Founded in 1965 and name after important free-speech advocate and philosopher Alexander Meiklejohn, MCLI has become part of the infrastructure of the peace and justice community, empowering people to protect and expand their rights under law. Meiklejohn is a center for peace law, an organizer for the right to education, an information clearinghouse on social change, an advocate of government accountability, a training center, and repository of history. MCLI's particular focus on applying international law on a domestic / national level, makes it unique in the civil liberties field. Meiklejohn has been called a "Civil Liberties Church" and a think tank combining archives and ongoing research.