The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has been involved in the following legal cases, either by representing a party, or filing an amicus brief, or otherwise significantly involved.
1920s 1925 Tennessee v. Scopes (Scopes Trial) - paid for John Scopes' defense Gitlow v. New York, - represented Benjamin Gitlow
1927 Whitney v. California,
1930s 1931 Stromberg v. California, - represented Yetta Stromberg
1932 Powell v. Alabama, - represented the Scottsboro Boys
1933 United States v. One Book Called Ulysses
1935 Patterson v. Alabama,
1937 De Jonge v. Oregon, - represented Dirk De Jonge
1938 Lovell v. City of Griffin,
1939 Hague v. CIO, .
1939 Bolanos v. California - represented Wesley Packard
1940s 1940 Cantwell v. Connecticut,
1941 Edwards v. California,
1942 Betts v. Brady,
1943 Hirabayashi v. United States, - Amicus curiae for Gordon Kiyoshi Hirabayashi West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, - Amicus curiae Martin v. Struthers
1944 Korematsu v. United States Smith v. Allwright
1946 Hannegan v. Esquire
1947 Everson v. Board of Education, - Amicus curiae for Arch R. Everson
1948 Shelley v. Kraemer
1950s 1951 Kunz v. New York
1952 Joseph Burstyn, Inc. v. Wilson Rochin v. California
1954 Brown v. Board of Education, - Amicus curiae for Oliver Brown Hernandez v. Texas, 347 U.S. 475 (1954) civil rights 1957 Roth v. United States, - Amicus curiae for Samuel Roth Watkins v. United States Yates v. United States, - Amicus curiae for Yates
1958 Kent v. Dulles Speiser v. Randall, - ACLU lawyer Lawrence Speiser defended himself Trop v. Dulles
1959 Smith v. California
1960s 1961 Mapp v. Ohio, - Amicus curiae for Dollree Mapp Poe v. Ullman
1962 Engel v. Vitale, - represented Steven I. Engel
1963 Abington School District v. Schempp, - represented Edward Schempp Gideon v. Wainwright, - Amicus curiae for Clarence Earl Gideon
1964 Baggett v. Bullitt Carroll v. Princess Anne County Escobedo v. Illinois, - Amicus curiae for Danny Escobedo Jacobellis v. Ohio New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, - Amicus curiae for The New York Times Reynolds v. Sims, - represented B.A. Reynolds
1965 Griswold v. Connecticut, - Amicus curiae for Estelle T. Griswold Lamont v. Postmaster General United States v. Seeger, - Amicus curiae for Seeger, Jakobson and Peter
1966 Bond v. Floyd Miranda v. Arizona, - Amicus curiae for Ernesto Miranda
1967 Keyishian v. Board of Regents Loving v. Virginia Whitus v. Georgia
1968 Epperson v. Arkansas, - Amicus curiae for Susan Epperson Jones v. Mayer, - Amicus curiae for Joseph Lee Jones King v. Smith Levy v. Louisiana Terry v. Ohio, - Amicus curiae for John W. Terry Washington v. Lee
1969 Brandenburg v. Ohio, - represented Clarence Brandenburg Gregory v. Chicago Street v. New York Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, - represented the Tinker and Eckhardt families Watts v. United States
1970s 1970 Goldberg v. Kelly
1971 Cohen v. California, - Amicus curiae for Paul Robert Cohen New York Times Co. v. United States, - Amicus curiae for The New York Times and The Washington Post Organization for a Better Austin v. Keefe Reed v. Reed, - represented Sally Reed United States v. Vuitch
1972 Eisenstadt v. Baird, - Amicus curiae for William Baird Furman v. Georgia, - Amicus curiae for William Furman, Lucious Jackson and Elmer Branch Laird v. Tatum, 408 U.S. 1
1973 Roe v. Wade, Doe v. Bolton, - represented "Mary Doe" Frontiero v. Richardson, - Amicus curiae for Sharron Frontiero Schlesinger v. Holtzman Miller v. California, - Amicus curiae for Marvin Miller
1974 Communist Party of Indiana v. Whitcomb Smith v. Goguen United States v. Nixon, - Amicus curiae against Richard Nixon
1975 O'Connor v. Donaldson Taylor v. Louisiana
1976 Buckley v. Valeo
1977 Wooley v. Maynard
1978 In re Primus National Socialist Party of America v. Village of Skokie, - represented the National Socialist Party of America. Also known as Smith v. Collin
