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ACLU Back-to-School Bookshelf: Our Reading List to Build a More Perfect Union
In our series, ACLU staffers share books that have helped them better understand civil liberties and civil rights, fight for our communities and our Constitution, and increase engagement in creating a more perfect union.
In our series, ACLU staffers share books that have helped them better understand civil liberties and civil rights, fight for our communities and our Constitution, and increase engagement in creating a more perfect union.
For nearly a century, the ACLU has defended the freedom to read—and to think—for every American. As the new school year begins, we’ve curated a list of books that do more than inform; they challenge us to build a more equitable future. Our selection spans social justice, history, contemporary analysis, and personal narratives, including frequently banned titles with newfound relevance.
Since 2021, thousands of book titles have been challenged or removed from school libraries, often targeting BIPOC authors, LGBTQ+ creators, and other marginalized voices. These efforts to ban books and restrict discussions—especially on race, gender, sexuality, and systemic injustice—are both unlawful and a serious threat to our right to learn.
The ACLU and our partners are fighting back. We’re challenging censorship in military schools, and in classrooms across the country. We’re also supporting legislative solutions like the Fight Book Bans Act, which would provide funding to school districts defending against censorship attempts and reaffirm that banning books is discriminatory and unconstitutional.
Our series, “ACLU Bookshelf,” lets you join our fight and pick up the texts, novels, nonfiction stories, essays and more that help us form a more perfect union — one page at a time.
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Press ReleaseOct 2026
Free Speech
Aclu Releases Video Of Ice Agent Slashing Observers’ Tire. Explore Press Release.ACLU Releases Video of ICE Agent Slashing Observers’ Tire
PORTLAND – Two Portland-area residents filed an administrative complaint with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) today describing how ICE agents tailed and boxed them in with vehicles and slashed their car’s tire after they observed and filmed agents in a parking lot in Hillsboro, a suburb of Portland, Oregon. The video of the agents slashing the tire can be viewed here. The incident took place on October 7, 2026, amid a surge of ICE activity across the state of Oregon. The increase in ICE activity also coincided with a DHS social media post promising to target so-called “sanctuary” jurisdictions like Oregon. It is also the latest example of a pervasive pattern of retaliation against observers occurring all over the country; nationwide, federal agents have intimidated and harassed people observing and filming them in public, including by threatening them, tailing them, pulling them over without reasonable suspicion, surveilling their homes, and even assaulting and arresting them. “What happened to us is not unique, and that is what is so terrifying,” said A.P and M.P., ACLU clients. “We observe and record public ICE activity in order to shine a light on their abusive behavior and to create a record of what our government is up to. Because of that, they are terrorizing us and anyone else who dares to exercise their First Amendment right to hold our government accountable. We hope that sharing our story will bring attention to their reckless and unconstitutional attacks on our communities.” Over the past 18 months, the ACLU and its affiliates have brought several cases, including in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Minneapolis, representing observers who have been surveilled, intimidated, and harassed, for filming federal agents performing their duties in public. Most recently, the ACLU filed a case in Memphis, TN, where a federal task force has been terrorizing local communities for over a year and where observers describe a relentless retaliation campaign against them for filming task force agents. “The right to record publicly visible law enforcement activity is fundamental to our democracy,” said Scarlet Kim, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. “Like many people across the country, our clients have been observing and recording ICE activity in their community. These videos have proven critical to exposing ICE’s abuses. If we cannot see and document what our own government is doing on our streets, we cannot hold it accountable for running roughshod over our rights.” “Masked federal officers have no business coming to Oregon to injure or intimidate people,” said Kelly Simon, legal director of the ACLU of Oregon. “Oregonians have the right to support their neighbors and communities by filming and documenting government abuses, and Oregonians should not have to fear retaliation when they exercise their right to record law enforcement.” The complaint demands that DHS investigate the incident, preserve all relevant evidence, and discipline the responsible agents. It further demands that DHS undertake a comprehensive investigation of the nationwide pattern of ICE agents retaliating against individuals observing and recording their activities. You can read the complaint here. -
Press ReleaseOct 2026
National Security
Free Speech
Cair And Cair-florida Urge Court To Temporarily Block Unconstitutional Terrorism Designation Before More Harm Is Done. Explore Press Release.CAIR and CAIR-Florida Urge Court to Temporarily Block Unconstitutional Terrorism Designation Before More Harm is Done
