The Trump Memos

President-Elect Trump’s second term agenda is influenced by The Heritage Foundation’s extreme Project 2025 agenda. Read our memos on how to fight back!

President-Elect Donald Trump has won a second presidential election — and the stakes for our civil rights and civil liberties are higher than ever. Now that President-elect Trump is ensured a second term, he can carry out the dangerous proposals outlined in The Heritage Foundation's Project 2025. Coupled with the Supreme Court’s recent ruling that exempts presidents from being held criminally liable for acts committed while holding office, our country’s democracy is in grave danger.

Regardless of a candidate’s political affiliation, the ACLU will stand for any executive action to protect and expand civil rights and civil liberties and stand against any executive action that threatens them. Our legal, legislative, and advocacy experts have identified the challenges and opportunities that President-elect Trump’s administration will present and have made concrete plans for the ACLU’s response.

In a series of seven memos, the ACLU has detailed the civil rights and civil liberties challenges that a second Trump presidency will present and how, in the face of these challenges, we will fight to protect and expand the rights and freedoms of all people. Read them below.

What is Project 2025?

Created by The Heritage Foundation, Project 2025 is a series of policy proposals that would reshape the American government to favor right-wing conservative ideals. We know that after President-elect Trump’s second inauguration, he will fill key positions in federal agencies with the most extreme members of his party, including people who openly support dismantling our civil rights and civil liberties and establishing a more authoritarian, less democratic rule of law.

The ACLU is ready to defend American democracy from these attacks.

With over 100 years of experience and expertise bolstering us, we are laying our own groundwork to defend individuals’ constitutional freedoms. Along with our network of affiliates and coalition partners in all 50 states, we are armed with tools and tactics to protect against executive action that would take away our rights.

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