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ACLU

American Civil Liberties Union

Loathed by Bill O'Reilly, Pat Robertson, and Jerry Falwell. And with good reason. They represented American Nazis in 1978, NAMBLA in 2000, and they consistently oppose any governmental endorsement of religion. That includes school-imposed prayers, as well as nativity scenes and Ten Commandments monuments on public property.

ACLU strangely refuses to take a position on the civil liberty issue of gun rights.

Timeline

1919 Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer claims that communist agents have constructed a plan to overthrow the American Government on November 7th, 1919, the second anniversary of the Russian Revolution. Palmer and his assistant J. Edgar Hoover arrests over 10,000 suspected anarchists and communists and holds them without trial, ultimately releasing all but 247, who are deported to Russia. These mass arrests become known as the Palmer Raids.
Jan 1920 Palmer arrests 6,000 more suspected communists and holds them without trial. He announces that the communist revolution is planned for May 1st as justification.
1920 ACLU is founded in response to the Palmer Raids. Roger Baldwin is named first director of the ACLU.
1950 Roger Baldwin steps down as director, but continues work as spokesman for the ACLU. Patrick Murphy Malin becomes director, and starts the ACLU on greater membership, growing it from 9,000 to 60,000, mostly through the founding of local chapters.
1963 John de J. Pemberton becomes Executive Director of the ACLU.
1970 Aryeh Neier becomes Executive Director of the ACLU.
Jun 1978 Ruling in favor of the ACLU, the U.S. Supreme Court commands that the predominantly Jewish city of Skokie, Illinois allow the National Socialist Party of America to march down its streets.
1978 Ira Glasser becomes Executive Director of the ACLU.
25 Sep 1988 During one of the Presidential debates, Vice President George HW Bush paints his opponent, Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, as practically un-American: "He said, 'I am a card-carrying member of the ACLU.' That was what he said. He is out there, on out of the mainstream."
23 Sep 1991 ACLU Answers. Issue: Pornography "We support the prosecution of child pornographers under existing laws for the harm they inflict on children. But we believe government may not restrict the distribution of child pornography once it has been published."
1997 Reno v. ACLU
16 May 2000 After winning a $328 million wrongful death suit against the murderers of fifth-grader Jeffrey Curley, his parents file suit against NAMBLA for inciting the crime. The ACLU agrees to represent the organization, much to the dismay of almost everyone on Earth.
Dec 2000 Shirley Parraguirre, clerk of Clark County, Nevada, announces plans to require fingerprinting and police background checks of ministers performing wedding ceremonies. The proposal is rescinded after the ACLU points out that neither Jesus Christ nor Martin Luther King, Jr. would be allowed to marry people under the rules.
May 2001 Anthony D. Romero becomes ACLU Executive Director.
8 Sep 2001 In an editorial, Bill O'Reilly claims that the ACLU supports the practice of pederasty because they defended NAMBLA in court.
13 Sep 2001 During an exchange with Pat Robertson on the 700 Club, fellow televangelist Jerry Falwell declares that America's immorality is what caused the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center:

FALWELL: I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way—all of them who have tried to secularize America—I point the finger in their face and say: "You helped this happen."
ROBERTSON: Well, I totally concur, and the problem is we have adopted that agenda at the highest levels of our government. And so we're responsible as a free society for what the top people do. And, the top people, of course, is the court system.
FALWELL: Pat, did you notice yesterday the ACLU and all the Christ-haters, People For the American Way, NOW, etc. were totally disregarded by the Democrats and the Republicans in both houses of Congress as they went out on the steps and called out on to God in prayer and sang "God Bless America" and said "let the ACLU be hanged". In other words, when the nation is on its knees, the only normal and natural and spiritual thing to do is what we ought to be doing all the time—calling upon God.
9 Jan 2004 On The Radio Factor, Bill O'Reilly makes a comparison to the Third Reich: “The ACLU is the most fascist organization I have seen in decades. They want to tell you how to live. They don’t want to abide by the Constitution. They want to go around the Constitution. They’re intellectual fascists, and they use the courts as their Panzer divisions.”
12 May 2004 The ACLU announces a settlement with Stevenson High School in Sterling Heights, Michigan. The school had omitted valedictorian Abby Moler's submission for the 2001 yearbook because it contained a quote from the Bible (Jeremiah 29:11). The Michigan chapter of the ACLU sued the school on behalf of Moler, claiming that they violated her right to free speech. The school ultimately agreed not to censor yearbook submissions on the basis of religious or political speech.
31 May 2004 In an interview with Time magazine, Rush Limbaugh declares himself a longtime fan of the ACLU after they filed an amicus brief on his behalf in his prescription drug case: "In a situation like this, I think it's safe to say I welcome its support, and I don't find it hypocritical at all, because I am not anti-ACLU. If the ACLU wants to go after, say, nativity scenes or this sort of thing, I may take issue, but there are other areas where I've supported things it has done."

War Against the Nativity Creche

1989 Ruling in favor of the ACLU, the U.S. Supreme Court forbids Allegheny County, Pennsylvania from reinstating its nativity scene at the county courthouse.
25 Sep 1998 Ruling in favor of the ACLU, a federal judge forbids the town of Florissant, Missouri from reinstating its nativity scene in front of the Civic Center.
30 Nov 1998 Ruling in favor of the ACLU, a federal judge declares that the town of Somerset, Massachusetts must remove its nativity scene from a public lawn.
12 Oct 2000 In a settlement with the ACLU, officials of Custer County, Montana agree to remove its nativity scene from a public property.

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