The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey (ACLU-NJ) is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit civil rights

Civil rights

Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...

 organization in Newark, New Jersey

Newark, New Jersey

Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...

 and an affiliate of the national American Civil Liberties Union

American Civil Liberties Union

The American Civil Liberties Union is a U.S. non-profit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation, legislation, and...

. According to the ACLU-NJ’s stated mission, the ACLU-NJ operates through litigation on behalf of individuals, lobbying in state and local legislatures, and community education.

History

The ACLU-NJ was founded on June 16, 1960 when North Jersey- and South Jersey-based ACLU members convened in Newark

Newark, New Jersey

Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...

 to officially form a statewide affiliate. In its first decade, the ACLU-NJ formed the Community Legal Action Workshop (CLAW) to advocate for inner-city victims of civil liberties violations in light of the Newark riots

1967 Newark riots

The 1967 Newark riots were a major civil disturbance that occurred in the city of Newark, New Jersey between July 12 and July 17, 1967. The six days of rioting, looting, and destruction left 26 dead and hundreds injured.-Social unrest:...

. Volunteer ACLU attorneys Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Ruth Joan Bader Ginsburg is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Ginsburg was appointed by President Bill Clinton and took the oath of office on August 10, 1993. She is the second female justice and the first Jewish female justice.She is generally viewed as belonging to...

 and Annamay Sheppard, both of Rutgers School of Law—Newark

Rutgers School of Law—Newark

Rutgers School of Law–Newark is the oldest of three law schools in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is located at the S.I. Newhouse Center for Law and Justice, at 123 Washington Street, in downtown Newark...

 at the time, argued the 1972 sex discrimination case of Abbe Seldin, who won her right to play tennis on the Teaneck High School

Teaneck High School

Teaneck High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school, which is part of the Teaneck Public Schools district in Teaneck, New Jersey, United States...

 men's team.

The Issues

The ACLU-NJ typically intervenes in civil liberties issues relating to free speech, the separation of church and state

Separation of church and state

The concept of the separation of church and state refers to the distance in the relationship between organized religion and the nation state....

, election and voting rights, open government

Open government

Open government is the governing doctrine which holds that citizens have the right to access the documents and proceedings of the government to allow for effective public oversight. In its broadest construction it opposes reason of state and racist considerations, which have tended to legitimize...

, privacy law

Privacy law

Privacy law refers to the laws which deal with the regulation of personal information about individuals which can be collected by governments and other public as well as private organizations and its storage and use....

, LGBT

LGBT

LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...

 rights, reproductive freedom, women’s rights, student rights

Student rights

Student rights are those rights which protect students, here meaning those persons attending schools, universities and other educational institutions...

, racial equality

Racial equality

Racial equality means different things in different contexts. It mostly deals with an equal regard to all races.It can refer to a belief in biological equality of all human races....

, police practices, prisoner rights, poverty rights, and immigrant rights.

Police

In New Jersey, police practices receive frequent attention from the ACLU-NJ. In 1967, the ACLU-NJ sued the State Police in the aftermath of the Plainfield riots

1967 Plainfield riots

The Plainfield Riots were a series of racially-charged violent disturbances that occurred in Plainfield, New Jersey during the summer of 1967, which mirrored the 1967 Newark riots in nearby Newark, New Jersey.-Background:...

, when state troopers searched 66 homes without a warrant.

Newark Police

The relationship between the ACLU-NJ and the Newark Police Department has been particularly fraught since the ACLU-NJ's creation. After the Newark riots

1967 Newark riots

The 1967 Newark riots were a major civil disturbance that occurred in the city of Newark, New Jersey between July 12 and July 17, 1967. The six days of rioting, looting, and destruction left 26 dead and hundreds injured.-Social unrest:...

 in July 1967 resulted in 26 deaths, the ACLU-NJ intervened on the behalf of arrested individuals and taught the population of Newark to document police brutality. Later that year, the ACLU-NJ petitioned unsuccessfully for the federal courts to oversee the Newark Police Department. In September 2010, the ACLU-NJ filed a similar petition with the Department of Justice in response to recurring complaints of police brutality and abuse

Open Government

The ACLU's New Jersey chapter has also made open government a priority. In 2009, the ACLU-NJ announced the Open Governance Project, an initiative dedicated to government transparency and ease of access to government meetings and documentation.

