Home : Affiliates

The ACLU has an affiliate in every state and Puerto Rico. Affiliates handle requests for legal assistance, lobby the state legislatures and host public forums throughout the year. Find your local affiliate in the center column below.

Appeals Court Orders Defense Department To Release Detainee Abuse Photos In ACLU Lawsuit (9/22/2008)
NEW YORK – A federal court today ordered the Department of Defense to release photographs depicting the abuse of detainees by U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit rejected the government's appeal of a 2006 order directing the Defense Department to release the photos. Today's decision comes as part of an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit seeking information on the abuse of prisoners held in U.S. custody overseas.

Defense Lawyers For 9/11 Detainees Challenge Bias And Political Influence At Guantánamo Proceedings This Week (9/22/2008)
GUANTÁNAMO BAY, Cuba – Appearing before a Guantánamo military commission today, military attorneys and civilian lawyers sponsored by the American Civil Liberties Union's John Adams Project sought to interject a degree of fairness into the deeply flawed system. Among several requests, defense lawyers are asking that all charges be dismissed against the detainees accused of crimes related to the 9/11 attacks because of a history of political interference from Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann, a top Pentagon general.

Farmers Branch, Texas Anti-Immigrant Ordinance Is Blocked While Challenge Continues (9/22/2008)
DALLAS – City officials in Farmers Branch, Texas today agreed not to fight a request from residents to block the city's latest anti-immigrant ordinance from taking effect while a legal challenge continues. The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Texas and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) filed a request in federal court on the residents' behalf for a preliminary injunction blocking the ordinance. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas is expected to enter the injunction today.

ACLU Urges Supreme Court To Review Landmark Indefinite Detention Case (9/19/2008)
WASHINGTON – The American Civil Liberties Union today urged the U.S. Supreme Court to review the Bush administration's authority to indefinitely imprison a legal resident of the United States without charge or trial. The case was filed on behalf of Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, who has been detained in solitary confinement at a Navy brig in South Carolina since June 2003. The ACLU is asking the Court to reverse a federal appeals court decision that gave the president sweeping power to deprive individuals in the United States of their most basic constitutional rights.

Transgender Veteran Wins Sex Discrimination Lawsuit Against Library of Congress (9/19/2008)
WASHINGTON - Today a federal judge ruled that the Library of Congress illegally discriminated against a Special Forces veteran when she was denied a job after announcing her intention to transition from male to female. In a groundbreaking decision, the court ruled that discriminating against someone for changing genders is sex discrimination under federal law.