For this week’s anniversary memory, we think the news coverage speaks for itself. In December of 2001, the Associated Press reported on a picket at the office of the ACLU. 

Nebraskans picket state ACLU office 

LINCOLN – More than 50 people from northeast Nebraska staged a protest Tuesday in front of the office of the Nebraska American Civil Liberties Union. 

Made up mostly of Norfolk residents, the group recited “The Lord’s Prayer” and sang patriotic songs, including “God Bless America,” as they protested the ACLU’s lawsuit over a school board member’s reciting of “The Lord’s Prayer” at a high school graduation ceremony last May. 

The executive director of ACLU in Nebraska, Tim Butz, said he was at a meeting elsewhere at the time of the protest. But he did not object to the gathering even as he defended the lawsuit against Norfolk Public Schools. 

“Good for them,” Butz said of the protesters. “The First Amendment gives them the right to do that.” 

The ACLU is representing members of a Norfolk family, identified in court papers only as “John Doe, et al,” who objected to the prayer at the graduation ceremony as a violation of the separation of church and state. 

School officials have said board member Jim Scheer acted as a private citizen at the ceremony, rendering the lawsuit groundless. 

Learn more about your right to protests, even the ACLU 


2016 is the 50th anniversary of the ACLU of Nebraska. We will feature several memories from our five decades of defending freedom in the Cornhusker state here. Do you have a favorite memory? Share it with us!