TALLAHASSEE — The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida heard arguments today in a lawsuit challenging Florida officials’ baseless and unconstitutional designation of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and its Florida chapter as “domestic terrorist organizations.” Unless the court intervenes to prevent it, the largest Muslim civil rights organization in the country will have to shut their doors in Florida on Nov. 5. “CAIR and CAIR-Florida are critical resources that people and institutions across Florida rely on to protect civil rights and liberties, and all we want to do is get back to that important work,” said Hiba Rahim, executive director of CAIR-FL. “Florida’s new law silences free speech, criminalizes association, and eradicates due process, and we are hopeful that the court will act to safeguard our constitutional rights. History reminds us that our country has endured dark chapters, but also that people who refused to accept injustice moved us closer to our founding ideals.” At today’s hearing, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) urged the court to grant emergency relief for the organizations, explaining the instant and debilitating harm CAIR and CAIR-FL will face if the court does not rescind the designation and stop it from going into effect. In the alternative, they are asking the court to prevent Florida state prosecutors from enforcing the law’s harsh criminal penalties against the nonprofits and third parties who associate with and support them. As the ACLU argued in court, CAIR and CAIR-Florida have done nothing to deserve this devastating designation. The state has never indicted, much less convicted, either CAIR or CAIR-Florida under any criminal law — and certainly not a criminal law involving the serious charge of terrorism. If the state tried to do so, it would fail. The reason is simple: Neither CAIR nor CAIR-Florida is engaged in terrorist activity, and the state would be unable to prove its case to a jury in a court of law. “Florida’s new law is an unprecedented abuse of state authority,” said Ashley Gorski, senior counsel with the ACLU’s National Security Project. “It gives state officials sweeping power to punish American organizations they brand as ‘terrorists,’ without due process and in violation of the First Amendment. We’re asking the court to block this unconstitutional law and ensure that our clients’ crucially important civil rights work serving Floridians is not silenced.” Once a designation becomes effective, an organization’s lawful, constitutionally protected speech and association are immediately rendered illegal and impossible. Under HB 1471, five Florida executive officials have the power to designate and debilitate U.S. groups — including nonprofits engaged in First Amendment-protected advocacy — without filing charges, initiating judicial proceedings, proving their case beyond a reasonable doubt, submitting the case to a jury, or complying with any of the other required constitutional protections of the criminal legal system. An elaborate set of prohibitions makes it a serious crime for the targeted American organization to do virtually anything in the state, and for others to work for or otherwise actively associate with or support the designated group. The consequences of violating these prohibitions are severe, including up to life imprisonment. “Florida’s designation of CAIR and CAIR-Florida flies in the face of fundamental rights guaranteed to all Americans by the Constitution,” said Scott McCoy, deputy legal director at SPLC. “All Floridians should be concerned that this law allows Florida officials to do an end run around the Constitution, shut down disfavored speech and advocacy, and impose draconian criminal penalties. If they are permitted to do it to these civil rights nonprofits, what’s to stop them from doing it to any Floridian with whom they disagree?” The impact on the Floridian communities CAIR and CAIR-Florida serve would also be immense. CAIR-Florida provides a range of pro bono legal services to Florida residents, including those who suffer government and workplace discrimination in violation of their civil rights, as well as those navigating the immigration system. “The state does not get to decide whose speech is constitutionally protected or whose due process rights deserve respect. The Constitution decided that long ago,” said Daniel Tilley, legal director of the ACLU of Florida. “And Florida must not strip CAIR and CAIR-FL of their ability to advocate and organize for the civil rights of Floridian Muslims. This dangerous designation regime, crafted by the DeSantis administration, seeks to criminalize protected speech, plain and simple — and with no regard for the harm it causes to the thousands of people our clients support and serve. We are proud to stand with our clients against this abuse of state power.” CAIR and CAIR-Florida are represented by the ACLU, ACLU of Florida, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and Bondurant Mixson & Elmore LLP. This press release can be found here: https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/cair-and-cair-florida-urge-court-to-temporarily-block-unconstitutional-terrorism-designation-before-more-harm-is-done -
Washington, D.C.Oct 2026
Free Speech
Privacy & Technology
In Re Appeal From Order Denying Motion To Quash Grand Jury Subpoena In Case No. 1:26-gj-00022-jeb. Explore Case.In re Appeal From Order Denying Motion to Quash Grand Jury Subpoena in Case No. 1:26-GJ-00022-JEB
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CaliforniaOct 2026
Civil Liberties
+2 Issues
Salles, Et Al. V. National Institutes Of Health, Et Al.. Explore Case.Salles, et al. v. National Institutes of Health, et al.
Salles, et al. v. National Institutes of Health, et al. is a class action lawsuit challenging the censorship and termination of federally funded research by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). While ongoing litigation in APHA v. NIH successfully resulted in the reinstatement of hundreds of grants, NIH’s current policies continue to target viewpoints it opposes, threatening research because the government dislikes what it thinks the researchers believe or are likely to say, and continue to violate governing statutes and regulations. This is stymieing critical public health research, particularly related to climate change, the starkest health disparities including those faced by communities of color and LGBTQ+ populations, and other areas.