Significant US Pressure Groups

NAACP

African American Rights

Lobbied Congress to pass Civil Rights Act (1964) and the voting Rights Act (1965)

Direct Action: Helped plan the March on Washington (1963) in which Martin Luther King made his famous I have a dream speech

Legal Work: Represented Brown in Brown v Board of Education (1954) securing an end to segregation in public schools

NRA

Gun Rights

over 5 million members

supported Heller in District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) securing an end to the banning of handguns in D.C

heavy influence over congress in 2018 only 6 Republicans in Congress had not received funding

ACLU

Freedom and speech and liberty rights

defends civil liberties of all Americans even American Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan

involved in both Brown v. Board of Education (1954) and Roe v. Wade (1973)

Bostock v Clayton County (2020) making employment discrimination on the grounds of sexuality or gender identity illegal

Planned Parenthood

Support a Women’s right to choose

advocates for legal protections on reproductive rights

expanding access to contraceptives

won Planned Parenthood v Casey (1992) which reaffirmed Roe v Wade

Americans united for life

Support the ‘right to life’ of an unborn foetus or embryo

anti-abortion

filed an amicus curie brief in favour of Dobbs in Dobbs v Jackson (2022)

PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals)

campaign for animal rights

AARP (American Association of Retired Persons)

37 million members upholds the rights of retired/older Americans

American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)

has had major influence regardless of party in power

The US has provided $2.5 billion in annual military aid to Israel through 5 presidencies since 1999