The Government Due Process subseries (13.44 linear feet) documents due process issues in federal and state governments, including the federal court system. The subseries contains correspondence, printed materials, and court papers documenting the actions of government entities in which the ACLU became concerned about breeches of due process. It is organized chronologically by year and alphabetically within each year.

This subseries (11.76 linear feet) consists of correspondence, newspaper clippings, and press releases regarding various bills and acts that interested the ACLU. The material is organized chronologically by year, under federal or state legislature headings, and is then arranged alphabetically with folder titles describing the issue, or bill in question.

This subseries (0.84 linear feet) documents the ACLU's opposition to the U.S. government relocation of Japanese-Americans living in the western United States to internment camps in the name of national security during World War II. Most Japanese-Americans lost their homes, possessions and in some cases their citizenship. This subseries consists almost entirely of correspondence and court papers documenting individual cases. Issues of concern include citizenship rights, property and land laws, deportations, renunciation cases, education and racism. Please consult the ACLU finding aid, 1917-1950 ("The Baldwin Years") to locate earlier ACLU materials pertaining to the Japanese-American internment.

The Mental Health subseries (4.2 linear feet) contains files related to the legal rights of the mentally ill, general mental health issues, and the treatment of patients in mental hospitals. The bulk of the collection is comprised of individual case materials in which patients corresponded with ACLU staff seeking help in obtaining their release from mental hospitals. The ACLU legal staff evaluated cases to determine if any patients suffered civil liberties violations.

The Military Justice subseries (2.52 linear feet) contains materials on the rights of servicemen and women in the armed forces. The collection is arranged chronologically with consistent headings. The various forms of materials in this subseries include correspondence, memoranda, legal briefs, press releases, clippings, legislation, and Department of Defense forms. This subseries contains substantial correspondence of the ACLU Washington office director, Lawrence Speiser, with Legal Director Melvin Wulf. Assistant Legal Director Eleanor Holmes Norton also worked extensively on military justice cases.

The Right to Privacy subseries (2.1 linear feet) contains correspondence, briefs, reports, printed material, and clippings. The headings reflect the issues these documents address: alcohol, data collection, drugs, medical rights, sexual privacy, and smoking. The ACLU fought for the right of doctors to hold a medical license regardless of political views, the relaxation of restrictions on marijuana, against government and private sector invasion of privacy through data collection, and against sanctions on private consensual sexual activity between adults. The miscellaneous heading contains many files on water fluoridation. For materials on reproductive freedom, consult the Women's Rights subseries.

The Wiretapping and Surveillance subseries (1.26 linear feet) contains materials on the use of wiretapping and surveillance techniques on individuals by the police, government agencies, and private employers. The files contain correspondence, printed materials, court documents, legislation, and memoranda. Consult the Police Practices subseries under the Due Process heading for collateral information.

The Civil Rights subseries (11.76 linear feet) contains legal, administrative, and correspondence files relating to the ACLU's involvement in the protection of individual liberties. The subseries is organized chronologically with various headings for each year (though not all headings appear in every year) and contains newspaper clippings, correspondence, memoranda, and background papers. While the bulk of materials deals with the rights of African-Americans, several files contain material related to the liberties of Jews, Mexican-Americans, aliens, and the disabled.