Blog of Rights
Anthony D.
Romero

Anthony D. Romero is the Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union. He took the helm just four days before the September 11, 2001 attacks. Shortly afterward, the ACLU launched its national Safe and Free campaign to protect basic freedoms during a time of crisis. Romero has led the ACLU in its fight to restore civil liberties, including pushing for accountability for torture committed under the Bush administration and fighting the practice of indefinite detention. Romero is the ACLU's sixth executive director, and the first Latino and openly gay man to serve in that capacity. (Photo by Richard Corman)

 

01/22/2010
Guantánamo

Closing Guantánamo: A Deadline Missed

By Anthony D. Romero, ACLU at 1:09pm

Today an important deadline was missed. One of the most shameful chapters of American history was to have been brought to a close with the shuttering of the prison at Guantánamo Bay. President Obama's executive order to close the prison within a year (PDF), made on his second full day in office, was a bold act that signaled a strong commitment to breaking away from the unlawful policies of the Bush administration.

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11/10/2009
Guantánamo

Close it Right: Guantánamo Must Be Shut Down Quickly And Properly

By Anthony D. Romero, ACLU at 6:05pm

(Originally posted on Huffington Post.)

On January 22, 2009, his second full day in office, President Obama issued an executive order mandating that the prison camp at Guantánamo Bay be closed within a year. Well, the clock’s ticking and it’s not looking good. As January 22, 2010 fast approaches, the administration is signaling that it's unlikely to meet its own deadline.

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10/14/2008

Protecting Your Right To Vote

By Anthony D. Romero, ACLU at 1:42pm

(Originally posted on HuffingtonPost.)

We are on the eve of one of the most important presidential elections in history and turnout is expected to reach record highs. That’s the good news. The bad news is that there are far too many barriers blocking millions of Americans from exercising the right to vote, one of our most fundamental and precious rights. The last thing this country needs right now is another election that leaves us uncertain of its legitimacy. Unfortunately, there are enough shenanigans going on right now that there is serious reason to be concerned.

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11/30/2005

Insult to Injury

By Anthony D. Romero, ACLU at 2:41pm
President Bush is lying to the American people.

Those are words that I have never uttered before in public. To make such a serious allegation against my country’s leader is not something I do lightly.

Consider the President’s words in Panama: “We ar
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09/12/2005

Engage the Issues, or Democracy Loses

By Anthony D. Romero, ACLU at 4:09pm
This afternoon, I attended the confirmation hearings on Judge John Roberts, President Bush’s nominee for chief justice of the Supreme Court. 

Also in the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing room were the leaders of most of the nation’s civil rights groups – Wade Henderson of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, Ralph Neas of People for the American Way, Debr
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08/27/2005

Good Timing, But Time Is Still Short

By Anthony D. Romero, ACLU at 5:13pm
Our new Patriot Act case, opposing the government's demands for information from a Connecticut institution with library and Internet records, is among the best-timed and most Orwellian that I have seen during my four years as head of the ACLU.

Best-timed because even as I write this Congress is consi
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08/25/2004

August 25, 2004

By Anthony D. Romero, ACLU at 10:45pm
Today was the opening of the military commission against David Matthew Hicks, the 29-year-old Australian who has been held in Gitmo for over two years. Today Mr. Hicks saw his mom and dad for the first time in all those years in what was described as an intensely emotional meeting. We spoke to Mr. and Mrs. Hicks during a break and they held a pr
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