American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)

"No Kings" protests draw 5 million people in 2,100+ locations

| Importance: 10/10

A historic nationwide protest against presidential overreach, the ‘No Kings’ demonstrations involved over 5 million Americans in more than 2,100 cities and towns, marking the largest coordinated resistance action since the Women’s March of 2017. Protesters challenged Trump’s …

Civil Society Organizations Protest movements American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) MoveOn American Federation of Teachers +1 more protests civil-resistance constitutional-crisis popular-opposition trump-administration +1 more
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Dorothy Gautreaux Lawsuit Challenges Chicago Public Housing Segregation

| Importance: 7/10

Dorothy Gautreaux, a community organizer and resident of the Altgeld Gardens public housing project on Chicago’s South Side, becomes lead plaintiff in a landmark class-action lawsuit filed by six Black tenants with help from the American Civil Liberties Union. The suit alleges that the Chicago …

Dorothy Gautreaux Chicago Housing Authority American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development institutional-capture racial-oppression housing-policy legal-resistance
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State Loyalty Oaths Spread as California Passes Levering Act, Requires Public Employee Pledges

| Importance: 7/10

In 1950, California passed the Levering Act, requiring all state employees to sign a loyalty oath swearing they did not belong to organizations advocating overthrow of the government. The law followed a bitter fight at the University of California that had already fired 31 faculty members for …

California Legislature Earl Warren University of California Board of Regents American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) mccarthyism civil-liberties academic-freedom red-scare political-persecution +1 more
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