The ACLU has withdrawn from a charity program, turning their backs on more than $500,000 in donations, because they refuse to check their employees’ names against a list of suspected terrorists: ACLU Withdraws From U.S. Charity Program.

NEW YORK - The ACLU withdrew Saturday from a program that allows federal workers and military personnel to contribute to charities because it requires participating nonprofit groups to check their employees’ names against a government watch list of suspected terrorists.

The American Civil Liberties Union called the Combined Federal Campaign’s policy unconstitutional and said it would reject more than $500,000 in donations from the program rather than submit to the requirement, which was instituted under the Patriot Act, said Anthony Romero, the ACLU’s executive director.

Romero withdrew the ACLU from the program and said the organization plans to sue the government over the policy. The group says the watch list is filled with errors that people listed on them have no way of correcting.

“The Patriot Act and the government war on terror now threatens America’s nonprofit organizations,” Romero said. “We believe the new requirement violates our fundamental principles as well as the constitutional rights of our employees.”