by Peter Kahl, 9 July 2025
This essay critically evaluates the fiduciary, epistemic, and legal obligations of public-interest organisations, specifically examining the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California’s (ACLU NorCal) policy of limiting case-intake communications exclusively to postal mail. Employing fiduciary theory—particularly Tamar Frankel’s scholarship—and my recent work, Directors’ Epistemic Duties and Fiduciary Openness (2025), the analysis highlights how such restrictive policies constitute explicit breaches of fiduciary duties (openness, fairness, transparency, good faith) and epistemic responsibilities (epistemic openness, epistemic justice). Furthermore, the essay argues that digital inaccessibility violates provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), systematically disadvantaging disabled individuals and other marginalised groups. Through critical analysis of ACLU NorCal’s explicit and implicit institutional commitments, it reveals contradictions between professed values and actual practices, undermining public trust, social cohesion, and democratic legitimacy. The essay concludes with explicit policy recommendations for enhancing digital, multilingual, and international accessibility, alongside governance reforms to ensure ongoing fiduciary and epistemic accountability.
fiduciary duties, epistemic duties, fiduciary theory, epistemic justice, epistemic openness, institutional accountability, transparency, ADA compliance, digital accessibility, restrictive communication, public trust, ACLU NorCal, accessibility barriers, ethical governance, epistemic harm, institutional responsibility, Tamar Frankel, Miranda Fricker, John Rawls, Americans with Disabilities Act, epistemic fiduciary obligations, epistemic exclusion, multilingual accessibility, social cohesion, democratic legitimacy
Kahl, P. (2025). Public trust and institutional duties at ACLU Northern California: How epistemic and fiduciary failures undermine accessibility. Lex et Ratio Ltd. https://github.com/Peter-Kahl/Public-Trust-and-Institutional-Duties-at-ACLU-Northern-California
First published in Great Britain by Peter Kahl 9 July 2025.
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