1980s 1980 Pruneyard Shopping Center v. Robins
1982 Island Trees School District v. Pico New York v. Ferber, - Amicus curiae for Paul Ferber McLean v. Arkansas
1983 Bob Jones University v. United States City of Akron v. Akron Center for Reproductive Health, .
1985 Wallace v. Jaffree, - Amicus curiae for Ishmael Jaffree
1987 Edwards v. Aguillard, - represented Aguillard pro bono
1988 Nelson v. Streeter - represented artist in Harold Washington portrait controversy
1989 County of Allegheny v. ACLU, - represented itself Texas v. Johnson, - Amicus curiae for Gregory Lee Johnson United States v. Verdugo-Urquidez, - Amicus curiae for Rene Martin Verdugo-Urquidez Webster v. Reproductive Health Services,
1990s 1990 Cruzan v. Director of the Missouri Department of Health - represented Nancy Cruzan's family Employment Division v. Smith, - Amicus curiae for Alfred Smith and Galen Black Hodgson v. Minnesota, . United States v. Eichman, - Amicus curiae for Shawn Eichman
1991 Rust v. Sullivan, .
1992 Hudson v. McMillian Lee v. Weisman, - Amicus curiae for Deborah Weisman Planned Parenthood v. Casey, - represented Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania R. A. V. v. City of St. Paul, - Amicus curiae for R. A. V.
1993 J.E.B. v. Alabama ex rel. T.B. Wisconsin v. Mitchell
1994 City of Ladue v. Gilleo
1995 Capitol Square Review Board v. Pinett Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah Hurley v. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Group of Boston McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission Miller v. Johnson, . Campaign for Fiscal Equity, Inc. v. State of New York, - Amicus curiae
1996 ACLU v. Zell Miller - represented itself Romer v. Evans, . NOW v. Scheidler, - Amicus curiae
1997 Reno v. ACLU, .
1999 ACLU v. Schundler Hunt v. Cromartie, - Amicus curiae Sutton v. United Air Lines, Inc.
2000s 2000 Stenberg v. Carhart, - Amicus curiae Curley v. NAMBLA - represented NAMBLA pro bono Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, - Amicus curiae City of Indianapolis v. Edmond
2002 ACLU v. Ashcroft (2002) Swierkiewicz v. Sorema N. A.
2003 State v. Dalton McConnell v. FEC Lawrence v. Texas, - Amicus curiae Goodridge v. Department of Public Health - Amicus curiae Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood of New England - Amicus curiae United States v. American Library Association
2004 ACLU v. Ashcroft (2004) ACLU v. Department of Defense - appellant Hamdi v. Rumsfeld - Amicus curiae Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow - Amicus curiae Rumsfeld v. Padilla - Amicus curiae Rasul v. Bush - Amicus curiae Locke v. Davey - Amicus curiae
2005 Castle Rock v. Gonzales - Amicus curiae for Jessica Gonzales Citizens for Equal Protection v. Bruning - Plaintiff alongside Citizens for Equal Protection and Nebraska Advocates for Justice Equality City of San Diego and Mt. Soledad Memorial Association v. Paulson - represented Philip Paulson McCreary County v. ACLU of Kentucky - ACLU defended itself The King’s English v. Shurtleff - represented King's English and others Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District - represented eleven parents Varian v. Delfino - Amicus curiae for Michelangelo Delfino and Mary Day Gonzales v. Oregon - Amicus curiae for Oregon Rumsfeld v. Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights - Amicus curiae for Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights MGM v. Grokster - Amicus curiae in support of Grokster
2006 Qassim v. Bush - Amicus curiae in support of Qassim ACLU v. NSA Howard v. Arkansas - represented Matthew Lee Howard and other plaintiffs
2007 Morse v. Frederick - Amicus curiae in support of Frederick Gonzales v. Carhart and Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood - Amicus curiae in support of Carhart and Planned Parenthood
2008 Abdel-Moniem El-Ganayni vs. the United States Department of Energy et al. - represented Dr. El-Ganayni pro-bono
2009 In re Gill - represented Martin Gill Safford Unified School District v. Redding – represented respondent Redding
2010s 2010 Perry v. Schwarzenegger - Amicus curiae; private communications between officials in the organization were ordered to be released publicly as court evidence Amnesty v. Blair - Amicus curiae Davis v. Billington 2013 Clapper v. Amnesty International Missouri v. McNeely United States v. Windsor
2015 Ingersoll v. Arlene's Flowers ACLU and others v. NSA Obergefell v. Hodges 2017
Stewart v. Heineman
2020s 2021 Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L.
