ACLU Releases Legal, Legislative, and Advocacy Roadmap to Fight Executive Power Abuses in a Second Trump Administration

NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union released the Trump on Surveillance, Protest, and Free Speech memo today as part of the organization’s 2024 election policy memo series. Written by ACLU’s experts on the First Amendment, surveillance, and privacy, this memo offers a roadmap to fight back against the broad range of abuses of executive power posed by a possible second administration of former president Donald Trump.

In an unprecedented threat to the foundations of our democracy, Trump and his supporters promise to criminalize dissent and stifle free speech, expand government surveillance, and target political opponents. The Trump on Surveillance, Protest, and Free Speech memo analyzes the threat posed by a second Trump administration and outlines how the ACLU and its nationwide network of attorneys and advocates will respond in the courts, Congress, and communities across the country.

“The ACLU has always worked to stop the executive branch from abusing its power at the expense of individual freedom and vulnerable communities. The Trump presidency, with its false declarations of national emergencies in service of discrimination and total disregard for the rule of law, demonstrated what we’ve always known – that relying on unwritten norms for presidential behavior is grossly insufficient. Trump is now threatening to be even less constrained if given a second chance,” said Cecillia Wang, deputy legal director of the ACLU. “If there is a second Trump administration, we are prepared to defend people it attacks, including protestors, dissenters, and journalists.”

Based on Trump’s own campaign promises, his track record, and the detailed policy proposals of Project 2025, a second Trump administration would double down on these attacks on democracy, including by:

• Leveraging federal law enforcement for attacks on journalists and protestors to violate our First Amendment right to protest, including deployment of the military to “inner cities” to quell protests if he should win re-election.

• Exploiting the executive branch’s vast and unprecedented powers to spy on Americans’ lives with Big Brother surveillance of our data, using surveillance authorities like Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and Executive Order 12333, which could result in mass collection of private, sensitive data about Americans, in addition to purchasing massive quantities of data from commercial brokers.

• Targeting political opponents with investigations and prosecutions by ordering the Department of Justice and other governmental agencies to indict political opponents, engaging in retaliatory and discriminatory investigations, replacing civil servants and traditionally apolitical appointees with individuals willing to do his bidding, and demanding pledges of loyalty from civil service employees.

The roadmap released today outlines the ACLU’s plan to protect our First and Fourth Amendment rights, including through:

• Litigation: The ACLU will defend protestors, journalists, and others who are subjected to abusive criminal prosecutions or other wrongful law enforcement and intelligence agency actions.

• Mobilizing Public Support on Federal Policy: The ACLU will push Congress to proactively limit potential abuses of executive power by narrowing the scope of the president’s power to order the military to quell lawful protest, limiting surveillance powers of the federal government, and strengthening oversight and firewalls against politically-motivated investigations and prosecutions.

• State and Local Advocacy: The ACLU will work with its network of affiliates across the country to pass strong data protection and shield laws, which will limit the reach of the federal government in their jurisdictions and safeguard the privacy of protesters, journalists, and others who may find themselves in the crosshairs of a vindictive presidential administration.

“Donald Trump has made no secret of his disregard for the rule of law and his intent to corrupt the immense powers of the federal government to target his opponents and break the institutions that could pose checks and balances to presidential power. In a second term, unleashed and feeling invulnerable from legal and political repercussions, he would pose an unprecedented challenge to our constitutional values. But the ACLU is ready,” said Mike Zamore, national director of policy and government affairs. “If Trump is elected and comes for our First Amendment rights, we’ll stand with the people of this country to defend our freedom.”

Trump on Surveillance, Protest, and Free Speech marks the sixth in a series of seven memos the ACLU is releasing leading up to the Republican National Convention next week. Other memos address immigration, LGBTQ rights, abortion, the criminal legal system, DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion), and voting rights. Following its focus on policies of a potential second Trump administration, in the run-up to the Democratic National Convention next month, the ACLU will release another series of memos on what a second Biden presidency would mean for our civil rights and civil liberties.