Democracy and First Amendment Rights
Democracy cannot defend itself. It depends on us, the people, to show up, organize together, and speak truth to power. This is how we create a country that fulfills its promise to be a democracy that is of, by, and for all the people.
The United States and Oregon constitutions set out basic freedoms and rights that allow us to speak truth to power without repression or retaliation by the government. These include the First Amendment right to speak, peaceably assemble, and petition the government, as well as the Fifth Amendment right to be provided with due process of law before the government deprives us of life, liberty, or property.
Since our beginning, the ACLU has fought to defend and advance these basic freedoms and rights so that everyday people have the civic tools to engage in democracy. The ACLU of Oregon’s recent work in this area includes:
- Dickinson (A.K.A. The “Portland Chicken”) v. Trump — This is a legal case that we brought in 2025 to defend the free speech rights of everyday people by holding federal law enforcement accountable for retaliating against peaceful protesters outside the Portland ICE facility with physical violence, tear gas, and other crowd control weapons.
- HB 4138: The Law Enforcement Accountability and Visibility Act — HB 4138 is a law enforcement transparency bill that we helped pass in 2026 that requires all local, state, and federal law enforcement operating in Oregon to visibly show their name, badge number, and agency, while restricting the use of masks.
- Protect Oregon — Consisting of organizations, community leaders, and everyday people committed to defending and advancing democracy in our state, Protect Oregon is a statewide pro-democracy table that we created and lead with statewide partners. An important accomplishment of Protect Oregon was to unite Oregonians against President Trump’s attempts to deploy the National Guard to Portland in fall 2025.
Dissent is patriotic.
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