The ACLU national headquarters is in New
York City. The group maintains a legislative
office in Washington, D.C., and a regional office
in Atlanta, along with chapters in each state.
These state chapters follow the decisions of the
national executive board yet are also free to
pursue cases on their own.
FURTHER READINGS
ACLU. ACLU’s Seventy-Five Most Important Supreme Court
Cases. Briefing paper.
———. The ACLU Today. Briefing paper.
———. Church and State. Briefing paper.
———. Guardian of Liberty. Briefing paper.
American Civil Liberties Union. Available online at www.
aclu.org (accessed September 17, 2009)
Hershkoff, Helen. 1997. The Rights of the Poor: The
Authoritative ACLU Guide to Poor People’s Rights.
Carbondale: Southern Illinois Univ. Press.
Walker, Samuel. 1999. In Defense of American Liberties: A
History of the ACLU. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
CROSS REFERENCES
Baldwin, Roger Nash; Bill of Rights; Civil Rights; Frankfurter,
Felix; Palmer, Alexander Mitchell; Strossen, Nadine M.
AMERICAN FARM BUREAU
FEDERATION
The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) is
a
NONPROFIT, nonpartisan organization dedicated
to promoting, protecting, and representing the
interests of U.S. farmers. More than five million
members in 50 states and Puerto Rico belong to

and service s for farm families.
State bureaus adopt policies and name
delegates to represent them at the AFBF annual
meeting. Policies adopted by
VOTING delegates
govern the federation. These policies de al with
many issues, including the use of natural
resources,
TAXATION, property rights, services to
the farm community, trade, food safety and
quality, and other issues that affect rural America.
The AFBF has historically been a conserva-
tive organization, favoring flexible price sup-
ports for crops and a minimum of government
regulation and oversight. Its government rela-
tions division employs a number of registered
lobbyists who are specialists on farm policy,
trade, budget and taxes, farm credit, labor,
transportation, conservation, and the environ-
ment. These individuals maintain daily contact
with Congress and regulatory agencies and
appear before congressional committees.
The AFBF’s
PUBLIC POLICY division is respon-
sible for research, education, and policy support
for AFBF and the state farm bureaus. Staff
members engage in research projects on a variety
of current issues, includ ing property rights,
health care, clean water, endangered species,
animal welfare, farm programs, and dairy policy.

CORPORATIONS, and foundations. The
foundation has funded research on animal waste
management, pesticide use, new methods of
helping endangered species, and animal welfare
education. The foundati on is also active in
numerous educational outreach programs in-
cluding “Educating About Agriculture,” awards
and contests, farm tours and field days, garden
and planting projects, mobile classroom units,
newsletters, books, and videos. The AFBF
sponsors scholarships for teachers as well as a
number of grants.
FURTHER READINGS
American Farm Bureau. Available online at .
org (accessed May 11, 2009).
Howard, R. P. 1982. James R. Howard and the Farm Bureau.
Ames, IA: Iowa State Univ. Press.
Woell, Melvin. 1990. Farm Bureau Architects: Through Four
Decades. Dubuque, IA: Kendall-Hunt.
CROSS REFERENCE
Farm Credit Administration.
AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR—
CONGRESS OF INDUSTRIAL
ORGANIZATIONS
The American Federation of Labor-Congress of
Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) is a volun-
tary federation of 56 national and international
labor unions. It comprises 65 national union
affiliates, 45,000 local unions, 51 state federat ions
(including Puerto Rico), 570 central labor

Organizations. By the 1950s, the leade rship of
both the AFL and CIO realized that a unified
labor movement was necessary. In 1955, the AFL
and the CIO merged into a single organization,
the AFL-CIO.
The AFL-CIO is primarily concerned with
influencing legislative policies that affect unions.
Its staff membe rs conduct research, set policy,
and
TESTIFY before congressional and state
legislative committees. More importantly, the
organization provides funds and volunteers to
labor-endorsed political candidates. Although
the AFL-CIO is a nonpartisan organization, it
traditionally has supported
DEMOCRATIC PARTY
candidates.
With the 1995 election of John J. Sweeney as
president, the AFL-CIO has made increased
union membership its highest priority. Although
Sweeney was subsequently reelected three times,
membership in U.S. trade unions has continued
to fall over the last several decades as the
manufacturing sector of the U.S. economy has
steadily declined. Union membership in 1954
comprised 34.7 percent of the workforce. By
2000, this number had declined to 13.4 percent,
and by 2007, only 12.1 percent of the workforce
were union workers.
Sweeney pushed the organization to recruit

