ACLU-TN Mission Statement

The American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee (ACLU-TN) is dedicated to translating the guarantees of the Bill of Rights into reality for all Tennesseans.

The principles ACLU-TN fights for include: the right to free speech and expression; the right to freely practice any religion or no religion; the right to equal treatment, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, disability, or sexual orientation; the right to reproductive freedom; and the right to privacy. Underlying these principles is the most fundamental freedom of all: the right to be left alone and conduct one’s life free from government input or intrusion.

First organized in 1968, ACLU-TN is a private, non-partisan, non-profit membership organization headquartered in Nashville. The 4,200 members of ACLU-TN include doctors and lawyers, farmers and factory workers, retirees and students, rich and poor, gay and straight, Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians, religious and non-religious. We represent the diversity of beliefs and lifestyles that the Bill of Rights was written to protect. We may not always agree, but we share a commitment to the defense of civil liberties and a dedication to freedom and fairness under the Constitution.

Our work is done on a small operating budget by a staff of three, a board of directors, dedicated volunteers and cooperating attorneys, and a statewide legal committee. We pursue our mission with the financial support of our dues-paying members and generous private donors and without the aid of government funds. We promote our goals through advocacy, litigation, legislative lobbying, and public education.

ACLU-TN conducts its advocacy work each year as thousands of Tennesseans contact us to report possible civil liberties violations. We carefully review each situation and provide information, referrals, suggestions, and strategy. The information we receive every day from Tennesseans enables us to monitor the climate of constitutional freedoms in our state and to act when we discover patterns of civil liberties abuses.

ACLU-TN’s litigation program not only includes direct representation of individuals whose civil liberties have been violated, but also mediation, negotiation, and the filing of “friend of the court” briefs in support of civil liberties. Because ACLU-TN cannot take every civil liberties case, we file lawsuits in those cases we feel will have the greatest impact on the largest group of Tennesseans. In some of our court challenges, ACLU-TN represents individuals with unpopular points of view. We do this not to promote or condone their message, but to protect and defend the basic civil liberties of all Tennesseans.

During each session of the Tennessee General Assembly, ACLU-TN works to persuade our elected officials to pass legislation that protects, not erodes, the civil liberties of all Tennesseans. We reach out to our members and friends through our Legislative Alert Network and ask them to do the same.

The underlying philosophy guiding ACLU-TN’s public education program is that to protect your rights, you must exercise them; and to exercise them, you must know them. We increase public awareness of civil liberties issues by sponsoring forums and meetings, preparing and distributing educational materials on constitutional rights, working in coalition with other organizations on issues of mutual concern, and speaking regularly to the media on civil liberties issues.