[Blog 1] Alec Mueller - ACLU


1. What exactly does the ACLU advocate for?
The ACLU advocates for the full protection of the first amendment. They feel that no matter how offensive or bigoted your views are, you have full right to speak them.


2. How did the ACLU get involved in Charlottesville?
The city of Charlottesville attempted to revoke the protest permit of one of the white nationalist's, which the ACLA found unconstitutional. The US District Court Judge ruled in agreement with the ACLU and allowed the nationalist protests to continue as planned.


3. Why have liberals increasingly backed the ACLU in the last year?
Liberals have increasingly backed the ACLU because the ACLU pledged to hold Trump's administration accountable in court for its actions.


4. What argument does the ACLU make about governments and free speech?
The ACLU argues that free speech must be protected for all people, even if they are largely in the minority with their views. Even bigoted people must have free speech rights, because according to ACLU: "Without free speech protections, all civil rights advocacy could be shut down by the people in power, precisely because government doesn’t agree with the ideas activists advance. That was true of the civil rights fights of the past, it’s true of the movements facing pitched battles today, and it will be true of the movements of the future that are still striving to be heard."


5. What does the article argue is the danger in allowing free speech of white nationalists?
The article argues that allowing the free speech of these groups will legitimize and spread their opinions through the nation.


6. Under what circumstance did the ACLU first start defending the free speech rights of hate groups?
In the 1970s, the ACLU defended the rights of a neo-nazi group to march in a small town called Skokie. This case, called National Socialist Party of America v. Village of Skokie was taken all the way to the Supreme court, where ACLU won the case.


7. Why is the ACLU's defense of Milo Yiannopoulos so controversial?
It is extremely controversial because the ACLU is working to defend the rights of the same groups of people that Yiannopoulos is attacking, while they also defend him. Another reason it is so controversial is that the ACLU claims that they do not agree with any of his views, yet they still fight for him to be able to share them.

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