Problems in the ACLU

Michael Harrington’s article in the March-April DISSENT admirably presents the moral-political issues involved in various forms of “resistance.” The American Civil Liberties Union has recently been compelled to grapple with these same problems from its own special angle. Which practices should it defend in the courts as constitutionally protected? Which should it support as positive contributions to the democratic process? Are there some which, no matter how one judges their tactical effectiveness, are properly outside the protection of the law?

National publicity was recently accorded to a difference of opinion in ACLU over whether the Union should give direct legal services (full representation in court) to the...