The second Trump presidency is coming, and many are struggling to get a sense of what that will mean for our country and our daily lives. At the ACLU-MN, we know that as the dust settles, we will find ourselves in a new era in our struggle for civil liberties – a period that will bring unprecedented challenges and will require us to band together and build power in new ways.
The ACLU has been here before.
We are a 105-year-old organization and have fought for constitutional rights during dark and dangerous times in this nation’s history. We have seen 19 presidents come and go. We have been armed with the most powerful instrument to stop the abuse of government power: the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights. It was the Constitution that stopped some of the most notorious and sweeping attempts of presidents over the last century. But make no mistake — the Constitution and the rule of law itself will be in this administration's crosshairs.
No president is bigger than our founding principles and values.
Here in Minnesota, we want to reassure you that the ACLU-MN has been planning for this moment and it is imperative that we get to work immediately to build a firewall in Minnesota to protect our communities from attacks that will restrict our rights and harm our most vulnerable communities.
There must be no daylight between an attack on our liberties and a resounding response.
The ACLU-MN is calling on state leaders to take action to ensure the Minnesota’s state and local resources are not used to support anti-civil rights actions of the federal government including targeting of the LGBTQ+ community, and those seeking reproductive or gender affirming care. This also includes protecting the state from the largest deportation project in US history which may utilize numerous local and federal enforcement agencies as well as the US military.
There are clear steps that can be taken that will make a difference.
But the ACLU is also clear-eyed in knowing that we will face new and powerful challenges that will seek to dismantle the paradigm of rights that we have all come to rely on. While attacks on the right to bodily autonomy intensify, we may also see a damaging continued erosion of the separation of church and state. While the federal government stretches its power to the limit to target immigrants, the rule of law, civil norms, and democratic institutions could see dramatic setbacks. This is a critical moment.
We must act boldly, innovatively, and unapologetically.
People build institutions to uphold their values. When our institutions are threatened, it is up to us, the people, to remember those vulnerable values, to let those steadfast truths be our grounding, and to work with resolve and discipline to protect them, against all odds. If we don’t, no one else will.
We must hold the Trump administration accountable. Learn more here.