ACLU of Massachusetts

Overview

The ACLU of Massachusetts is a private, nonpartisan organization and state affiliate of the national American Civil Liberties Union, with more than 82,000 supporters across the Commonwealth. It defends civil liberties and civil rights guaranteed by the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights and the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights.

Key functions and role

The organization litigates roughly 70 cases a year in Massachusetts courts and lobbies the state legislature on hundreds of bills annually affecting civil liberties, covering areas including free speech, immigrants' rights, reproductive freedom, LGBTQ+ rights, voting rights, privacy and surveillance, and police accountability. It maintains offices in Boston, Northampton and Worcester and conducts public education work through school programs and a volunteer Civil Liberties Task Force.

History

A group that included Margaret Shurcliff met at her Beacon Hill home shortly after World War I to answer the call of Massachusetts-born national ACLU founder Roger Baldwin, forming the Massachusetts Civil Liberties Committee, later renamed the Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts (CLUM). In the 1950s, CLUM broke with the national ACLU to defend people targeted by Red Scare-era congressional investigations, and in 1968 it again broke from the national organization to defend pediatrician and anti-war activist Dr. Benjamin Spock. The organization later won Moe v. Secretary of Administration and Finance, securing reproductive rights under the Massachusetts constitution, and renamed itself the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts (ACLUM) in 1995.

Political positions

The ACLU of Massachusetts describes itself as nonpartisan, though the national ACLU's policy positions -- including support for abortion rights, opposition to the death penalty and support for expanded voting access -- are generally associated with left-of-center politics, even as the organization has at points defended free-speech claims brought by figures across the political spectrum.

Leadership

Carol Rose serves as Executive Director. Jessie Rossman serves as Legal Director, the first woman to hold that role in the organization's history.

Location and contact info

Address
211 Congress Street
Boston, MA 02110, USA
Phone
(617) 482-3170
Email
info@aclum.org
Website
https://www.aclum.org