 | Drummond (60)
01/04/2006 |  The ACLU was never popular with mainstream America because it represented those outside the mainstream who are often in most need of protection from majoritarian policies. It gained some popularity with the powers that be by wimping out during the red scare of the late 40s and 50s, but began to slide back into organization non grata when they dared represent the most out-of-mainstream group of all, the criminal element. Mostly they filed amicus briefs, but when the Warren court started to get cases based on the 4th and 5th Amendment, the exclusionary rule for evidence obtained unconstitutionally was solidified, and police conduct has improved ever since. This has cost the ACLU and liberalism in general a great deal of clout out of the perception that they are sympathetic to people who deserve no sympathy, but what is not understood is how these wins protect everybody. Unfortunately, the Reagan Court rulings have eroded these protections as the Supreme Court majority has pretty much never found a car search they didn't like. And if certain provisions of the Patriot Act remain in place, the 4th Amendment could be all but dead anytime a cop has the balls to invoke the T word.
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