How the ACLU Will Fight Four More Years of Trump

The results of the election are in: Donald Trump will be the 47th president of the United States.

Trump’s win comes after a campaign in which he consistently targeted immigrants, transgender youth, and other vulnerable communities with hateful rhetoric. He also threatened retribution against dissidents and political opponents.

I know that many of us fear what these results mean for our communities, our nation and ourselves. We know that a second Trump administration will be even more aggressive and effective than it was before — because Trump has repeatedly said so.

As outlined in Project 2025, under a second Trump administration, our federal government will deport immigrants in dragnet raids, target his political adversaries, spy on private citizens, promote discrimination against marginalized communities, and control what we can and can’t do with our bodies. This dystopian view of American life threatens our fundamental freedoms. We know from prior experience that our fear is real.

We also know that despair and resignation are not a strategy. At the ACLU, we’re choosing to channel our fear into action. Together, we are powerful enough to change the course of our nation’s history and defend our most fundamental rights and freedoms. That is why the ACLU has a concrete plan to fight back. When President-elect Trump comes for our communities, he’s gotta through all of us.

During Trump’s first term, the ACLU filed 434 legal challenges against his administration, successfully blocking some of Trump’s most egregious policies, like the Muslim ban and separating immigrant families. When Trump once again set his sights on the White House, the ACLU’s legal and advocacy experts drafted a roadmap to combat his administration head-on. On day one, we are prepared to:

Defend against the Trump administration’s unlawful mass deportation plan through coordinated action at all levels of government. We’ll also work with states and localities to protect residents to the full extent possible and ensure that a Trump administration can’t hijack state resources to carry out its draconian policies.
Provide legal defense to whistleblowers and critics who dare to stand up to Trump’s policies. We’ll also protect freedom of speech and the right to protest against Trump’s agenda.
Use the courts to affirm that LGBTQ people are protected from discrimination under federal law. We’ll fight to invalidate Trump administration policies that permit discrimination across the federal government, and to shut down the administration’s efforts to require discrimination at the state and local levels.
Challenge the Trump administration’s dangerous attacks on reproductive freedom, including any attempts to weaponize the Comstock Act to ban abortion nationwide or to take medication abortion off the shelves. We’ll also protect access to birth control and family planning services.

As soon as the 119th Congress is sworn in, we will urge members to use their constitutional powers to provide oversight, investigate wrongdoing, and reject restrictive executive branch policies. At the state level, we’ll work with lawmakers to build a firewall for freedom and enact laws that protect people from government abuse. In our communities, we’re working to educate people on what is at risk, what happens next, and how we can fight for our freedoms together.

This is my sixth presidential election as executive director at the ACLU and there is not a doubt in my mind that our organization is the best equipped to meet this moment. We have more than a century of experience in combating political repression, we have some of the nation’s best legal and political advocates, we have our nationwide network of ACLU affiliates, and we have all of you.

The Trump administration’s anti-liberty and fundamentally anti-American policies will be met with the full firepower of the ACLU, the might of our allies, and the commitment of the American people. Above all else, that gives me hope. The next four years will be challenging, but we’re ready to put up the fight of the century. You can count on it.

Share Your Story: How Project 2025 Impacts You

Share your story about the impact Project 2025 could have on your life and community.

Source: American Civil Liberties Union

Trump's Attempt to Unilaterally Control State and Local Funding is Dangerous, Dumb, and Undemocratic

The Trump administration has not been subtle in its desire to use federal funding for political punishment. Whether threatening to cut off grants to sanctuary cities, to block financial assistance to states that push back against the president’s demands, or to freeze all federal grants and loans for social services across the country, Trump and his allies want us to believe they can wield the federal budget like a weapon. The reality is that the administration’s ability to withhold or condition funding is far more limited than they let on. The Constitution, Supreme Court precedent, and long-standing federal law stand firmly in the way of this brazen abuse of presidential power. Trump’s Attempted Funding Freeze? Blocked Immediately A week into his second administration, Trump attempted to freeze trillions of dollars in federal grants and loans that fund a vast array of critical services already approved by Congress. If allowed to go into effect, this unprecedented and far-reaching...

Documents Reveal Confusion and Lack of Training in Texas Execution

As Texas seeks to execute Carl Buntion today and Melissa Lucio next week, it is worth reflecting on the grave and irreversible failures that occurred when the state executed Quintin Jones on May 19, 2021. For the first time in its history — and in violation of a federal court’s directive and the Texas Administrative Code — Texas excluded the media from witnessing the state’s execution of Quintin Jones. In the months that followed, Texas executed two additional people without providing any assurance that the underlying dysfunction causing errors at Mr. Jones’ execution were addressed. This is particularly concerning given that Texas has executed far more people than any other state and has botched numerous executions. The First Amendment guarantees the public and the press have a right to observe executions. Media access to executions is a critical form of public oversight as the government exerts its power to end a human life. Consistent with Texas policy, two reporters travelled t...

The Supreme Court Declined a Protestors' Rights Case. Here's What You Need to Know.

The Supreme Court recently declined to hear a case, Mckesson v. Doe , that could have affirmed that the First Amendment protects protest organizers from being held liable for illegal actions committed by others present that organizers did not direct or intend. The high court’s decision to not hear the case at this time left in place an opinion by the Fifth Circuit, which covers Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, that said a protest organizer could be liable for the independent, violent actions of others based on nothing more than a showing of negligence. Across the country, many people have expressed concern about how the Supreme Court’s decision not to review, or hear, the case at this stage could impact the right to protest. The ACLU, which asked the court to take up the case, breaks down what the court’s denial of review means. What Happened in Mckesson v. Doe? The case, Mckesson v. Doe , was brought by a police officer against DeRay Mckesson , a prominent civil rights activi...

Search This Blog