It's hard to argue that the American Civil Liberties Union (or ACLU) isn't a very, very, very leftwing organization. While the group claims its mission is 'to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States', most on the right will have a fairly reflexively negative feeling towards them based on their tireless advocacy for lefty causes célèbre like trans and gay rights, anti-second amendment agitating, and pro-abortion issues and groups. But every once in a while the ACLU will throw a curve ball that somewhat complicates that view, as they did today:
BREAKING: We’re representing the NRA at the Supreme Court in their case against New York’s Department of Financial Services for abusing its regulatory power to violate the NRA’s First Amendment rights.
— ACLU (@ACLU) December 9, 2023
The government can’t blacklist an advocacy group because of its viewpoint.
We won't go into the nitty gritty of the case (if you're interested you can find a good writeup from the New York Times here) but it largely centers around the actions of a former superintendent of the New York State Department of Financial Services and whether his actions to strangle off the National Rifle Association's access to banking and insurance industry resources violated the NRA's first amendment rights. It's an important case, and having the ACLU on their side can't do anything but help the NRA at the Supreme Court, one would think. The ACLU of course goes out of its way to distance itself from the work the NRA does while saying that the principles of the case are too important for them to not take action here.
The questions at the core of this case are about the First Amendment and the principled defense of civil liberties for all, including those with whom we disagree on the Second Amendment.
— ACLU (@ACLU) December 9, 2023
We won’t let the rights of organizations to engage in political advocacy be trampled.
This will likely prove a controversial decision both within the ACLU and amongst their donors, but many on Twitter are hailing their coming into the case.
Wow. Y'all earned my respect.
— The Finnish Agorist (@Finnish_Agorist) December 9, 2023
Most people in this country believe in letting the government censor people who oppose their viewpoints. Standing up for those you disagree with is a very respectable thing to do. pic.twitter.com/y9nIDiA1ro
Recommended
Beyond shocking.
— QTheLibertine (@QTheLibertine1) December 9, 2023
I guess this was close enough to home they realized what an oppositional government could do to the vast network of left wing advocacy groups if this was allowed to stand.
I nearly spit out my coffee when I saw this. Two thumbs up.
— Jason Griffin (@1450bc) December 9, 2023
It's indeed unusual to see this sort of action taken by the ACLU, but not unheard of. A notable example of this is the 1978 case where the ACLU defended a neo-Nazi group and their right to march in Skokie Illinois before the supreme court, a case upon which they have spent decades hanging their hat to show that they're not a purely partisan organization. Just a mostly partisan organization.
Rare ACLU W.
— Grob em all (@AttackOfTheGrob) December 9, 2023
Credit where it is due.
Color me shocked! Good on y’all.
— Michele 🍊 (@GoldenNoel) December 9, 2023
Glad you stood up on our country's First Amendment Rights, even if you disagree with what they are saying. Good job. Keep it up! I was worried about the ACLU for a while about their stance on this.
— Bellesouth (@bellesouth826) December 9, 2023
Never look a gift horse in the mouth!
Between this and Fetterman, I don’t even know what’s going on anymore. People have principles again! https://t.co/cvlWBjqplV
— Ellen Carmichael (@ellencarmichael) December 9, 2023
Wow. First Fetterman, now the ACLU - lots of newfound respect for first principles. https://t.co/fWAllLVcZi
— Ilya Shapiro (@ishapiro) December 9, 2023
Someone in Hell just got a nice, ice cold glass of water.
— Cait: Trash Panda with a Cup of Eggnog (@SuperCaity) December 9, 2023
Cheers, chosen Hell-denizen! https://t.co/O9fkJUCknk
Sure seems likely. Not everyone is prepared to offer up unreserved praise for the decision of course... on the right or on the left.
The ACLU, which has always been Communist, has always strategically done this kind of thing with a small proportion of the cases, which always make huge headlines, so people keep thinking they're a neutral organization. Just sayin'. https://t.co/bj5bVzZLeb
— James Lindsay, against magic (@ConceptualJames) December 9, 2023
Hey @ACLU I get the whole "we represent the klan, etc" position. But the NRA have a massive team of lawyers and represent a $9 Billion industry.
— Graubart (@graubart) December 9, 2023
Maybe focus your efforts on the civil liberties of the 120 people who die by gun violence each day.
The ACLU considers the NRA a legitimate “organization”? They’ve been investigated by the IRS, federal & state lawmakers for financial misconduct, tax fraud, campaign finance violations, & serving as a foreign asset. Their CEO admitted to using member donations to enrich himself. https://t.co/g8ZJW7G5Am
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) December 9, 2023
Wah wah waaaaaaaaaah. Bragging about what a good job state and federal governments have done in forcing conservative advocacy organizations to endlessly defend themself against usually nuisance lawsuits isn't the own you think it is.
It's good to see this move out of the ACLU, although it does seem unlikely that the NRA needs the help. This is likely more the ACLU coming in to offer a signal to the liberal justices that it's okay if they votebased on constitutional matter at hand here, rather than the lefty political vote that they might otherwise have felt compelled to. We'll see how it all plays out.
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