2024 National Rifle Association of America v. Vullo
Alphabetical
Abington School District v. Schempp Abrams v. United States ACLU v. NSA ACLU v. Schundler Ashcroft v. American Civil Liberties Union American Civil Liberties Union v. Ashcroft American Civil Liberties Union v. Department of Defense Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood of Northern New England Baggett v. Bullitt Betts v. Brady Bob Jones University v. United States Bond v. Floyd Boy Scouts of America v. Dale Brandenburg v. Ohio Brown v. Board of Education Buckley v. Valeo Cantwell v. Connecticut Capitol Square Review Board v. Pinett Carroll v. Princess Anne County Castle Rock v. Gonzales Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah Citizens for Equal Protection v. Bruning City of Akron v. Akron Center for Reproductive Health City of Ladue v. Gilleo City of Indianapolis v. Edmond Cohen v. California Communist Party of Indiana v. Whitcomb County of Allegheny v. ACLU Nancy Cruzan Curley v. NAMBLA Davis v. Billington De Jonge v. Oregon Doe v. Bolton Edwards v. Aguillard Edwards v. California Eisenstadt v. Baird Abdel-Moniem El-Ganayni Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow Employment Division v. Smith Engel v. Vitale Epperson v. Arkansas Escobedo v. Illinois Everson v. Board of Education Frontiero v. Richardson Furman v. Georgia Gideon v. Wainwright Gitlow v. New York Goldberg v. Kelly Gonzales v. Carhart Gonzales v. Oregon Goodridge v. Department of Public Health Gregory v. Chicago Griswold v. Connecticut Hague v. Committee for Industrial Organization Hamdi v. Rumsfeld Hannegan v. Esquire Hirabayashi v. United States Hodgson v. Minnesota Howard v. Arkansas Hudson v. McMillian Hunt v. Cromartie Hurley v. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Group of Boston Ingersoll v. Arlene's Flowers In re Gill In re Primus Island Trees School District v. Pico Jacobellis v. Ohio J.E.B. v. Alabama ex rel. T.B. Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co. Joseph Burstyn, Inc. v. Wilson Kent v. Dulles Keyishian v. Board of Regents King v. Smith Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District Korematsu v. United States Kunz v. New York Lamont v. Postmaster General Lawrence v. Texas Lee v. Weisman Levy v. Louisiana Locke v. Davey Lovell v. City of Griffin Loving v. Virginia Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L. Mapp v. Ohio Martin v. Struthers McConnell v. Federal Election Commission McCreary County v. ACLU of Kentucky McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission McLean v. Arkansas MGM Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd. Miller v. California Miller v. Johnson Miranda v. Arizona Morse v. Frederick Mount Soledad cross controversy National Organization for Women, Inc. v. Scheidler National Rifle Association of America v. Vullo National Socialist Party of America v. Village of Skokie New York Times Co. v. Sullivan New York Times Co. v. United States New York v. Ferber O'Connor v. Donaldson Organization for a Better Austin v. Keefe Patterson v. Alabama Perry v. Schwarzenegger Planned Parenthood v. Casey Poe v. Ullman Powell v. Alabama Pruneyard Shopping Center v. Robins Qassim v. Bush R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul Rasul v. Bush Reed v. Reed Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union Reynolds v. Sims Rochin v. California Roe v. Wade Romer v. Evans Roth v. United States Rumsfeld v. Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights, Inc. Rumsfeld v. Padilla Rust v. Sullivan Scopes Trial Schlesinger v. Holtzman