The ACLU already has ‘battle plan’ drawn up to fight Trump’s policies

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) already has plans in place to “take action” against president-elect Donald Trump’s policies.

The not-for-profit organisation took to social media as soon as news outlets called the US presidential election in favour of Trump, saying it was fed up with “waiting anxiously”, and was ready to “ensure that erosions of civil rights or civil liberties will be hotly contested”.

A spokesperson on X/Twitter said: “We are ready to take action the minute Trump takes the oath of office [on 20 January].

“We’re clear-eyed about the chaos and destruction a second Trump administration will cause to our nation. That’s why we’re done with hand-wringing, admiring the problem, or waiting anxiously to see which unlawful action Trump will take on day one.”

The ACLU claimed it was the “first organisation to challenge [Trump’s] Muslim ban” when the Republican was elected eight years ago, adding that its legal battles “stopped the inhumane practice of separating immigrant families” and won the fight to prevent “a citizenship question on the 2020 census”.

It filed “434 legal actions against the first Trump administration” including to support the LGBTQ+ community, which were won in front of “Trump-appointed judges”, the spokesperson went on to claim.

“At the ACLU, we play the long game. We’ve been here for 105 years, through 19 presidents.”

BREAKING: The AP just called the 2024 presidential election for Donald Trump.

We’re clear-eyed about the chaos and destruction a second Trump administration will cause to our nation.

That’s why we’re done with handwringing, admiring the problem, or waiting anxiously to see…

— ACLU (@ACLU) November 6, 2024

In recent years, the ACLU has been in the forefront of the battle against discriminatory legislation in the US, keeping track of every anti-LGBTQ+ law that has been introduced across the country.

“The ACLU will not stop speaking out against these cruel attacks nationwide, LGBTQ people have a right to live in safety, to thrive and to be treated with dignity,” the spokesperson continued.

Experts have warned that a second Trump term, with JD Vance as his vice-president, could be catastrophic for queer rights in the US, with the pair having pushed anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric during the long campaign.

Among other measures, Trump claimed that he would cut federal funding to school districts that adopt trans-friendly policies, exclude transgender women from women’s sports, and restore his ban on trans people serving in the military.

And, in the wake of the overturning of abortion rights case Roe v Wade in 2022, campaigners have expressed fears that the conservative-controlled Supreme Court could next turn its attention to Obergefell vs Hodges, which gave the fundamental right to marry to same-sex couples in 2015.

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