The mission of the ACLU in South Carolina is to defend, preserve, and advance civil liberties, especially those guaranteed by the Bill of Rights of the US Constitution. We generally file lawsuits that affect the civil liberties of large classes of people rather than suits that address disputes of individuals. We do not charge our clients for our services. We usually can’t help with employment issues, criminal defense, post-conviction appeals, divorce or child custody disputes, property disputes, tax problems, consumer complaints, landlord/tenant disputes, or complaints against lawyers or judges.

The first step in filing a complaint with the ACLU in South Carolina is to fill out the complaint form and send it to our legal staff in Charleston. Fill out the Online Complaint Form or use our Printable Form and mail it to the address at the top of the form. This document is available online in Adobe Acrobat PDF format for ease in printing. Download Acrobat Reader.

Our legal staff will review your complaint to determine whether it raises an issue that we can address. Please do not send any documentation with your complaint. If the legal staff decides to investigate your complaint further, they will write or call you to ask for additional information. The ACLU in South Carolina receives many complaints. However, the ACLU is not a legal aid organization and generally does not have the resources to provide representation to individuals. This is not to say that you do not have a valid constitutional concern or that your rights have not been violated. With limited resources, we are often forced to make difficult decisions regarding which cases we take on.

If you wish to talk with a private attorney, please contact the SC Bar Association Referral Service:

We cannot guarantee that we will take your case and for this reason urge you to contact an attorney even if you are filing a complaint with the ACLU.

Thank you for contacting the ACLU in South Carolina.