you in court” – the same expression Trump used in his tweeted response to a federal appeals court’s decision refusing to reinstate the travel ban.

The ACLU has won court orders in New York, Massachusetts and Maryland against the president’s travel ban. It has also filed a Freedom of Information Act request for documents on the billionaire’s potential conflicts of interest. It also intends to bring a legal challenge accusing him of violating the Constitution’s emoluments clause by accepting payments from foreign governments at his hotels and other properties.

The boost to the ACLU’s $220m budget will allow it to spend more on its state operations, which Romero said became critical after some legislatures took Trump’s election as a license to promote anti-immigrant, anti-civil rights and anti-abortion legislation.

The 1,150-employee ACLU also plans to hire more lawyers and staff in New York and Washington and spend $13m more on citizen engagement, including protests and lobbying, a new front for an organisation that has primarily been a policy and legal group.

Sheryl Douglas, receptionist at the ACLU’s New York City headquarters since 1972, has been collecting some of the recent emails, letters and postcards.

“We commend your heroic efforts,” said one. “You give me hope,” read another.

Among the new donors was Andrew Mcdonald, 52, of Odessa, Missouri. “I’m ashamed to say I haven’t donated to any organisations in the past,” he said. “But things haven’t felt so threatening before either … This time I felt like I couldn’t just sit here and do nothing.”

Another donor, Steve Berke, 35, of Miami Beach, Florida, said: “I think the ACLU is going to be a huge thorn in the side of the Trump administration. Trump has already demonstrated that he has a thin skin when it comes to anyone challenging his authority or power, but I’m confident that the ACLU will fight to protect American civil liberties.”

Over the years, the ACLU has been bitterly criticised for taking up unpopular causes, such as defending the rights of neo-Nazis or the Ku Klux Klan to demonstrate. Geraldine Engel, ACLU deputy development director, said the recent outpouring has been heartening. “We were always unpopular, misunderstood,” she said.

The ACLU was born in 1920 when a small group of idealists challenged then-attorney general Mitchell Palmer’s order that thousands of people branded foreign anarchists or communists be arrested without warrants. Many were deported.

Soon the organisation was defending people’s constitutional rights to due process, privacy and freedom of assembly, speech and religion andsupporting minorities, including women, gay and transgender people, immigrants and prisoners.

Esha Bhandari, an ACLU attorney in New York, said the public’s reaction lately is encouraging to those who gave up bigger salaries to work for the nonprofit organisation.

“This is why we’re here,” said the Columbia Law School graduate. “The importance comes into sharp relief. We exist for moments like this. Lives are on the line.”

Source: The Guardian