ACLU President Visits Samford Univeristy
The President of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Susan Herman, spoke to a packed audience of students, faculty and other community members at the Samford Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham. After giving a brief history of the ACLU, Herman answered questions about current concerns and potential roles for the ACLU under President-Elect Donald Trump.
Herman also expressed concerns about Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions’ nomination to be Attorney General. Having once called the ACLU Communist and anti-American, she says, “we are looking at his record -we would like to see Senators ask questions about his views on Civil Rights because as Attorney General of the United States, he would really be responsible to represent for justice for all people and I think I there’s some questions given things he has said in the past.”
As a non-partisan organization, Herman stressed that the ACLU never supports or opposes a particular candidate. The ACLU does look at candidates positions — adding that Sessions isn’t the only one to confuse the role of the ACLU — which is to defend anyone’s ability to express their own point of view under the first amendment.
Already scheduled to come to Samford University prior to the Presidential election, law school Dean Corky Strickland says Herman’s visit was “undoubtedly timely” and an opportunity.
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