AFL–CIO Website. Available online at cio.
org/ (accessed May 11, 2009).
Edsall, Thomas B. 2005. “Two Top Unions Split from AFL-
CIO.” Washington Post.
AMERICAN INDIAN MOVEMENT
Founded in 1968, the American Indian Move-
ment (AIM) is an organization dedicated to the
Native American
CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT . Its
main objectives are the
SOVEREIGNTY of Native
American lands and peoples, preservation of
their culture and traditions, and enforcement of
all treaties with the United States.
Despite the straightforwardness of its stated
objectives, AIM’s reputation was seriously harmed
by well-publicized and controversial incidents of
law-breaking,
VANDALISM, and violence, resulting in
the organization’s peak and decline within a few
years. Significant historical events include AIM’s
hostile occupation of Alcatraz Island (1969); the
“Trail of Broken Treaties” march on Washington,
D.C. (1971); occupation of Wounded Knee
(1973); and the Pine Ridge shootout of 1975,
which resulted in the controversial arrest and
IMPRISONMENT of the most famous AIM member,
Leonard Peltier. Following these events, the
organization’s visibility and viability as a political
force greatly declined.

their views paralleled the ideals of other
CIVIL
RIGHTS
movements of the era. The most radical
elements to emerge from these militant Native
American groups ultimately formed the AIM,
which was intended as an indigenous version of
the
BLACK PANTHER PARTY.
During the summer of 1968, about 200
members of the Native American community in
urban Minneapolis, Minne sota, met to discuss
various issues, including slum housing, alleged
police brutality, unemployment, and alleged
discriminatory policies involving the local
American Indian
activist Glenn Morris
leads a protest against
the annual Colombus
Day parade in
Denver, Colorado.
AP IMAGES
GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION
270 AMERICAN INDIAN MOVEMENT
county’s WELFARE system. The group had been
impressed with media coverage of the Black
Panther policy of monitoring routine police
interrogations or arrests and adopted similar
tactics.
From the beginning, the group stirred

or taboo and were exiled or ostracized for
punishment. Earlier or concurrently, the island
changed hands several times during Spanish and
Portuguese explo rations, but ultimately it be-
came federal property and in time became the
site of the infamous federal prison once operated
there.
Many of the Indian occupiers of November
1969 were students recruited by Oakes from
UCLA, who returned with Oakes to Alcatraz
and began to live on the island in old federal
buildings. They ran a school and daycare center,
and began delivering local radio broadcasts that
could be heard in the San Francisco Bay area.
Initially the federal government placed an
effective barricade around the island and
insisted that the group leave; the government
did, however, agree to an Indian demand for
formal negotiations. The talks accomplished
nothing, as the Indian group insisted on a deed
and
CLEAR TITLE to the island. The group
continued occupation and the federal govern-
ment insisted they depart but took no aggressive
action to remove them. Officially, the govern-
ment adopted a position of non-interference
and hoped that support for the occupation
would fade. The FBI and Coast Guard were
under strict orders to remain clear of the island
and media attention began to dwindle.

little force as possible and when the least number
of people were on the isl and. On June 10, 1971,
FBA agents, armed federal marshals, and special
forces police removed five women, four children,
and six unarmed men from the island.
Trail of Broken Treaties
In November 1971 AIM organized what it
called the Trail of Broken Treaties, a march on
Washington, D.C., involving approximately
1,000 angry Native Americans. It ended with
the occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs
GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION
AMERICAN INDIAN MOVEMENT 271
(BIA) headquarters. After taking over the
offices, AIM protesters seized large numb ers of
files from the BIA offices and caused more than
$2 million in
DAMAGES to the trashed building.
They also presented President Nixon with 20
demands for immediate action. The Nixon
administration provided $66,000 in transporta-
tion monies in return for a peaceful end to the
takeover. It also agreed to appoint a Native
American to a BIA post. Again, the real success
for AIM was in getting some media attention
and in heightening public awareness of unre-
solved Indian issues.
Wounded Knee
The tiny village of Wounded Knee, South Dakota,
is the historic site of an infamous 1890 massacre

this point, the federal government, including
the BIA, remained neutral, clai ming the stand-
off was an internal tribal dispute.
When AIM occupiers built fortifications and
took up arms and munitions, both Wilson
and the federal government (FBI , U.S. marshals,
and BIA police) moved in. In the well-publicized
71-day occupation that followed, two AIM
members were killed. Ultimately, AIM leaders
negotiated a “peace pact” with the government
stipulating that the activists would be treated
fairly and that the federal government would
conduct a fair review of several treaties.
Although the immediate stand-off was
defused, tensions between Wilson’s goon squad
and AIM members continued over the next
several years. Dozens of AIM members, includ-
ing early foundi ng members Russell Means and
DENNIS BANKS, were indicted on dozens of
charges related to the Wounded Knee stando ff.
The charges were ultimately dropped when a
federal judge acknowledged spurious activity
and involvement by the FBI.
Pine Ridge
Wilson’s t ribal leadership at the Pine Ridge
reservation was reportedly federally sanctioned
and supported. Allegations arose at the trials of
AIM members that goon squad members were
paid with BIA monies and that many of the
members were in fact off-duty BIA police. Several

GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION
272 AMERICAN INDIAN MOVEMENT
went on to found another Indian organization,
the Sacred Run, devoted to spiritual renewal and
environmental issues. In 2007, Means made news
when he announced that the Lakota Indian tribe
would withdraw from treaties with the United
States. However, several other tribal leaders
opposed Means’ stance.
Peltier remained in prison. As of 2003, the
FBI refused to release nearly 500 documents on
Peltier, being withheld on grounds of “national
security.” In 2009 Peltier’s family reported that
the 64-year-old had been beaten by a gang of
inmates at the U.S.
PENITENTIARY in Lewisburg,
Pennsylvania. Some called for President
BARACK
OBAMA
to PARDON Peltier.
In 1978 Congress passed the American
Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA)(42 U.S.
C.A. § 1996), designed to review and update
federal policies regarding such matters as Native
Americans’ right to access sacred grounds and
legal rights to practice their traditional reli gions.
Reviews and recommendations were made.
Pursuant to this action, Congress passed the
Native American Graves Protection and Repa-
triation Act, Public L. No. 101-601, 104 Stat.

AMERICAN ISRAEL PUBLIC AFFAIRS
COMMITTEE
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee
(AIPAC) is a national advocacy group that
lobbies for U.S. support to the nation of Israel.
Founded in 1951, AIPAC has grown into a
100,000-member organization that is recog-
nized as one of the most influential foreign
policy groups in the United States. AIPAC has
lobbied Congress for U.S. foreign aid to Israel
since 1951, when it helped defeat several efforts
to cut aid for the resettling of hundreds of
thousands of Holocaust
REFUGEES in Israel. In
addition, AIPAC has lobbied for U.S. military
aid to Israel and has helped preserve the special
relationship that has existed between the United
States and Israel since the United States
recognized the nation of Israel in 1948.
AIPAC is headquartered in Washington,
D.C. Members of its staff maintain an active
presence in the halls of Congress, attending
committee sessions and reviewing legislation
that may affect the relationship between the
United States and Israel. AIPAC estimates that it
monitors 2,000 hours of congressional hearings
annually. Research staff members analyze per-
iodicals and documents in five different lan-
guages, amassing a large archive of information
on hundreds of issues, including foreign aid,

workshops, giving its members the opportunity
to become involved in grassroots
LOBBYING.
The influence of AIPAC remains strong.
The United States has appropriated billions of
dollars to support Israel, and AIPAC has been
influential in building and maintaining support
for the Jewish state. Additional funds have been
appropriated to help
SETTLE Jewish refugees in
Israel. AIPAC has also maintained congressional
support for Israel’s position in the Middle East
peace process, arguing that attempts to distance
the United States from Israel’s position only
encourage its Arab neighbors to ask for
unilateral concessions. AIPAC belie ves that the
peace process will only achieve results if the
close working relationship between the United
States and Israel continues.
Following the
SEPTEMBER 11TH ATTACKS in
2001, AIPAC has stepped up its agenda to make
sure that the United States continues to ensure
Israel’s security by working with Congress to
isolate and financial ly constrict such groups as
Hamas, Hezbollah, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
AIPAC has continued to support U.S. efforts to
isolate and pressure Palestinian authority chair-
man Yasir Afarat to stop bombings and
SUICIDE

ton, D.C. Though volun teer members do most
of the work of the American Legion, the
national organization has a regular full-time
staff of about 300 employees.
Eligibility in the American Legion is based on
honorable service in the U.S. armed forces during
WORLD WAR I, WORLD WAR II,theKOREAN WAR,the
VIETNAM WAR, and military operations in Lebanon
(1982–84); Grenada (1982–84); Panama (1989–
90); and the Gulf Wars (1990–). Membership is
based on the period of service, not the place of
service, so an individual does not have to be
stationed in a combat zone to be eligible.
Members may participate in a low-cost life
insurance program and may receive discounts
on moving expenses, car rentals, hotel and motel
rentals, eyewear, and prescription drugs. Ameri-
can Legion service officers provide free advice
and guidance to veterans who need to deal with
the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) about
benefits and other issues.
The American Legion sponsors many com-
munity activities and programs. Students show-
ing the highest qualities of citizen ship are
recognized with an American Legion School
Medal Award. More than 30,000 students in
elementary, junior high, and senior high schools
are recognized annually for their
COMMITMENT to
honor, courage, scholarship, leadership, and

