Prof. David Cole, the ACLU's National Legal Director, has an article with this title in The Nation; an excerpt:
Earlier this month the ACLU argued before the US Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit in defense of a high school student expelled for temporarily posting to Snapchat a picture of his friends dressed in World War II–era clothes at a thrift store with the caption: "Me and the boys bout to exterminate the Jews." He took it down shortly thereafter—and apologized for what was a stupid and deeply offensive joke—but the school expelled him nonetheless. We argued that while the anti-Semitic message was deeply offensive, it was also protected by the First Amendment when uttered outside of the school, and could not be the basis for punishment. In doing so, we were only doing what we have always done—defending speech rights for all, even those with whom we disagree….
We continue to believe that the First Amendment is the foundation of our democracy, and we defend it for precisely that reason. It remains the best protection for those who lack power, and for those pressing for equal treatment. It protects our ability to speak out, to organize, to associate with like-minded others, to march in the streets, and to demand change from our government. It's the lifeblood of Black Lives Matter, #MeToo, and the LGBTQ movement—and of anti-abortion activists, gun rights advocates, and libertarians. Yes, it extends to the powerful and hateful as well as the marginalized. That's the thing about rights. They apply universally. But if you are in the minority, whatever side you are on, there is no more important safeguard. None….
I drafted our case selection guidelines precisely to reaffirm our commitment to free speech, not to abandon it, after some within and outside the organization began to question the defense of hate speech. The guidelines could not be more unequivocal: they expressly proclaim that free speech rights "extend to all, even to the most repugnant speakers—including white supremacists—and pursuant to ACLU policy, we will continue our longstanding practice of representing such groups." They also acknowledge that free speech, like many rights, has costs, but explain that those costs do not furnish a reason to abandon its defense. Instead, the guidelines set out a process for honestly confronting the costs, and recommend ways to mitigate the harm when we take on cases that present tensions between our values. One can, for example, defend the speaker even as one condemns his views—as we did with the Nazis in Skokie, or when we represented Milo Yiannopoulos in a suit against the Washington, D.C., Metro for refusing to display an advertisement for his book.
But actions speak louder than words. Since Charlottesville and the guidelines, we have defended the First Amendment rights of countless individuals and groups whose views we do not share. They include: Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, the NRA, anti-Semitic protesters outside a synagogue, racist and homophobic college students, and the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity. Most recently, we called on Georgetown Law not to fire conservative scholar Ilya Shapiro for his "lesser Black woman" tweet about Biden's promise to name a Black woman to the Supreme Court; criticized the FBI's tactics in investigating the conservative group Project Veritas; and hailed Elon Musk's decision to re-platform Donald Trump. We didn't agree with the speech of any of these individuals or groups—but that didn't stop us from defending their First Amendment rights….
