American Civil Liberties Union

American  

noun

1. an organization founded in 1920 to defend the civil rights of all U.S. citizens. ACLU, A.C.L.U.

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American Civil Liberties Union Cultural  

1. An organization founded in 1920 in the wake of the red scare to defend civil liberties. The ACLU has often defended the rights of individuals aligned with unpopular causes, including American communists and Nazis.

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Example Sentences

Soon after the American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Celia Wang began her argument, Trump abruptly rose and left.

From Salon • Apr. 1, 2026

“It raises serious alarms about the nature of those deaths and what is really happening at that facility,” said American Civil Liberties Union staff attorney Savannah Kumar.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 14, 2026

The lawsuit, filed by Prison Law Office, American Civil Liberties Union, California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice and other advocacy groups, alleged that the facility limited access to lawyers, leaving detainees “largely incommunicado.”

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 20, 2026

“It is a sacrosanct privilege,” said Eunice Cho, senior attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union National Prison Project.

From Slate • Dec. 12, 2025

In May 2009 the American Civil Liberties Union, several breast- cancer survivors, and professional groups representing more than 150,0 scientists sued Myriad Genetics over its breast-cancer gene patents.

From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot