The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states,Washington,D.C.,and Puerto Rico. The ACLU provides legal assistance in cases where it considers civil liberties at risk. Legal support from the ACLU can take the form of direct legal representation or preparation of amicus curiae briefs expressing legal arguments when another law firm is already providing representation.
The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is a gun rights advocacy group based in the United States. Founded in 1871 to advance rifle marksmanship,the modern NRA has become a prominent gun rights lobbying organization while continuing to teach firearm safety and competency. The organization also publishes several magazines and sponsors competitive marksmanship events. The group claimed nearly 5 million members as of December 2018,though that figure has not been independently confirmed.
Robert Laurence Barr Jr. is an American attorney and politician who has been the current president of the National Rifle Association since 2024. He previously served as a federal prosecutor and as a U.S. Representative,representing Georgia's 7th congressional district as a Republican from 1995 to 2003. Barr attained national prominence as one of the leaders of the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. During his time in the House of Representatives,he authored the Defense of Marriage Act,which was later overturned by the Supreme Court in 2013 and repealed by the 117th Congress.
Russell Dana Feingold is an American politician and lawyer who served as a United States Senator from Wisconsin from 1993 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party,he was its nominee in the 2016 election for the same U.S. Senate seat he had previously occupied. From 1983 to 1993,he was a Wisconsin State Senator representing the 27th District.
Michael Dean Crapo is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Idaho,a seat he has held since 1999. A member of the Republican Party,Crapo served as the U.S. representative for Idaho's 2nd congressional district from 1993 to 1999. He is the dean of Idaho's congressional delegation,having served since 1993.
John Alfred Sullivan is an American politician who was the U.S. representative for Oklahoma's 1st congressional district from 2002 to 2013. He is a member of the Republican Party.
Charles Obadiah Baldwin is an American right-wing politician,radio host,and founder-former Independent Baptist pastor of Crossroad Baptist Church in Pensacola,Florida. As of 2024 he is leading pastor of Liberty Fellowship in Kalispell,Montana. He was the presidential nominee of the Constitution Party for the 2008 U.S. presidential election and had previously been its nominee for vice president in 2004. He hosts a daily one-hour radio program,Chuck Baldwin Live,and writes a daily editorial column carried on its website,as well as on VDare. He is a former editor of NewsWithViews.com.
Anthony D. Romero is an American lawyer who serves as the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union. He assumed the position in 2001 as the first Latino and openly gay man to do so.
David D. Cole is the National Legal Director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Before joining the ACLU in July 2016,Cole was the Hon. George J. Mitchell Professor in Law and Public Policy at the Georgetown University Law Center from March 2014 through December 2016. He has published in various legal fields including constitutional law,national security,criminal justice,civil rights,and law and literature. Cole has litigated several significant First Amendment cases in the Supreme Court of the United States,as well a number of influential cases concerning civil rights and national security. He is also a legal correspondent to several mainstream media outlets and publications.
The Constitution Project is a non-profit think tank in the United States whose goal is to build bipartisan consensus on significant constitutional and legal questions. Its founder and president is Virginia Sloan. The Constitution Project’s work is divided between two programs:the Rule of Law Program and the Criminal Justice Program. Each program houses bipartisan committees focused on specific constitutional issues.
Bruce Fein is an American lawyer who specializes in constitutional and international law. Fein has written numerous articles on constitutional issues for The Washington Times,Slate.com,The New York Times,The Huffington Post and Legal Times,and is active on civil liberties issues. He has worked for the American Enterprise Institute and The Heritage Foundation,both conservative think tanks,as an analyst and commentator.
In American politics,a libertarian Democrat is a member of the Democratic Party with political views that are relatively libertarian compared to the views of the national party.
The history of the USA PATRIOT Act involved many parties who opposed and supported the Patriot Act,which was proposed,enacted and signed into law 45 days after the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001. The legislation,though approved by large majorities in the U.S. Senate and House of Representative,was controversial,and parts of the law were invalidated or modified by successful legal challenges over constitutional infringements to civil liberties. The Act had several sunset provisions,most reauthorized by the USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005 and the USA PATRIOT Act Additional Reauthorizing Amendments Act. Both reauthorizations incorporated amendments to the original USA PATRIOT Act,and other federal laws.
The 2008 presidential campaign of Bob Barr,former Congressman of Georgia began on May 12,2008. He announced his candidacy for the Libertarian Party's president after months of grassroots draft efforts. Barr was criticized by Libertarians who opposed his efforts in Congress,which included sponsorship of the Defense of Marriage Act and votes in favor of the USA PATRIOT Act and authorization of the War in Iraq,but he was supported by others who accepted his regret for those positions. Barr won the party's nomination after six rounds of balloting at the 2008 Libertarian Party National Convention. Former contender Wayne Allyn Root was named as his running mate. Reason magazine senior editor Radley Balko called Barr "the first serious candidate the LP has run since I've been eligible to vote."
Jameel Jaffer is a Canadian human rights and civil liberties attorney and the inaugural director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University,which was created to defend the freedoms of speech and the press in the digital age. The Institute engages in "strategic litigation,research,and public education." Among the Knight Institute's first lawsuits was a successful constitutional challenge to President Trump's practice of blocking critics from his Twitter account.
The 2016 United States Senate election in Wisconsin was held November 8,2016,to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Wisconsin,concurrently with the 2016 U.S. presidential election,as well as other elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. The primaries were held August 9,2016.
This is a timeline of events related to Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections.
Paul Erickson is an American conservative political operative,lawyer,and businessperson. He has been involved in several Republican presidential campaigns. He has strong ties to the National Rifle Association and Russian interests and in 2017 was subject to federal investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. In November 2019,Erickson pleaded guilty to federal charges of wire fraud and money laundering in connection with an effort to defraud investors in an oil development scheme. He was sentenced to seven years in federal prison in July 2020,but was granted a full pardon on January 19,2021,Donald Trump's last full day in office as president of the United States.
Maria Valerievna Butina is a Russian politician,political activist,journalist,and former entrepreneur who was convicted in 2018 of acting as an unregistered foreign agent of Russia within the United States.
Faiz Shakir is an American Democratic political advisor. He serves as senior advisor to Bernie Sanders and executive director of the nonprofit media organization More Perfect Union. Previously,he was campaign manager for Bernie Sanders' 2020 presidential campaign,an aide to Congressional leaders Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid,an editor-in-chief of the ThinkProgress blog,and political director of the American Civil Liberties Union. Raised in Florida by Pakistani immigrants,Shakir is a progressive liberal and an advocate for Muslim American communities.
