In The Trump Memos, a new 27-page document published by the American Civil Liberties Union, the nonprofit, nonpartisan organization lays out its constitutional analysis of Trump’s signature campaign promises, from mass deportations to a religious test for passing America’s borders to torture to mass surveillance to abortion to “opening up libel laws.”
The ACLU has promised a comparable analysis of Hillary Clinton’s positions. I’m no Hillary fan, but I’m guessing it’ll be a lot shorter, and probably focus on her role in America’s extrajudicial assassination-by-drone program.
This report also predates the GOP’s new party platform, which promises sweeping bans on pornography, a rollback of LGBTQ rights, and expansion of harmful, evidence-free “gay conversion therapy” programs.
The report also calls attention to Trump’s apparent ignorance of the law. In addition to raising Constitutional concerns about Trump’s plan to “open up the libel laws,” the ACLU points out that Trump doesn’t seem to know that there is no federal libel law to “open up.”The ACLU regularly issues non-partisan reports on politician’s civil liberties records, but it is unusual for the organization to pledge its resources ahead of time to fighting a specific candidate’s policies.
But Trump is a special case. “The ACLU and its more than 300 attorneys in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and Washington, D.C. stand ready to challenge and impede implementation of his unlawful proposals, should he attempt to see them through,” Romero said.
The Trump Memos [ACLU]
ACLU Gears Up to Fight Donald Trump’s Long List of Unconstitutional Proposals [Alex Emmons/The Intercept]