ACLU To Defend The Klan Bid To Adopt A Highway

ACLU To Defend The Klan Bid To Adopt A Highway

The ACLU of Georgia has agreed to represent a Klan organization that was turned down in its bid to “adopt” a section of Georgia highway, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

Debbie Seagraves, executive director for the ACLU of Georgia, tells the newspaper that the Klan reached out to the civil liberties group last week after the DOT rejected its application to participate in the statewide highway cleanup program in Union County.

“Yes, we are representing them, but we are still working on the strategy,” she tells The Journal-Constitution, describing the case as a First Amendment issue.

The application was filed by Harley Hanson, who calls himself the exalted cyclops of the Georgia Realm of the International Keystone Knights of the KKK, and his wife.

In rejecting the Klan, DOT said the highway cleanup program was open only to “civic-minded organization in good standing,” the newspaper says.

In 2005, the newspaper notes, a federal court ruled that Missouri had no right to ban the Klan from its Adopt-a-Highway program based on the Klan’s political beliefs.

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