Galluccio

In 1997, the ACLU-NJ took on the case of Jon Holden and Michael Galluccio, a gay couple fighting to adopt their 2 year old foster son. They won the case, and New Jersey consequently became the first state to grant equal standing to gay and lesbian couples seeking to adopt.

Sally Frank

The ACLU-NJ served as co-counsel to Sally Frank, a Princeton University

Princeton University

Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

 student fighting for the acceptance of women into the all-male Eating Clubs on campus beginning in 1979. The clubs, though private organizations, were deemed public accommodations actively discriminating on the basis of gender. The legal battles concluded in 1992, with all Eating Clubs accepting women.

Yorker, et al. v. Township of Manalapan, et al.

On Aug. 25, 2004, the ACLU-NJ filed Yorker, et al. v. Township of Manalapan, et al. in state court on behalf of three African American youths who were searched and subjected to discriminatory treatment by Manalapan police officers. The officers allegedly told the boys' three white friends that they could go home. Manalapan Township paid $275,000 to settle the lawsuit.

Funding

The ACLU-NJ operates on donations. In the 2009-2010 financial year, the ACLU-NJ reported 31% of income from contributions, 1% from bequests, 17% from dues, <1% from court awarded attorney fees, 10% from grants, 40% from investment income, and <1% from other income.

ACLU-NJ Vs. ACLU-NJ Foundation

The ACLU-NJ consists of the "ACLU-NJ" and the "ACLU-NJ Foundation." The ACLU-NJ is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit corporation, which funds legislative lobbying. "Card-carrying" members belong to this organization, the gifts to which are non tax-deductible. Donations to the "ACLU-NJ Foundation," on the other hand, are tax-deductible because this branch operates as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation, focusing on litigation and public education.

Board

Members nominate and elect a Board of Trustees from around the state who serve three-year terms. The Board sets policy, raises funds, and provides legal and fiduciary oversight.

Director

Deborah Jacobs assumed the role of Executive Director of the ACLU-NJ in 1999. She began her ACLU career in 1992 at the ACLU of Washington, where she directed legal intake and managed volunteers. She also served at the head of the state ACLU affiliate of Eastern Missouri in St. Louis. Under Jacobs' leadership, the ACLU-NJ has become one of the largest ACLU affiliates in the country, and has paid particular attention to advocacy for racial justice, police accountability and open government. Jacobs testifies regularly before the state legislature on topics including marriage equality, unjust sentencing, sensible drug law reforms, racial profiling, police accountability, barriers to open government, free speech, election laws and voting rights, and other issues affecting the rights of people in the state. Jacobs has written opinion pieces for The Star-Ledger, The Bergen Record, The Trenton Times, The Press of Atlantic City, The Huffington Post, and The Philadelphia Inquirer. Newspapers, radio, and television reporters — including The New York Times, CNN, National Public Radio, and USA Today — regularly ask Jacobs for her take on the major civil liberties matters of the day. Jacobs holds a B.A. in English Literature and an M.A. in Liberal Studies from Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY. In 1990, she was awarded a Fulbright grant to study in Helsinki, Finland.

Legal Director

Ed Barocas has served as Legal Director for the ACLU-NJ since May 2001, overseeing the ACLU-NJ's legal program, and managing a docket of over 30 cases. Ed served for six years as Special Counsel for the Special Hearings Unit of the Office of Public Defender in Newark, where he represented convicted sex offenders in tier classification and notification hearings and litigated class-action suits challenging the constitutionality of Megan's Law. He managed the Unit's largest office, covering six NJ counties. He also taught a course at Rutgers Law School. Prior to serving as Special Counsel, Ed was an Assistant Deputy Public Advocate for the Division of Mental Health Advocacy in Wall, NJ, where he advocated for the rights of the mentally ill on individual and hospital-wide bases. He negotiated reform of adolescent behavioral programs and proposed a policy for community placements and for the closure of a psychiatric hospital, which was presented by the Protection and Advocacy Advisory Council to Governor Whitman and was later adopted. Ed also has copyrights for over 40 comedy and political parody songs. He has performed with members of Blood, Sweat & Tears, and has an album scheduled for release in the Spring of 2010. Ed attended Rutgers College in New Brunswick and received his Juris Doctorate in May 1992 from the National Law Center at George Washington University.