Mission
NCLA is a nonpartisan, nonprofit civil rights group founded by prominent legal scholar Philip Hamburger to protect constitutional freedoms from violations by the Administrative State. NCLA’s public-interest litigation and other pro bono advocacy strive to tame the unlawful power of state and federal agencies and to foster a new civil liberties movement that will help restore Americans’ fundamental rights.
Mission
The New Civil Liberties Alliance is a nonprofit civil rights organization founded by prominent legal scholar Philip Hamburger to defend constitutional freedoms—primarily against the Administrative State. NCLA’s public-interest litigation and other pro bono advocacy strive to tame the administrative power. We need a new civil liberties movement to fight against the erosion of Americans’ basic constitutional rights.
NCLA views the Administrative State as an especially serious threat to constitutional freedoms. No other development in contemporary American law denies more rights to more Americans. Although Americans still enjoy the shell of their Republic, there has developed within it a very different sort of government—a type, in fact, that the Constitution was designed to prevent. This unconstitutional administrative state within our U.S. government is the focus of NCLA’s concern. NCLA urges Americans to recognize the administrative threat and join our civil liberties movement against it.
NCLA files original lawsuits and amicus curiae briefs asking judges in state and federal courts to overturn unlawful and unconstitutional actions by federal agencies that violate people’s civil liberties. These cases cut across multiple state and federal agencies and fall into one of seven problem areas where administrative power tends to evade the U.S. Constitution’s permitted avenues of control: (1) Administrative controls on free speech; (2) Agencies operating outside the scope of their statutory authority or using improperly divested legislative power (Nondelegation); (3) Judicial deference to administrative agencies (Chevron and its ilk); (4) Unlawful administrative searches; (5) Due process violations, especially in administrative adjudications; (6) Guidance abuse; (7) Spending conditions that purport to bind conduct.
In the administrative vision,
rights give way to unlawful power.
Because of these and other administrative threats, the New Civil Liberties Alliance believes it is time for a broad reestablishment of basic constitutional freedoms.
