ACLU UPDATE
Three different committees introduced Patriot bills in the last few days, and all of them fall short of offering a real return to the checks and balances that define our democracy. We now believe the House of Representatives will try to hold a full vote on a reauthorization bill early next week.
GET INVOLVED
Sign Our Patriot Act Petition
Contact Congress Now
The bill marked up in the House Judiciary Committee would make nearly all of the Patriot Act permanent, and it fails to include any meaningful reform to prevent the abuse of the law’s secret search and surveillance authority and the broad access to our personal records it gives federal agents. As Lisa Graves, our senior legislative counsel, said, the House Judiciary bill merely makes “cosmetic,” not “meaningful,” changes. That’s the bad news. The good news is that there is a better than even chance the House version of the legislation will not contain a proposed expansion of the Patriot Act to give the federal government the power to demand library, medical, hotel or other records without first going through a judge at all, the so-called "administrative subpoena" power.
Nevertheless, the Patriot Act must not be made permanent, or we will have likely lost the last, best chance to make improvements in the law that bring it in line with the Constitution and prevent the abuse of our civil liberties. We continue to implore ACLU members and supporters to take action: to call or e-mail your elected representatives, to write letters to the editor, to lobby your local government to pass a resolution in favor of fixing the Patriot Act or to call your local ACLU to see how you can help in the community. Your activism will help bolster our advocacy in Congress and the media as we continue to call for common sense fixes to the Patriot Act.
We recently rolled out a major online campaign on Patriot Act reauthorization, and our lobbyists in Washington are working tirelessly to secure as many votes on our side as possible. The news of next week’s vote means we are deep in the home stretch on the Patriot Act. The Senate Judiciary Committee will bring up its version of the bill next week as well, and will likely send it to the floor for a vote before lawmakers break for the August recess. This bill closely mirrors the flawed legislation in the House of Representatives. There is little doubt President Bush will have something on his desk before the fall.
With the deplorable terrorist attacks in London, our job is as difficult as it was in the weeks after the 9/11 attacks. Terrorism is meant to terrorize, to make people do things that are not in their best interest. And lawmakers are as vulnerable to that kind of fear as you or I. But, Congress has an obligation to look beyond blind fear. It has an obligation to ensure that national security laws take into account the acute danger secret and intrusive surveillance and search powers pose to our individual freedoms and privacy when passing laws like the Patriot Act. It failed to meet that obligation when it passed the original Patriot Act. We need your immediate help to convince Congress to get it right this time.
Anthony D. Romero
Executive Director
To help us get out the word about the dire need to reform the Patriot Act, we recently sought input from supporters like you about which of our sample newspaper ads sent the strongest message. Thousands of you spoke in an online vote and the winning ad was "Thing of the Past."
You can view all three sample ads here.
Next week, “Thing of the Past” will run in the Philadelphia Inquirer. (Area residents can look for it on Tuesday, July 19th.) On the Web, we'll be running ads all this month on sites including WashingtonPost.com, NYTimes.com, the San Francisco Chronicle site, Yahoo!, MSN and many others.
View a preview of our online ads here.
We can't thank you enough for participating in our campaign to reform the Patriot Act. The thousands of votes we received show how much people across America like you care about this vital work and about the future of civil liberty and democracy. And you can still see our sample print ads, and download copies to print and post in your home or office.
Download and print the ads here.
The Supreme Court ended its 2004 term by strongly reaffirming the principle that government should not be in the business of promoting religion. "The Court's civil liberties record this year was a surprisingly positive one," said Steven R. Shapiro, the ACLU's national legal director. "In contrast to past years, the Justices seemed less anxious to undermine meaningful civil rights enforcement, more skeptical about the death penalty, and more willing to look at international law for whatever guidance it can provide in resolving fundamental human rights issues."
Click here for a full review of the Supreme Court’s 2004 Term.
Sandra Day O’Connor fully earned her reputation as a centrist; she was a conscientious jurist and, in a number of key cases, stood up for individual rights and against a radically conservative vision of the Constitution. With her resignation, America will face a momentous decision.
Whoever President Bush may name as his nominee, the United States Senate needs to take the time to fully examine and carefully consider the nominee's record. "The nomination battle for O'Connor's replacement comes at a critical moment for civil liberties," said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero. "The stakes could be as high as they were during the Bork nomination battle of the 1980's." O'Connor's replacement could directly affect the outcome of some of the most divisive legal questions facing America today.
The new justice could, for instance, reverse the court's growing discomfort with the death penalty; tip the balance for reproductive rights, grant the president greater authority to detain Americans without charge, trial or access to counsel in the name of national security; and uphold troubling parts of the Patriot Act.
The ACLU is preparing to compile, review and circulate information about the nominee's public record, to get the facts out to the American people and to ensure Congress conducts a confirmation process that recognizes and addresses the important civil liberties issues at stake.
See a review of cases in which O’Connor cast the deciding vote.
