Court Filings
Amicus briefs in state and federal courts — up to and including the U.S. Supreme Court — placing the constitutional question squarely in front of the judges deciding it.
A Florida 501(c)(3) · Defending Constitutional Rights
We don't stop at commentary. When a constitutional principle is at risk, the American Rights Alliance goes to the courthouse — and your donation is what gets us there.
Every dollar is tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law
Who We Are
The American Rights Alliance is a nonprofit built on a simple observation: plenty of organizations talk about constitutional rights. Very few show up where those rights are won or lost — in the courtroom, in the clemency process, and in the court of public opinion.
We file friend-of-the-court briefs, including at the United States Supreme Court. We help fund legal defenses for Americans facing the full weight of the government. We press for clemency where sentences have lost all proportion to conduct. And we take every fight public — through media, public relations, and our daily publication — so ordinary Americans can see exactly what is at stake.
We defend the principle, not the politics. Free speech against institutional pressure. Religious conscience against compulsion. Due process for the popular and the unpopular alike.
A right that protects only the popular is not much of a right at all.
What Your Donation Powers
Donor support is not a gesture here. It is the operating fuel for four kinds of work that only happen when the funding exists.
Amicus briefs in state and federal courts — up to and including the U.S. Supreme Court — placing the constitutional question squarely in front of the judges deciding it.
Direct support for the legal defenses of Americans whose cases raise constitutional principles — people who could never match the government's resources alone.
Sustained public and legal pressure for pardons and commutations where the sentence no longer fits the conduct — advocacy that has helped bring Americans home.
Media, public relations, and daily publishing that turn quiet injustices into national stories — because courts move faster when the country is watching.
The Record
In just its first years, ARA has filed at the highest court in the country, funded defenses through verdict and appeal, and helped win freedom for Americans serving sentences that never fit their conduct. We are a lean organization that punches far above its weight — and every result below was paid for by donors like you.
We keep most of our clients' names off this page deliberately. Some fights are still active. Some individuals value their privacy. The results speak regardless.
Tina Peters walked free on June 1, 2026 — after ARA's federal amicus brief, public clemency campaign, and defense funding against a nine-year sentence an appellate court found had been improperly inflated by her protected speech.
One week after ARA filed an amicus brief at the U.S. Supreme Court, the Court vacated the nationwide injunction we challenged.
ARA has helped fund legal defenses from trial through appeal — standing with defendants for as long as the fight lasts.
Multiple Americans serving disproportionate sentences are home today after clemency campaigns ARA helped drive.
The Fights We're Funding Now
We don't publish our clients' names while their fights are active. But donors deserve to know exactly what kind of injustice their money is confronting. Each of these is a real, ongoing matter ARA is supporting right now.
A nonviolent defendant who exercised his constitutional right to a jury trial received a sentence measured in decades — while a cooperating co-defendant received a fraction of it. When the right to trial carries that price, it is not much of a right.
A man who maintained his innocence was punished at sentencing for refusing to renounce his own defense. Our system rewards confession and treats sincerity as aggravation — an impossible choice no one presumed innocent should face.
A mother was convicted by a jury that was barred from hearing the evidence explaining why she acted. A verdict rendered on half the story is not a verdict on the defendant at all.
A businessman accepted responsibility and repaid every dollar of restitution. The government has been made whole, and he sits in federal prison for years regardless. If making it right changes nothing, the system is not seeking justice.
A man nearing the end of a short federal sentence will not go home when it ends — a detainer will move him into open-ended detention that no judge imposed and no calendar limits.
A sentence built on a spreadsheet's loss figure — money that never touched the defendant's hands — treated as though he had pocketed every dollar. Punishment should measure conduct, not arithmetic.
Every one of these fights is expensive. Every one is being funded by donors. Join them →
Why We Need You
That is not a figure of speech. A single federal case can consume hundreds of thousands of dollars before it ever reaches a verdict — and the government litigating against our clients never runs out of money. The ledger below is what a constitutional fight actually costs. It is also exactly what your donation buys.
Experienced federal defense counsel, billed by the hour, for trials that can run for weeks.
Briefing, records, and the specialized printing and filing requirements of appellate and Supreme Court practice.
The specialists who dismantle the government's version of events — none of whom work for free.
The unglamorous costs that quietly decide whether an appeal can even be perfected.
Media, research, and advocacy that keep a case in front of decision-makers until someone comes home.
The government funds its side with your taxes. Our side is funded by exactly one thing: you.
Our Daily Publication
Every weekday, Monday through Friday, ARA publishes The Rights Report: a clear, plainspoken briefing on the constitutional-rights story that matters most that day — what happened, what's at stake, and why it should concern every American regardless of politics.
It is one part of our advocacy, and it reflects how we work everywhere: we present the other side's best argument fairly, then answer it on the merits. No matter where you fall politically, it is worth thinking about.
Reading is free. Subscribing puts the day's constitutional fight in your inbox before most of the country has heard of it.
Published Monday–Friday · donateara.substack.com
Our Next Campaign
First they came for the Communists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out — because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me.
— Pastor Martin Niemöller
Religious conscience is under pressure in America, and antisemitism is rising in the open. ARA's next major campaign takes the same courthouse-first approach we bring to every fight — and it will be funded the same way every ARA fight is funded: by Americans who refuse to look away.
Somewhere in America right now, a constitutional principle is on trial — and the defense is being paid for by people like you. One donation. One share. One subscription. That is how rights survive.
Donate to the American Rights Alliance"About to punch a great deal harder — with you in our corner."
Evan W. Turk · CEO & Founder, American Rights Alliance
