American Constitutional Rights Union

Former Reagan administration adviser Robert Carleson started the organization to advocate for the Boy Scouts of America in litigation over whether the Scouts were required to permit openly gay scout leaders. ² The organization also advocates for election integrity and First and Second Amendment issues. ³

Background

ACRU works to educate the public on constitutional rights. The ACRU regularly files amicus briefs in civil rights cases and publishes opinion pieces in major media outlets. ^{3 1}

The ACRU’s primary issues of focus are economic liberty, federalism, defending freedom of religion, equality under the law, and the right to keep and bear arms. ^{2 1}

Programs

ACRU’s Defense of Civil Rights program has a stated goal of protecting civil rights of all Americans that are enumerated in the Constitution. ³

ACRU’s Election Integrity Defense Fund works with local governments to identify issues with voter registration rolls. ³ In 2013 and 2014, ACRU sent letters to several voting jurisdictions in Mississippi, Texas, Kentucky, Alabama, Arizona, and Florida asserting the number of registered voters exceeded the number of eligible voters in the jurisdiction. ^{4 5}

ACRU also sponsors research and education programs about welfare and entitlement reform. Some of the research is done through its affiliate, the Carleson Center for Welfare Reform. ⁶

History

Former Reagan administration official Robert Carleson founded the American Civil Rights Union in 1998. ⁷ A former Eagle Scout, Carleson was concerned about lawsuits and attacks on the freedom of association of the Boy Scouts of America. He determined the “twisting” of the Constitution was larger than the Boy Scouts case, and he founded the ACRU as a counter organization to the left-of-center American Civil Liberties Union. ²

The group’s first amicus brief was filed in Boy Scouts of America, Monmouth Council v. Dale. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that anti-discrimination laws cannot force the Boy Scouts to allow openly gay adults to serve as Scout leaders. ²

Major right-of-center figures such as former Attorney General Edwin Meese, former federal Judge Robert Bork, economist Walter E. Williams, and former Solicitor General and Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr have served as board members. ²

Carleson died in 2006 and his widow, Susan Carleson, became the CEO and chairwoman of the ACRU board of directors. ²

Among other amicus briefs, the ACRU filed arguments in the 2010 Heller vs. District of Columbia gun rights case, in post-election litigation surrounding the 2000 presidential election,² and Doe v. Reed, a 2010 Supreme Court case about whether a Washington state law requiring disclosure of the names of persons who signed a petition supporting a ballot initiative violated free speech rights. ⁸

Leadership

Lori Roman is the president of the ACRU. ⁹ She is the former executive director of the American Legislative Exchange Council. She previously was the deputy director and chief of staff for the Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives at the U.S. Department of Education. ¹⁰

Tracey Miller is the vice president of ACRU. She previously worked for the Washington Scholarship Fund. She later formed Credo Strategies, a consulting firm. ¹¹

Susan A. Carleson is the chairwoman of the board of directors and former CEO of the ACRU. ⁹ Carleson was a formerly a senior adviser to the Greenspan Commission on Social Security Reform, legislative director for former U.S. Rep. Jack Kemp (R-NY), and a Department of Justice attorney in the Reagan Administration. In 2006, she became the CEO of the ACRU after the death of her husband, ACRU founder Robert Carleson. ¹⁰

Edwin Meese, who was U.S. attorney general during the Reagan administration, is a member of the board of directors for the ACRU. Meese is a distinguished fellow at the Heritage Foundation and sits on the board of a number of right-leaning public policy groups. ^{9 10}

Morton Blackwell, founder of the Leadership Institute, is also on the ACRU board of directors. He is a former special assistant to President Ronald Reagan. ^{9 10}

David A. Leedom is a member of the ACRU board of directors. ⁹ He has worked in the public and private sector and is currently a project management consultant. ¹⁰

Orit Kwasman is a member of the ACRU board of directors. A communications, event, and fundraising consultant, she was previously the development director at the Faith and Freedom Coalition. ¹⁰

Val Stevens is a member of the ACRU board of directors. She is a former Washington state legislator, having served as state senator from 1996 to 2013 and as a state representative from 1993 to 1996. ¹⁰