The ACLU has taken over 100 legal actions against the Trump administration so far — here's a guide to the most notable ones

ACLU
A member of the ACLU observes a polling station during voting in the 2016 presidential election at Desert Pines High School in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S November 8, 2016. David Becker/Reuters
  • The American Civil Liberties Union has filed more than 100 legal actions against the Trump administration.
  • The ACLU's membership has soared since President Donald Trump was elected, and the group has received millions of dollars in fundraising.
  • Many people remain divided over the ACLU's tactics. The group received widespread criticism after defending neo-Nazi protestors in Charlottesville, Virginia, for example.
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Three days after Donald Trump was elected president, the American Civil Liberties Union wrote a memo urging him to reconsider several controversial campaign promises.

Trump's plans to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants, ban Muslims from entering the US, reduce women's access to abortion services, reauthorize torture tactics, and open up libel laws were "not simply un-American and wrong-headed," the ACLU said, but "unlawful and unconstitutional."

"If you do not reverse course and endeavor to make these campaign promises a reality, you will have to contend with the full firepower of the ACLU at your every step," the civil liberties law group cautioned the incoming president.

Trump ignored the warning. The ACLU, in response, has kept its word. On the one-year anniversary of Trump's election, the ACLU wrote a full-page letter in The New York Times, vowing to continue its fight against many of his policies.

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Since Trump's inauguration, the ACLU has filed at least 112 legal actions, including ethical complaints, calls for investigations, Freedom of Information Act requests, and 56 full-scale lawsuits against the sitting president and his administration, ACLU spokesperson Thomas Dresslar told Business Insider.

As a nonpartisan organization, the group has a long history of targeting presidents. It fought former President Barack Obama on mass surveillance and drones, former President George W. Bush on the torture program and deportation policies, and former President Bill Clinton on the lack of prisoner rights and indefinite detention of noncitizens.

When Business Insider asked the ACLU to provide a comprehensive list of lawsuits filed against Obama and Bush during their presidencies, the group said it does not "have any such list." But Dresslar said the number of actions filed against the Trump administration is far higher.

"Trump's policies ... coupled with his lack of understanding and respect for the rule of law amount to a constitutional crisis, the likes of which we have never seen," said ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero.

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Many liberals and never-Trumpers welcome the aggressiveness. Within Trump's first five months in office, the ACLU's membership nearly quadrupled to 1.6 million, according to Romero. The newfound publicity also helped with fundraising. When Trump formally announced his first travel ban, the ACLU hauled in a record $24 million from 356,000 online donations.

FILE PHOTO: Members of the Ku Klux Klan face counter-protesters as they rally in support of Confederate monuments in Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S. on July 8, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo
Members of the Ku Klux Klan face counter-protesters as they rally in support of Confederate monuments in Charlottesville, Virginia. Thomson Reuters

The ACLU has critics on both sides of the political spectrum. In August, many were outraged after the ACLU announced it would defend the right of white supremacists and neo-Nazis to march in Charlottesville, Virginia.

While the ACLU's willingness to defend anyone, regardless of political affiliation, has won it praise from people on both the right and the left, it has also divided the group internally over how it should approach some of today's most controversial issues. These organizational challenges — as well as efforts to hold the president accountable — are unlikely to go away anytime soon.

Here's a recap of some of the ACLU's most prominent legal challenges against the Trump administration so far:

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The travel ban

ACLU spokesman
Omar Jadwat, center, director of the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project, speaks at a news conference about the travel ban outside a federal courthouse in Greenbelt, Md., on Oct. 16, 2017. Patrick Semansky/AP

Just weeks after assuming office, Trump implemented his much-criticized travel ban on people from seven majority-Muslim countries: Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Sudan, Yemen, and Somalia.

The ACLU fired back immediately, suing the Trump administration on behalf of foreign travelers detained at US airports and questioning the constitutionality of the president's order.

Federal judges have blocked every iteration of the ban, and the Supreme Court will likely have the final say on whether the latest version, issued in September, is constitutional.

The ACLU settled the original suit with US Department of Justice officials in August.

The rejection of the first travel ban prompted the Trump administration to introduced a revised, temporary version. This time, Iraq was removed from the list and special exemptions were given to permanent residents and religious minorities.

