Racial Justice

The ACLU aims to preserve and extend constitutionally guaranteed rights to people who have historically been denied their rights on the basis of race.

An image collage showing a protest for police accountability, and a first raised in the air.

Despite generations of activism prompting widescale social and legal reforms, systemic racism remains entrenched in the U.S. People of color are disproportionately impacted by incarceration, police violence, environmental pollutants, and voter suppression, to name a few issues.

The ACLU of Massachusetts seeks to preserve and extend the constitutionally guaranteed rights of people of color in Massachusetts and support their full and active participation in the democratic process.

The Latest

Press Release
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Legal Groups Representing Plaintiffs File Supreme Court Brief Supporting Core Constitutional Protection of Birthright Citizenship

Courts have uniformly blocked President Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order; Supreme Court arguments set for April 1
Press Release
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Department of Education Backs Down on Unlawful Directive Targeting Educational Equity

Federal court permanently invalidates anti-DEI "Dear Colleague" letter
Press Release
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Federal Appeals Court Hears Case Challenging NIH Grant Terminations

Researchers urged the First Circuit to uphold the district court’s judgment that NIH relied on unlawful directives.
Court Cases: APHA v. NIH
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Federal District Court Strikes Down NIH’s Unlawful Directives That Led to the Elimination of Critical Research

In a major victory for public health, the court ruled that NIH’s actions targeting certain research were unlawful, arbitrary and capricious, and therefore void.
Campaign
Feb 2026

Data Privacy Now!

Today, technology has far outpaced privacy law. Data brokers and Big Tech are free to do almost anything they want with our personal information, including selling our cellphone location data on the open market. These practices endanger all of us, but especially vulnerable communities like immigrants, protesters, and people seeking and providing reproductive and gender-affirming healthcare. Lawmakers must pass the Massachusetts Consumer Data Privacy Act (H.4746) to give all Massachusetts residents robust privacy rights in the digital age.