ACLU re-evaluates limits on defending free speech

NEW YORK — Faced with an angry backlash for defending white supremacists’ right to march in Charlottesville, the American Civil Liberties Union is confronting a feeling among some of its members that was once considered heresy: Maybe some speech isn’t worth defending.

Cracks in the ACLU’S strict defense of the First Amendment no matter how offensive the speech opened from the moment a counterprotester was killed during the rally in Virginia. Some critics said the ACLU has blood on its hands for persuading a judge to let the Aug. 12 march go forward. An ACLU leader in Virginia resigned, tweeting, “What’s legal and what’s right are sometimes different.”

“This was a real tragedy and we’re all reeling,” said Lee Rowland, a senior staff attorney at the ACLU’S headquarters in New York City. “Charlottesville should be a wake-up call to all of us.”

The backlash set off a tumultuous week of soul-searching and led to a three-hour national staff meeting in which the conflict within the group was aired.

What resulted was an announcement that the ACLU will no longer stand with hate groups seeking to march with weapons, as some of those in Charlottesville did.

“If people are gathering armed to the hilt and hoping for violence, I think the ACLU would be doing damage to our free-speech rights in the long term,” Rowland said.

Stacy Sullivan, an associate director with the ACLU, said that after Charlottesville, a small increase in people quitting as members or dropping off social media last week was made up for by new sign-ups.

She said the ACLU will not shy away from taking unpopular positions.

“If you can’t stomach respecting the First Amendment rights of people you despise,” Sullivan said, “you don’t work here.”