Trump's Policy Proposals Violate Constitution

ACLU Pledges Challenge of Unlawful Policies Should Trump Win Presidency

NEW YORK - July 14, 2016 - The American Civil Liberties Union today released a constitutional analysis of presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump's policy proposals and vowed to challenge them in court should he win the presidency.

The analysis examines Trump's campaign promises to deport over 11 million undocumented immigrants, to ban Muslims from entering the United States, to surveil American Muslims and their houses of worship, to reinstate torture, and to revise libel laws.

"If implemented, Donald Trump's proposed policies will spark a constitutional and legal challenge that would require all hands on deck at the ACLU," said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero. "The ACLU and its more than 300 attorneys in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and Washington, D.C., stand ready to challenge and impede implementation of his unlawful proposals, should he attempt to see them through."

The ACLU said Trump's proposals would violate the First, Fourth, Fifth, and Eighth Amendments of the Constitution. Throughout his presidential campaign, Trump has sparked controversy with his stated positions on immigration, Muslim Americans, torture, and freedom of speech, among other issues.

"Taken together, his policies and positions, if put into place, would violate the Constitution and federal and international law," Romero said. "We stand ready to defend our Constitution."

The ACLU is non-partisan organization. For 96 years, the ACLU has fought to defend the rights enshrined in our Constitution and has never opposed or supported any candidate for office - and it is not starting now. The organization has worked with and fought both Democrats and Republicans in the Oval Office, in Congress, and across the country. The ACLU has no role in determining the outcome of elections, but it has put together this constitutional analysis to provide a sense of what a legal fight against Trump's proposed policies might look like. An analysis of Hillary Clinton's proposed policies and their civil liberties implications is forthcoming.

The ACLU's legal memos on Trump are online here:

https://action.aclu.org/sites/default/files/pages/trumpmemos.pdf

More information is available here:

https://medium.com/acluelection2016

A detailed summary of the analysis is here:

https://medium.com/acluelection2016/donald-trump-a-one-man-constitutional-crisis-9f7345e9d376#.49fkiimts

This press release is online here:

https://medium.com/@aclu/trumps-policy-proposals-violate-constitution-34249501a9f8#.3mm039t5r

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