First Amendment Rights

The First Amendment protects our right to speak, assemble, organize, protest and practice – or not practice – religion. These rights and freedoms are the foundation of our democracy.

As the premier guardian of civil liberties in the Commonwealth, the ACLU of Virginia bears a special responsibility to defend our First Amendment rights. Over the last 50 years, we have:

• Challenged unconstitutional book bans in schools and public libraries.
• Sued to limit mass surveillance by police through the use of automatic license plate readers.
• Protected the right to protest by observing police during lawful demonstrations and represented protesters in court when police violated their rights.

Attacks on our basic rights will never cease. We will oppose government censorship, ensure that students are taught an honest and complete account of history, and protect the right to protest.

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Book ban attempts have surged in recent years – not just in public schools and libraries, but in private bookstores as well. In 2022, we represented several Virginia-based bookstores, library associations and other organizations to defend their right to sell two challenged books:

• Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe and
• A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas.

Under a Virginia law that hasn’t been used in decades, an individual filed a petition to the court claiming that the books are “obscene.” If the courts had agreed, anyone in Virginia who published, sold, lent or transported these two books may have been held liable.

We fought in court and stopped that from happening. Censorship has no place in America, and Virginians should have access to these books.