tion. The Veterans Affairs and Rehabilitation
Commission (VAR) is a cornerstone of the
American Legion, overseeing federally mandat-
ed programs provided by the VA for veterans
and their dependents. VAR services include
assistance with medical care, claims and appeals,
insurance programs, burial benefits, and veter-
ans’ employment. Staff members also commu-
nicate with administrators of state veterans’
affairs programs.
American Legion volunteers give more than
one million hours of service to disabled veterans
annually. Field representatives from the Ameri-
can Legion’s Washington office systematically
visit VA medical centers, nursing homecare
units, and outpatient clinics to evaluate their
programs and facilities. The field representatives
report resource needs and areas for improvement
to the VA headquarters in Washington, D.C.
For a number of years the Legion and other
members of the Citizens Flag Alliance have
continued to lobby Congress for a
CONSTITUTIONAL
AMENDMENT
that would impose penalties for
desecration of the U.S. flag. The Legion has also
been active in
LOBBYING for mandatory recitation
of the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools.
After the

delegates also adopted the first national standards
for medical education through a
RESOLUTION
establishing prerequisites for the study of medi-
cine. Since that time, the AMA has grown into a
large organization with great influence over
issues involving health care and medicine. It is
headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.
The AMA speaks out on issues important to
the medical community. AMA policy on such
issues is decided through a democratic process, at
the center of which is the AMA House of
Delegates. The house is comprised of physician
delegates from every state, the national medical
specialty societies, the
SURGEON GENERAL of the
United States, and sections representing organized
medical staffs, young physicians, resident physi-
cians, medical students, and medical schools.
Before the opening of the House of Dele-
gates, which meets twice per year, individual
committees consider resolutions and reports
in hearings open to all AMA members. Each
committee prepares recommendations for the
delegates. The house then votes on these
recommendations, deciding the AMA’s formal
position and future action on an issue.
The AMA has been active in numerous
healthcare initiatives that affect the U.S. popu-
lace as a whole. In the 1990s the AMA launched

in the 1960s and during the 2000s has remained
opposed to national healthcare insurance. In the
late 2000s, the AMA advocated for reforms in
Medicare payment programs. The AMA also
called on Congress to end Medicare cuts caused
by economic downturns. In 2009, the AMA
opposed congressional proposals for a public
insurance plan. However, as Congress appeared
closer to passing a health care reform bill in
December 2009, the AMA expressed support for
the proposal.
The AMA is the world’s largest publisher of
scientific medical information. The Journal of the
American Medical Association (JAMA) is printed
in 12 languages and reaches physicians in 42
countries worldwide, making it the world’s
most widely read medical journal. The AMA
also publishes nine monthly medical specialty
journals as well as a newspaper of social and
economic health news, American Medical News.
Web site: />FURTHER READINGS
American Medical Association. Available online at http://
www.ama-assn.org/ (accessed June 13, 2009).
Kirkpatrick, David D. 2009. “Groups Back Health Reform,
but Seek Cover.” New York Times. September 11.
Pear, Robert. 2009. “Doctors’ Group Opposes Public
Insurance Plan.” New York Times. June 10.
CROSS REFERENCES
Health Care Law; Medicare.
AMERICAN PARTY

Doctor of Laws degree
from U. Penn
1895–1910 Dean of Harvard Law School
1904 Awarded Honorary Doctor of
Laws degree from Harvard
1910 Died,
Wilton, N.H.
1913 Lectures on Legal
History published
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AN IMMORTAL RIGHT
TO BRING AN
ETERNALLY
PROHIBITED ACTION IS
A METAPHYSICAL
SUBTLETY THAT THE
PRESENT WRITER
CANNOT PRETEND TO
UNDERSTAND
.

accurate example of the law at work.
Ames extended his talents to the field of legal
literature. He is the author of Lectures on Legal
History, which was published in 1913. He died
January 8, 1910, in Wilton, New Hampshire.
CROSS REFERENCE
Legal Education.
v
AMES, SAMUEL
Samuel Ames was born September 6, 1806. He
graduated from Brown University in 1823 and
was admitted to the Rhode Island bar in 1826.
From 1841 to 1851 Ames represented
Providence in the Rhode Island general assem-
bly. During his
TENURE, he was a prominent
supporter of state authority in the “Dorr
Rebellion.” This
INSURRECTION occurred in 1842
as a
PROTEST against the limited VOTING rights
that existed in Rhode Island. The protest
resulted in a more liberal interpretation of the
right to
SUFFRAGE.
Beginning in 1856 Ames served as chief
justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court. In
1861 he was the representative from Rhode
Island during a series of unsuccessful negotia-
tions to effect a peace between the North and

1832 Treatise on the Law of
Private Corporations
Aggregate published, written
with Joseph K. Angell
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IT IS DIFFICULT TO
DRAW AND APPLY THE
PRECISE LINE
SEPARATING THE
DIFFERENT POWERS
OF GOVERNMENT
.
—SAMUEL AMES
GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION
AMES, SAMUEL 277