{"id":1631,"date":"2020-07-24T11:11:11","date_gmt":"2020-07-24T15:11:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/author\/anthony-d-romero\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T14:15:59","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T18:15:59","slug":"anthony-d-romero","status":"publish","type":"author","link":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/bio\/anthony-d-romero","title":{"rendered":"Anthony D. Romero"},"template":"","bio-role":[2105],"class_list":["post-1631","author","type-author","status-publish","hentry","bio-role-aclu-leadership"],"acf":{"pronouns":"","title":"ACLU Executive Director","organization":"","bio":"Anthony D. Romero is the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, the nation\u2019s premier defender of civil liberties. He took the helm of the organization just seven days before the September 11, 2001 attacks. Romero has been the longest-serving head of the 105-year-old organization since its founder, Roger Baldwin, stepped down in 1950.\r\n\r\nThroughout his 23-year tenure, Romero has built the ACLU into a legal, political and advocacy juggernaut. He has presided over the most successful growth in the ACLU\u2019s history \u2013 growing the organization twelvefold and making it the largest and most impactful legal and advocacy organization in the United States.\r\n\r\nUnder Romero\u2019s leadership, the ACLU has pursued aggressive litigation and advocacy around the greatest injustices of our time, including: challenges to the war on terror and fighting to close Guant\u00e1namo; protecting the right to free speech\u2014regardless of ideology\u2014across the internet and social media platforms, in classrooms and on campuses, and in the public square; combating racial disparities within the criminal justice system, reducing mass incarceration, and advocating for the commutation of federal death sentences; winning the freedom to marry for same-sex couples and ensuring federal civil rights protections for LGBTQ workers; and fighting assaults on transgender rights and dignity. The ACLU brought 434 legal actions during the first Trump Administration and has already brought hundreds more during President Trump\u2019s second term.\r\n\r\nRomero revamped and scaled the ACLU\u2019s political program, resulting in winning ballot referenda to protect abortion rights for millions across the nation; and the launch of the ACLU\u2019s first political action committee\u2014the ACLU Voter Education Fund\u2014in 2024. He also launched a nationwide Systemic Equality campaign for racial justice.\r\n\r\nWith a staffed presence in every state, and covering the waterfront of issues from free speech, abortion rights, immigrants\u2019 rights, racial justice, LGBTQ rights, and racial justice, among other issues, the ACLU stands alone in its commitment to defending the rights and liberties of all people in the United States. A nonpartisan organization, the ACLU advances civil liberties and civil rights without respect to political affiliation and holds Democratic and Republican leaders alike accountable to the Constitution.\r\n\r\nRomero is the ACLU\u2019s sixth executive director and the first Latino and openly gay man to serve in that capacity.\r\n\r\nRomero\u2019s parents hailed from Puerto Rico, and he was the first in his family to graduate from high school. A graduate of Stanford University Law School and the Princeton University School of Public Policy and International Affairs, he has served on numerous nonprofit boards and is currently a Trustee of Princeton University.","image":142447,"twitter":"","facebook":"","instagram":"","bio_role":[2105]},"yoast_head":"\nAmerican Civil Liberties Union<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Anthony D. 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