In recent years, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has taken criticism for an increasingly partisan public persona at odds with its historical position as a nonpartisan champion of civil liberties. A damning new report suggests the organization was subsumed in culture war politics.
After 2017's violent Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, the organization indicated that going forward, it would attempt to soft-pedal its advocacy, to create a balance with its "equality and justice" goals. Many, including supporters and former directors alike, criticized the shift as unachievable and antithetical to the organization's principles.
