JOEL’S WORK for the
AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION
Joel Engardio is a civil liberties advocate who worked at the national office of the American Civil Liberties Union to establish and protect Constitutional rights for LGBTQ people, women, immigrants, and voters. Joel also focused on free speech rights and upholding the rule of law.
ACLU Plaintiff Finder
Joel Engardio developed a new plaintiff-finding process for the national ACLU that used journalism methods to determine which plaintiffs would best represent court cases brought by the ACLU. Joel found plaintiffs with the strongest legal cases to win in the court of law. At the same time, he looked for plaintiffs with the most compelling narratives — the stories that could also win over the court of public opinion.
ACLU Video Channel
Joel Engardio created the first online video department for the national ACLU. He produced advocacy videos based upon plaintiffs he found for cases. Joel’s videos featured the most compelling stories on a variety of issues. The videos were used for public education, media outreach, and fundraising.
Letter from director of the ACLU Women’s Rights Project about Joel’s videos
Letter from director of the ACLU LGBT & AIDS Project about Joel’s work
PBS Documentary
Joel Engardio produced and directed Knocking, an award-winning documentary nationally broadcast on PBS that featured ACLU themes. The film told the story of one unpopular religion that played a major role in First Amendment history, setting Supreme Court precedents that expanded individual liberties for all Americans.
Joel Engardio found, interviewed, and documented cases of LGBTQ workplace discrimination for an ACLU report and Congressional testimony to encourage passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. Joel focused on cases of discrimination against transgender people at a time when Democratic members of Congress wanted to exclude protections for transgender people in the proposed legislation.
Joel Engardio directed Voices From Guantanamo, a series of short films for the ACLU about former Guantanamo detainees who were held for years without charge and eventually released. Joel interviewed the innocent men and documented their lives before, during, and after detention. Production was in London, Birmingham and Brighton, England. The project won the 2010 Global Justice Award for the Media That Matters Film Festival.
Joel Engardio worked on a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case for the American Civil Liberties Union that challenged the government’s ability to issue patents for human genes. The lawsuit asked: Can a company own genes? How does government patents on genes affect the First Amendment right to scientific research and free flow of information?
The groundbreaking civil rights case AMP v. Myriad Genetics is documented in the book The Genome Defense, which highlights Joel’s role.