LEGAL: “The American Civil Liberties Union, taking a tougher stance on armed protests, will no longer defend hate groups seeking to march with firearms, the group’s executive director said.
Following clashes over the weekend in Charlottesville, Va., the civil-rights group also will screen clients more closely for the potential of violence at their rallies, said Anthony Romero, who has been the ACLU’s executive director since 2001.
The ACLU’s Virginia branch defended the right of white nationalists, neo-Nazis and other groups under the banner ‘Unite the Right’ to protest the removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from a Charlottesville park…
The revised policy marries the 97-year-old civil-rights group’s First Amendment work with the organization’s stance on firearms, which aligns with many municipalities and states that bar protesters from carrying weapons…
The move is likely to temper the criticism from members who blame the ACLU in part for clashes between white supremacists protesting the removal of a Confederate statue and counterprotesters.”
-Joe Palazzolo, “ACLU Will No Longer Defend Hate Groups Protesting With Firearms,” The Wall Street Journal online, Aug. 17, 2017 06:54pm