The Strangest Of Bedfellows: ACLU, KKK Together in Georgia ?Adopt-A-Highway? Lawsuit

By Laura Matthews | June 27 2012 12:51 PM

The American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU, will be helping the Ku Klux Klan in its lawsuit to adopt a highway in Georgia, as it believes the case touches on the freedom of expression guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. constitution.

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The ACLU has confirmed it will be representing the Ku Klux Klan in its "Adopt-A-Highway" lawsuit in Georgia. The KKK reached out to the civil rights group after its bid to adopt a highway was turned down by Georgia's Department of Transportation. The ACLU said it is currently working on a strategy.

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The KKK recently expressed interest in getting volunteers for a road cleanup in Union City. The group submitted an application to the Georgia Department of Transportation in May, but it was rejected two weeks ago. The name of the group, which has a history of violent racism, would have been displayed on highway signs in return for its help cleaning up the road.

The application was filed by Harley Hanson, an exalted cyclops -- a leader, in the Klan's typical, bizarre terminology -- of the Georgia Realm of the International Keystone Knights of the KKK, and his wife. The listed address was a post office box in Blairsville. However, a legal problem was that Hanson doesn't live in Union County, but in Morganton in Fannin County, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Debbie Seagraves, executive director of ACLU of Georgia, on Tuesday told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution the KKK contacted the rights group last week, and that she's not sure Hanson's residence is an issue.

It has not been a matter of discussion as far as I am concerned, she said.

She declined to give details of the case, but admitted to representing the KKK and working on a strategy, as the ACLU considers it a First Amendment case.

This isn't the first time that the ACLU has represented the KKK.

In 1993, the civil rights group sued the city of Cincinnati so that the KKK could be allowed to display a cross for Christmas.