Just before the second ban was about to expire in October, Trump officials unveiled a third version that would permanently ban people from the original seven countries, excluding Iraq and Sudan. North Korea, Venezuela, and Chad were added to the list. The ACLU has continued to challenge the orders.

"This third Muslim ban is yet another attempt to ... paper over the president's plain religious animus, which he has never disavowed," Cody Wofsy, an ACLU staff attorney said. "The courts have not been fooled and have rightly seen the previous versions of the order as unreasonable, immoral, and unconstitutional. The same is true of this one."

On October 17, a federal judge struck the bulk of this version down as well. The ACLU, meanwhile, says it has challenged all versions of Trump's travel ban through at least 13 different lawsuits and more than 19 FOIA requests.

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The firing of former FBI Director James Comey

James Comey
Former FBI Director James Comey. AP

Less than a week after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, who was at the time leading the investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign, the ACLU filed a FOIA request with the Justice Department and FBI seeking records related to the firing.

"Political meddling with law enforcement investigations is a recipe for abuse of power," said Hina Shamsi, an ACLU expert on national security. "The public has a right to know why Comey was fired so the president can be held accountable for any abuse of his position."

The ACLU also called for a special prosecutor to be appointed to continue the Russia investigation. Former FBI Director Robert Mueller assumed the role on May 17.

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A controversial raid in Yemen that left 12 civilians dead

yemen
Protesters loyal to the Shi'ite al-Houthi rebel group burn an effigy of a U.S. aircraft during a demonstration to protest against what they say is U.S. interference in Yemen, including drone strikes. Reuters/Khaled Abdullah Ali Al Mahdi

In January, Trump approved a US military raid on a suspected Al-Qaeda base in Yemen that ended up killing up to 25 civilians, including nine children. Among the victims was Navy Seal William Owens and Nawar al-Awlaki, an eight-year-old girl who was a US citizen.

Human Rights Watch confirmed that at least 14 civilians were killed, calling for a thorough US government investigation.

The ACLU filed a FOIA request in March with the CIA and Departments of Defense, Justice, and State seeking documents related to the decision-making process that led to the botched military operation as well as the internal review of civilian deaths the US government was supposed to undertake.

In May, the ACLU filed a lawsuit demanding the government comply with the original FOIA request. The CIA refused to comply, arguing that doing so would put national security secrets at risk. The ACLU is now taking the intelligence agency to court to force the release of relevant records. Oral arguments will begin in December.

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Sanctuary cities

san francisco sanctuary city protest
Lordes Reboyoso, right, yells at a rally outside of City Hall in San Francisco, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2017. Associated Press/Jeff Chiu

Trump started targeting sanctuary cities — places where local law enforcement agencies do not proactively hand over undocumented immigrants to federal authorities — during his presidential campaign.

Once in office, he and Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the government would defund jurisdictions that did not comply with his immigration orders.

In response, counties and cities all over the country, including Seattle, San Francisco, and Richmond, sued the Trump Administration with the help of the ACLU, arguing that the president's mandate was not only unconstitutional, it would devastate their budgets.

In April, a district court in California ruled that Trump overstepped his powers as president, calling the threat "ominous, misleading, and ultimately toothless." A US District Court judge upheld that ruling on November 20, declaring Trump's actions unconstitutional.

 

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Religious liberty

Church
REUTERS/Neil Hall

Much likes its lawsuit enforcing the release of documents related to the US military raid in Yemen, the ACLU filed another lawsuit in July demanding that four federal agencies — the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, Justice, and Treasury — comply with a FOIA request seeking records related to the implementation of Trump's religious liberty executive orders.

In October, when the Justice Department released a memo outlining guidelines for implementing religious liberty principles, the ACLU slammed the Trump administration for allowing "discrimination in the name of religion" and treating "the separation of church and state as a mere afterthought."

Attorney General Jeff Sessions highlighted 20 ways federal agencies can accommodate religious observance and practice.

“The constitutional protection of religious beliefs and the right to exercise those beliefs have served this country well, have made us one of the most tolerant countries in the world, and have also helped make us the freest and most generous," Sessions said.

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Trump's voter fraud commission

Kris Kobach trump pence election Commission voter fraud
Trump, with Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, left, and Vice President Mike Pence, right, speaks at a meeting of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity on July 19, 2017. AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

In July, the ACLU filed a federal lawsuit against Trump's election commission, which the president officially established through executive action two months prior. Trump has alleged that rampant voter fraud occurred during the 2016 presidential election, a claim that experts have disputed.