Click here for more information on the ACLU’s position on the Supreme Court nomination process.
GET INVOLVED
Sign Our Patriot Act Petition
Contact Congress Now
The bill marked up in the House Judiciary Committee would make nearly all of the Patriot Act permanent, and it fails to include any meaningful reform to prevent the abuse of the law’s secret search and surveillance authority and the broad access to our personal records it gives federal agents. As Lisa Graves, our senior legislative counsel, said, the House Judiciary bill merely makes “cosmetic,” not “meaningful,” changes. That’s the bad news. The good news is that there is a better than even chance the House version of the legislation will not contain a proposed expansion of the Patriot Act to give the federal government the power to demand library, medical, hotel or other records without first going through a judge at all, the so-called "administrative subpoena" power.
Nevertheless, the Patriot Act must not be made permanent, or we will have likely lost the last, best chance to make improvements in the law that bring it in line with the Constitution and prevent the abuse of our civil liberties. We continue to implore ACLU members and supporters to take action: to call or e-mail your elected representatives, to write letters to the editor, to lobby your local government to pass a resolution in favor of fixing the Patriot Act or to call your local ACLU to see how you can help in the community. Your activism will help bolster our advocacy in Congress and the media as we continue to call for common sense fixes to the Patriot Act.
We recently rolled out a major online campaign on Patriot Act reauthorization, and our lobbyists in Washington are working tirelessly to secure as many votes on our side as possible. The news of next week’s vote means we are deep in the home stretch on the Patriot Act. The Senate Judiciary Committee will bring up its version of the bill next week as well, and will likely send it to the floor for a vote before lawmakers break for the August recess. This bill closely mirrors the flawed legislation in the House of Representatives. There is little doubt President Bush will have something on his desk before the fall.
With the deplorable terrorist attacks in London, our job is as difficult as it was in the weeks after the 9/11 attacks. Terrorism is meant to terrorize, to make people do things that are not in their best interest. And lawmakers are as vulnerable to that kind of fear as you or I. But, Congress has an obligation to look beyond blind fear. It has an obligation to ensure that national security laws take into account the acute danger secret and intrusive surveillance and search powers pose to our individual freedoms and privacy when passing laws like the Patriot Act. It failed to meet that obligation when it passed the original Patriot Act. We need your immediate help to convince Congress to get it right this time.
Anthony D. Romero
Executive Director
To help us get out the word about the dire need to reform the Patriot Act, we recently sought input from supporters like you about which of our sample newspaper ads sent the strongest message. Thousands of you spoke in an online vote and the winning ad was "Thing of the Past."
You can view all three sample ads here.
Next week, “Thing of the Past” will run in the Philadelphia Inquirer. (Area residents can look for it on Tuesday, July 19th.) On the Web, we'll be running ads all this month on sites including WashingtonPost.com, NYTimes.com, the San Francisco Chronicle site, Yahoo!, MSN and many others.
View a preview of our online ads here.
We can't thank you enough for participating in our campaign to reform the Patriot Act. The thousands of votes we received show how much people across America like you care about this vital work and about the future of civil liberty and democracy. And you can still see our sample print ads, and download copies to print and post in your home or office.
Download and print the ads here.
The Supreme Court ended its 2004 term by strongly reaffirming the principle that government should not be in the business of promoting religion. "The Court's civil liberties record this year was a surprisingly positive one," said Steven R. Shapiro, the ACLU's national legal director. "In contrast to past years, the Justices seemed less anxious to undermine meaningful civil rights enforcement, more skeptical about the death penalty, and more willing to look at international law for whatever guidance it can provide in resolving fundamental human rights issues."
Click here for a full review of the Supreme Court’s 2004 Term.
Sandra Day O’Connor fully earned her reputation as a centrist; she was a conscientious jurist and, in a number of key cases, stood up for individual rights and against a radically conservative vision of the Constitution. With her resignation, America will face a momentous decision.
Whoever President Bush may name as his nominee, the United States Senate needs to take the time to fully examine and carefully consider the nominee's record. "The nomination battle for O'Connor's replacement comes at a critical moment for civil liberties," said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero. "The stakes could be as high as they were during the Bork nomination battle of the 1980's." O'Connor's replacement could directly affect the outcome of some of the most divisive legal questions facing America today.
The new justice could, for instance, reverse the court's growing discomfort with the death penalty; tip the balance for reproductive rights, grant the president greater authority to detain Americans without charge, trial or access to counsel in the name of national security; and uphold troubling parts of the Patriot Act.
The ACLU is preparing to compile, review and circulate information about the nominee's public record, to get the facts out to the American people and to ensure Congress conducts a confirmation process that recognizes and addresses the important civil liberties issues at stake.
See a review of cases in which O’Connor cast the deciding vote.
Click here for more information on the ACLU’s position on the Supreme Court nomination process.
posted by T. Scott Brineman at 7:44 AM
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