About
Founded in 1999 as a “constructive alternative” to the “left-wing” American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the American Constitutional Rights Union (ACRU) defines its mission as “to protect the God-given rights outlined in the U.S. Constitution” and to push back against “harmful, anti-constitutional ideologies that have taken hold in our nation’s courts, schools, and bureaucracies.” Robert Carleson originally created the ACRU to support the Boy Scouts of America in its legal fight against the organization being forced to accept openly gay scout leaders.
Lori Roman, president of ACRU, previously served as executive director of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). The organization focuses on free speech and gun rights issues, but has a political action arm, ACRU Action. and has been active highlighting very rare cases of election fraud for several years. During the pandemic, Roman called government entities that issued mask mandates, vaccine recommendations, and other public health measures “crisis tyrants.”
January 6, 2021
- The ACRU shared a story on its website dismissing the House Select Committee investigating the attack on the Capitol as meaningless and untrustworthy. According to the story, “Democrats pieced a committee together against the rules and under false pretenses in order to persecute their political opposition.”
The Big Lie
- The ACRU pushed lies about fraud in the 2020 election, including claims that Dominion voting machines experienced high levels of error.
- On Dec. 19, 2020, it published a story by White House adviser Peter Navarro claiming that “6 frauds were more than sufficient” to swing the results of the presidential election.
Election Audits
- The ACRU supported Arizona’s audit of the 2020 election.
Post-2020 Election Subversion
- In June 2021, the ACRU filed an amicus brief in support of a 2021 Supreme Court case related to Arizona’s prohibition on collecting multiple ballots and disqualifying votes cast in the wrong precinct.
- In May 2021, ACRU President Lori Roman told Congress that voter rolls in the U.S. were filled with people who have “moved, died, or are ineligible to legally vote,” but provided no evidence to back her claim.
- In summer 2021, Roman also testified against the use of mail-in ballots, telling members of the Ohio state legislature that they should be “tightly controlled and have extremely limited use.”
- Ken Blackwell, ACRU policy board member and a former secretary of state in Ohio, supports voter suppression laws such as Georgia’s SB 202.
- The ACRU shared a post from the far-right Family Research Council suggesting that HR1, the voter protection legislation known as the For the People Act, would condone religious discrimination.
- The ACRU has targeted majority African-American communities with efforts to purge voter rolls.