Theresa Lee, an ACLU attorney, said the commission process is "cloaked in secrecy, raising serious concerns about its credibility and intent."

The commission held its first meeting July without giving proper notice or opening it to the public. Fifteen states are refusing to hand over voter information to the commission, saying it violates privacy or local laws.

The ACLU alleges that this violates the Federal Advisory Committee Act, which requires that federal commissions meet certain transparency and public access standards.

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Searching electronic devices without warrants

Former CIA director John Brennan testifies before the House Intelligence Committee to take questions on “Russian active measures during the 2016 election campaign” in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., May 23, 2017.  REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
Former CIA Director John Brennan. Thomson Reuters

In September, the ACLU, along with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, sued the Department of Homeland Security on behalf of 10 US citizens and one legal permanent resident who had their personal electronic devices searched by authorities upon returning to the US from abroad.

The ACLU said such activities violate Americans' privacy rights as outline in the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution. The government, which searched peoples' devices under Obama as well, has said the practice is necessary to protect national security.

"The government cannot use the border as a dragnet to search through our private data," said ACLU attorney Esha Bhandari. "Our electronic devices contain massive amounts of information that can paint a detailed picture of our personal lives, including emails, texts, contact lists, photos, work documents, and medical or financial records."

Earlier this year, Sens. Ron Wyden and Rand Paul introduced a bipartisan bill that would require law enforcement to obtain a warrant before asking for personal account passwords and searching travelers' electronic devices. A similar bill was introduced in the House.

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The transgender military ban

transgender military
Transgender U.S. army captain Jennifer Sims lifts her uniform in July, 2017. Matthias Schrader/AP

Trump's decision to announce a ban on transgender service members in the military via several tweets in July was met with strong opposition from Democrats, civil society groups, and even some Republicans.

Some argue in favor of the ban because they say that the presence of transgender people in the military hurts troop morale and cohesiveness.

Secretary of Defense James Mattis said the implementation of the ban would be delayed so that he would be able to fully review the Pentagon's transgender policy.

Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Susan Collins, meanwhile, filed an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would delay the ban, even after Mattis' review, until spring 2018.

The ACLU challenged the Trump administration in a lawsuit on behalf of six current members of the military who are transgender.

"Allowing men and women who are transgender to serve openly and providing them with necessary health care does nothing to harm military readiness or unit cohesion," said ACLU attorney Josh Block. “Men and women who are transgender with the courage and capacity to serve deserve more from their commander-in-chief."

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The elimination of DACA

People march across the Brooklyn Bridge to protest the planned dissolution of DACA in Manhattan, New York City, U.S. September 5, 2017. REUTERS/Stephen Yang
Demonstrators march across the Brooklyn Bridge to protest the planned dissolution of DACA in Manhattan, New York City, U.S. Thomson Reuters

Trump's decision to rescind Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), the Obama-era program that allows children of illegal immigrants to stay and work legally in the US, was also met with strong opposition.

As protests erupted around the country in defense of the nearly 800,000 young DACA recipients who could be deported if the program is eliminated, the ACLU was gearing up for a class action lawsuit. In October, the group took action on behalf of young immigrants currently protected under the program.

"These revocations have taken place without notice or an opportunity for the young immigrants to present their case, even though they followed all program rules and did not engage in any conduct to disqualify them from DACA," the ACLU said.

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Restrictions on birth control

Supporters of contraception rally before Zubik v. Burwell, an appeal brought by Christian groups demanding full exemption from the requirement to provide insurance covering contraception under the Affordable Care Act, is heard by the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, U.S., March 23, 2016.     REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File Photo
Supporters of contraception rally before Zubik v. Burwell is heard by the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington. Thomson Reuters

In an effort to defend religious liberty, the Trump administration rolled back regulations that made it mandatory for employer-provided insurance plans to provide free birth control.

The new rules exempt employers from a law requiring that they cover birth control if that practice contradicts their religious or moral beliefs. The change expands the group that's already exempt from the rule.

In response to the rollback, the ACLU, along with a union of hospital workers, sued the Trump Administration for "authorizing and promoting religiously motivated and other discrimination against women seeking reproductive health care."

While Democrats argue the new rules will make it harder for women to access contraception, Republicans say it's more a matter of defending religious liberty and getting the government out of women's health issues.

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