Projects and Cases

Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act

What The CLDC Is Doing

The Civil Liberties Defense Center (CLDC) is working with organizations across the country to abolish the AETA and prevent the damaging effect that it has on our constitutional freedoms. We are educating the public about the travesties contained in laws that repress free speech in order to facilitate a more critical, aware, and active community in which people know their rights and how to protect them. Right now we are in the process of investigating a potential civil lawsuit in hopes of striking down the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act and restoring our First Amendment rights.

What You Can Do

1.Organize a presentation on AETA.

2.Distribute information about AETA in your workplace, school, or community.

3.Hold fundraisers for organizations, such as the CLDC, that are working to combat AETA.

4.Continue working for animal rights and furthering the movement.

5.Write a letter to your local newspaper to inform your community about AETA.

6.Call, write a letter, or email your representative verbalizing your resentment of AETA and ask them to object to it in any way that they can.

7.If your organization wants to join in, email AETA@cldc.org for more information.
We are looking to explore potential plaintiffs to be involved in this litigation: both individuals and organizations. Plaintiffs should be able to describe how the AETA has actually chilled their exercise of 1st amendment rights (i.e. right to speak against animal exploitation chilled). We are preferably looking for folks within the 9th circuit (OR, WA, MT, ID, CA, NV, AZ, AK, HI, Guam) or 2nd circuit (NY, VT, CT).