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It strikes me that there is not very much hard knowledge here on FR regarding the actual inner thinking of ACLU leadership, beyond the observation of their actions
No, there isn't. I was one of the ACLU haters here on FR. It was not until I lost a bet on Conservative members of the ACLU that I delved deeper into it. Did you know that the ACLU works with the American Conservative Union?

I too believed the ACLU was a bunch of commie Christian haters. I was literally shocked to find out I was wrong. I think the impression that the ACLU supports a living Constitution comes from the cases that make the news. Very few ACLU cases are ever mentioned by the media. The ACLU is the only organization in the country that actively defends the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. They may not do as good a job as we would like, but they're the only game in town.

I personally know only one ACLU card carrying member; he is an avowed socialist. A very nice person, strangely.
Lol...Nothing strange about it. The ACLU has an abundance of socialists and so does the Democrat and Republican parties. The difference is that he admits it. Most socialists, including those here on FR, don't even think of themselves as socialists let alone admit it.
Like it or not, and being a libertarian I don't, we are a socialist nation and have been since the thirties.
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I can't say that I know who the American Conservative Union is.

I don't know if we are exactly a socialist nation, but we certainly are in many ways, even the most fundamental one - we seem to have adopted the concept that a central authority such as the federal government should shape and arrange society in the interests of the common good. Our president himself is a follower of that concept as far as I can tell. So, I believe, is most of the nation, conservative or liberal alike...this indicates to me a general lack of actual undelying guiding principles, which the citizenry should be using, but aren't, as reference for deciding what role of government should play in whatever current issues compete for attention. But given that, no wonder they expect some authority to decide everything.

Interestingly, I have heard my socialist friend (retired college prof, of course) refer to himself as a "closet Republican," - he's a supporter of RKBA, an opponent of affirmative action, and thinks we ought to "nuke the terrorists." OTOH, he usually follows the Dem Party line, although he thought Clinton should have resigned.

Conversely, I am also friends with an elderly couple who escaped from a Warsaw Pact nation many years ago and made their way to the US. They explicitly refer to Bush as a socialist. I relayed that comment to my socialist friend, who enjoys discussing politics with me - after some relflection, I think even he is ready to agree.