The American Civil Liberties Union will stop defending hate groups planning to march with firearms, The Wall Street Journal is reporting.
The ACLU said it will also look at clients more closely for the potential of violence as a result of the clashes in Charlottesville, Virginia, said Anthony Romero, executive director of the civil rights group.
"The events of Charlottesville require any judge, any police chief and any legal group to look at the facts of any white-supremacy protests with a much finer comb," he said.
The ACLU helped organizers of the Charlottesville rally obtain a permit. Some of the demonstrators openly carried firearms, which is permitted in Virginia, according to the newspaper.
But Romero said the firearms can suppress speech through intimidation, the Journal noted. And he said the ACLU will no longer defend groups carrying firearms.
"If a protest group insists, 'No, we want to be able to carry loaded firearms,' well, we don't have to represent them," he said. "They can find someone else.”
The ACLU has come under fire for defending the organizers of the rally in Charlottesville, The Hill noted.
Violence later broke out resulting in three deaths and more than a dozen injured, according to the website.
"But let's be clear: our lawsuit challenging the city to act constitutionally did not cause violence, nor did it in any way address the question whether demonstrators could carry sticks or other weapons at the events," said ACLU of Virginia's executive director Claire Gastanaga in a statement.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.