I used to donate to the ACLU, but they have completely lost their way.
I'd encourage more people who care about preserving free speech and expression to give money to FIRE. They are the new ACLU and need financial resources to do what the ACLU used to do.
https://rankings.thefire.org/rank
Of the top 6 that are rated "Good," L=Liberal to C=Conservative ratios are telling:
1. University of Chicago, L:C = 4 : 1
2. Kansas State University, L:C = 1 : 1.3
3. Purdue (main campus), L:C = 1.1 : 1
4. Mississippi State Univ, L:C = 1 : 1.9
5. Oklahoma State Univ, L:C = 1 : 1.2
6. Claremont McKenna, L:C = 5.2 : 1
The bottom 6 (Poor, Very poor or abysmal):
198. Yale, L:C = 5.2 : 1
199. Skidmore, L:C = 11.8 : 1
200. Georgetown, L:C = 3.3 : 1
201. Rensselaer Poly, L:C = 2.3 : 1
202. U. of Pennsylvania, L:C = 5.9 : 1
203. Columbia, L:C = 6.8 : 1
Looks like there's been a flip in the definitions of liberal and conservative, at least wrt free-speech
I mean, yeah? There is definitely a side more concerned with suppressing speech they consider reprehensible than the other and those roles have definitely switched in the last like 30 years.
The funny thing to me, is that the data objectively shows this, and Greenwald has good reason to rant about it: he has been one of the most vocal liberal critics of the security state for two decades, yet now finds himself alone, suddenly surrounded by conservatives while angry liberals call him a right wing grifter who's lost his way. But in fact it's the opposite; Greenwald has been steadfast in his principled opposition, whereas his previously stalwart allies have abandoned him in favor of reactionary politics that fits their confirmation bias.
I don't follow these things too closely, but my perception is they continue to do the same kind of work they always have.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/05/aclu-johnn...
The ACLU taking donations to silently support Amber Heard suing Johnny Depp is so far afield of their mission it’s unforgivable.
tl;dr : the ACLU used to be a free speech absolutist organization to the point of self-sabotage. (eg: Jewish ACLU lawyers defending Neo-Nazis). In that sense, it went from a libertarian organization to a progressive activist organization that now supports cases that suppress civil liberties as long as the cause supports their (faux activist?) progressive agenda.
[1]https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/05/aclu-johnn...
[2]https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/06/us/aclu-free-speech.html
From a practical standpoint, the Nazi group they were defending didn't amount to anything, and they never even held their march after going to all the work of taking the case to the Supreme Court.
Basically all of the EFF lawyers are in real tight with the Library of Congress, which happens to have some oversight issues (as in they have almost none) that bipartisan efforts in Congress are trying to correct. I forget the exact details but basically there was an appointed position with no accountability to anyone that Congress was at least trying to make replaceable by the Executive branch.
The EFF ran all kinds of FUD through their mailing lists to try to keep the position unaccountable to anyone, which in my opinion is behavior running in direct oppoisition to the second letter in their acronym.
They do not claim to handle more than a fraction of what the ACLU does (which is fine):
https://www.thefire.org/about-us
Versus the ACLU:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_Liberties_Union...