Inside the ACLU’s Fight for Civil Rights in the Trump Era

Just days after taking the oath of office, President Donald Trump unleashed a barrage of legislative attacks on marginalized communities: ripping immigrant families apart, blocking access to abortion, and banning transgender people from military service.

While protesters took to the streets to voice their outrage, the legal team at the American Civil Liberties Union launched a flurry of counterattacks in federal court, filing more than 150 lawsuits to protect American’s civil rights and liberties from encroaching authoritarianism.

On July 29, Intercept Editor-in-Chief Betsy Reed hosted a virtual conversation on the current state of civil rights in Trump’s America with three ACLU lawyers at the center of these fights: Brigitte Amiri, deputy director at the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project; Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU national Immigrants’ Rights Project; and Chase Strangio, deputy director for Transgender Justice with the ACLU LGBT & HIV Project.

This virtual conversation was streamed live on The Intercept, as well as on The Intercept’s official YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter pages.

The conversation coincides with the launch of a new documentary called “The Fight” — an inside look at four high-profile ACLU lawsuits that attempt to block the Trump administration’s efforts to target immigrants, women, and the LGBTQ community. The film is being released by First Look Media’s Topic Studios and Magnolia Pictures and opens in virtual theaters nationwide on July 31.