The American Civil Liberties Union went to the Oregon Investment Council Wednesday and asked that the state invest no more money in a private equity fund that owns a bail-bond company. The council is unlikely to do so, for a couple of good reasons.

The OIC is charged with investing the Public Employees Retirement Fund and the State Accident Insurance Fund and a variety of other, smaller funds. It is required by law to earn the most money possible on its investments, though it must act prudently. Both requirements are standard in the industry.

In addition, OIC is expected to invest at least some of the money it handles in Oregon. It did just that when it invested $95 million in the Endeavour Capital Fund VI, which owns Aladdin Bail Bonds. It’s that fund the ACLU hopes Oregon will pull out of as part of a nationwide campaign to end the commercial bail-bond business, which it says is inherently discriminatory against poor and minority defendants.

Oregon, by the way, has had no commercial bail-bond businesses since the 1970s. That’s when courts began either requiring 10 percent of a bail amount or allowing defendants out on conditional release, with no money collected at the time. Nor do bounty hunters track down those who fail to show up for court dates, after a 1978 state Supreme Court ruling made them illegal.

While the bail-bond business may be due for reform, this isn’t the way to go about getting it. ACLU is asking the investment council to ignore its chief responsibility — to make the most money it legally and safely can — to pressure for social change.

That’s the reason the council has been cool to similar requests in the past. Its members may agree that the bail-bond industry needs change, but as long as the Endeavour fund is doing as well, even better than similar funds, it should not refuse to invest in the fund. Given its legal obligation, that’s the only choice it can make.

Editor’s note: This editorial has been corrected to accurately describe what the ACLU asked the investment council to do.