The American Civil Liberties Union has grown by leaps and bounds at both the state and national level over the last seven years, something ACLU leaders attribute to growing public concern over the Bush administration’s civil liberties record.

Nationally ACLU membership has doubled since 2000, from 250,000 to 500,000 members. The same has been true at the state level, where the ACLU of Michigan’s membership has grown from 9,000 to around 13,000.

The same increase has occurred in funding for the ACLU at the state and national levels. Nationally the ACLU’s total budget has gone from $44 million in 2000 to around $80 million today. Similar increases have happened at the state level, though specific numbers are not available at this time.

State and national ACLU officials say that this growth in membership reflects the public’s uneasiness with a whole range of controversial policies carried out by the Bush administration. Dorothy Ehrlich, the ACLU’s national deputy executive director, says bluntly:

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“I think it’s very much a reflection of the fact that there was a very aggressive assault on civil liberties. Over the past seven years, many Americans felt their own cherished values were under attack, and they didn’t want to sit by.”

ACLU officials cite a whole range of policies advocated and carried out by the Bush administration in the wake of 9/11 as causing renewed concern over constitutional safeguards: warrantless wiretapping by the National Security Agency, a no-fly list riddled with errors, suspension of habeas corpus protections, indefinite detention even of American citizens in military prisons without due process, extraordinary rendition, Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay, etc.

Rana Elmir, director of communications for the ACLU of Michigan, told the Messenger:

“We attribute the increase in membership post 9/11 to many factors. One of the largest contributors, other than bolstered programmatic goals and our burgeoning staff, is the attack on civil liberties that we have witnessed post 9/11. This has increased the concern and the fear among many Americans who want to ensure that we balance our safety with our freedom.”

Elmir says that it’s more difficult to attribute funding increases directly to those concerns because much of the ACLU funding comes from foundation grants for specific projects. The increase in membership has required the ACLU at all levels to beef up its staffing, which has in turn increased its fund-raising goals to pay the cost.