Civil Liberties of Aliens

The extent to which the Constitution’s Bill of Rights and other political freedoms are enjoyed by noncitizens is a question that has existed since the founding of the United States.

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County of Allegheny v. ACLU, 492 U.S. 573 (1989)

In the mid-1980s, the Supreme Court first considered the constitutionality of religious holiday displays in Lynch v. Donnelly, 465 U.S. 668 (1984), involving a city’s display of a nativity scene among other symbols of the Christmas holiday.

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Allen v. Illinois, 478 U.S. 364 (1986)

The Allen Court decided the issue of whether proceedings under the Illinois Sexually Dangerous Persons Act are ‘‘criminal,’’ such that they open the door to the Fifth Amendment’s protection against selfincrimination.

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Amalgamated Food Employees Union Local 590 v. Logan Valley Plaza, 391 U.S. 308 (1968)

The conflict between the First Amendment rights of persons to speak and the rights of private property owners to exclude individuals from their property raises thorny questions at the intersection of state action doctrine and the First Amendment.

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Ambach v. Norwick, 441 U.S. 68 (1979)

Interpreting the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, the Supreme Court has generally subjected all state and local laws that discriminate on the basis of alienage to the strictest scrutiny, noting that, unlike the federal government, state entities do not have the power to regulate the admission or expulsion of noncitizens.

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America Online

America Online (AOL), founded in 1985 as Quantum Computer Services and since 2000 part of Time Warner, is one of the world’s largest Internet service providers (ISPs).

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American Anti-Slavery Society

At its inaugural meeting on December 4, 1833, the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS) declared an unconditional commitment to the immediate abolition of slavery and equal rights for free black men.

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American Booksellers Association, Inc., et al. v. Hudnut, 771 F. 2nd 323 (1985)

The feminist movement in the 1960s and 1970s in the United States and other countries raised anew issues of discrimination and violence against women.

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American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a private nonprofit organization dedicated to the defense of civil liberties. The ACLU defines civil liberties as rights enjoyed by individuals over and against the power of government.

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American Communications Association v. Douds, 339 U.S. 382 (1950)

In 1947, Congress added Section 9(h) to the National Labor Relations Act; this section required all labor union officers to sign annual affidavits stating that they did not belong to the Communist Party or support the unlawful overthrow of the U.S. government.

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American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978

Congress announced that the policy of the United States was to ‘‘protect and preserve’’ the rights of American Indians, Alaskan Natives, and Native Hawaiians ‘‘to believe, express, and exercise’’ their ‘‘traditional religions’’ in a joint resolution adopted in 1978, now known as the American Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA).

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American Revolution

The words ‘‘liberty’’ and ‘‘rights’’ had far different connotations for people in the American colonies, depending on their status as slaves, free blacks, Native Americans on their homeland, women, indentured servants, loyalists, conscripted soldiers, religious dissidents, radical patriots, or propertied white males.

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Americans United for Separation of Church and State

Americans United for Separation of Church and State (Americans United) is a Washington, D.C.- based public interest organization committed to preserving the principles of separation of church and state and religious liberty through litigation, lobbying, and public education.

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Amish and Religious Liberty

The Amish seem to be an unlikely group to shape American law. These simple folk distance themselves from the trappings of modernity by living in largely isolated, rural communities.

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Amnesty International

Amnesty International (Amnesty), an organization dedicated to advancing human rights and ending arbitrary detention, has been active worldwide for over forty years.

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