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Rollout! We Draw the Line in the Sand for the Next AdministrationIn just over two weeks both the ballots and the die will be cast for a new administration. Since we kind of saw this coming, the ACLU has been thinking a lot about what we want to see from the next administration. You probably guessed that it means the next guy moving into 1600 Pennsylvania will need to clean up after the former resident (and I think that it would be safe to say that the Bush administration did enough damage to warrant not getting its deposit back). Our suggestions are broken up into actions for Day One, the First 100 Days and the First Year of any new administration. In total, it’s an exhaustive list of what the country would look like if we ran it. More to the point, it’s what the country would look like if we followed the lines of our country’s roadmap — the Constitution. For starters, whoever wins on November 4 can close Guantánamo Bay, end the practice of extraordinary rendition and put a stop to all American use of torture his first day in office. Imagine getting all that done in one day (maybe even before lunch!). That’s the kind of power our new president will have. Frankly, it’d be a crying shame to waste it. But it will take more than that to undo the damage that has been done. Our document is an 83-page list of bad policies, unfair rules, and other travesties that the next president will have the power to clean up. Just flipping through it really gives you a sense of just how much power the president has to change things, for good or ill. Listen, it’s not that much to ask. After eight years of the Bush administration’s refusal to adhere to the rule of law and irresponsible policies there’s a lot of work to do but it needs to be done. Think of it like fixing the foundation on house after years of neglect. Rebuilding and reinforcing our Constitution will only make us safer and more resolute.
White House Endorsed Waterboarding of DetaineesAccording to a news report by the Washington Post today, the White House issued a pair of secret memos to the CIA in 2003 and 2004 that explicitly endorsed the agency's use of abusive interrogation practices, including the use of waterboarding and other forms of torture on detainees. The documents were requested by the then-CIA Director George Tenet, in response to fears from top CIA officials that the White House never endorsed the program in writing, and might later attempt to distance itself from decisions about the treatment of detainees. A. John Radsan, a lawyer in the CIA general counsel's office until 2004 is quoted in the Washington Post article saying, “The question was whether we had enough ‘top cover’.” Although top officials with the Bush administration have continued to deny knowledge of specific techniques, last month Condoleezza Rice became the first Cabinet-level official to publicly confirm the White House's awareness of the program in its earliest phases. In response to the article, Jameel Jaffer, Director of the ACLU National Security Project said: This new report supplies further evidence that the decision to endorse torture was made by the administration's most senior officials. The report also underscores once again how much information is still being withheld by this administration. The government is not permitted to withhold records in order to shield officials from embarrassment or to conceal evidence of illegal activity, but this administration continues to use the classification power to suppress information for precisely those ends.You may recall the ACLU filed a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act demanding the release of information about detainees held overseas by the United States. To date, more than 100,000 pages have been released (many of these documents are compiled and analyzed in Administration of Torture, a book by Jameel and ACLU staff attorney Amrit Singh), but we know many vital records are still being withheld by the government, including the memos revealed today. As we look towards a new administration, truth and accountability are integral in coming to terms with such government-sponsored programs that have transcended the bounds of U.S. and international law. We must deal with our past as we look ahead to restoring our core values as a nation and once again establishing our country as a defender of human rights around the world.
There Isn't a More Important Time...to Watch TVTonight's the last of the presidential debates, and we've got our fingers crossed that a few constitutional issues will be addressed—like government spying on American citizens living abroad, including military personnel overseas, and the torture and indefinite detention of prisoners in the so-called "war on terror." (They haven't discussed this stuff yet, but we've got our collective fingers crossed.) Tomorrow night, your 9 p.m. time slot should be locked up with one of two terrific, highly recommended documentaries (depending on your PBS broadcast market). The first is Soldiers of Conscience, a documentary by Gary Weimberg and Catherine Ryan, which debuts nationally on P.O.V. The film, made with official permission from the U.S. Army, explores the ethical dilemma soldiers face when confronted with the task of killing in war. Four soldiers who all sought conscientious objector status after concluding they could not kill are interviewed. In addition, three more soldiers, all who are willing to kill, balance with their points of view. Major Peter Kilner, a West Point professor of ethics and former 82nd Airborne Infantry Commander, is also interviewed. He says in the film: "When you train them reflexively, they learn to make those decisions much more quickly, but the price of that is they're not thinking through the great moral decision of killing another human being." Check out the trailer:
Also at 9 p.m. tomorrow (again, it all depends on what your local PBS station chooses to air), is Torturing Democracy, a documentary about the U.S. military's treatment and interrogation of prisoners in U.S. custody overseas. The film also investigates the use of the "Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape" (SERE) program on detainees, and how it became the foundation for the torture methods used against them. It was in conjunction with the ACLU's Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, filed in July 2004, for information relating to the treatment of detainees in U.S. custody overseas that some of the first evidence showing SERE in practice against detainees (PDF) came to light. As recently as August of this year, ACLU attorney Jennifer Turner observed Army investigator Angela Birt testify about the use of SERE tactics on prisoners at Guantánamo. So while it's all pretty heavy stuff, both documentaries are fascinating. Grab some popcorn, sit back, and get ready to be schooled. Tags: constitutionvoter, rca
Constitution News The media coverage of the presidential campaign has devolved into daily obsessions with the latest gaffes and attack ads. The debates are stale stump speeches where our founding document is largely ignored. Watching it unfold, it's easy to forget the candidates are competing to take an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution. (If they can dig it out of Cheney's paper shredder.) The candidates have one more chance to take on torture, wiretapping, or voting rights at tonight's last presidential debate. The latest Civil Discourse strip takes place in an alternate universe—one where Civil Liberties trump sound bytes and the "Constitution Debate" is moderated by a certain friend of the ACLU.
Gitmo Hold 'EmA day after a federal district judge in Washington ordered the government to release a group of 17 Chinese Muslims held at Guantánamo Bay, a federal appeals court blocked their release to the U.S. The three-judge panel granted a government request for more time to argue against the release of the Uighurs, despite the fact that the government has already deemed the men as "no longer enemy combatants" (which is Bush-speak for "innocent." That's right: innocent). Also documents obtained by Yale's Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic and the ACLU through the Freedom of Information Act, disclosed this week the government's extension of standard operating procedures developed for Guantánamo to individuals labeled "enemy combatants" being held in the U.S. for years without charge. These measures include the use of prolonged isolation, painful stress position, extreme sensory deprivation, and threats of violence and death in an attempt to create a miniature Guantánamo at home. Valtin frames both issues within the context of the Supreme Court decision preserving the right of men held at Guantánamo Bay to pursue habeas challenges to their detention. He writes: It's hard to believe the DC court thought it had any leg to stand on, given that the Supreme Court last June ruled unconstitutional the provision of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 that suspended the use of habeas corpus by detainees in Bush's "war on terror." Passage of the MCA is one of the great shames of this nation…Repeal of this law should be one of the first priorities of the next Congress. The new ACLU documents, revealing how torture treatment abroad migrated to the United States, and then its use on U.S. citizens, demonstrate how slippery is the slope that leads from so-called national security exigency to the destruction of basic domestic civil liberties.It is clear that our lame duck president and his cronies won't go down quietly (White House press secretary Dana Perino stated that the administration was "deeply concerned by, and strongly disagrees with" the release of the Uighurs which "if allowed to stand, could be used as precedent for other detainees held at Guantánamo Bay"). This administration's detention policies are a failure, they don't keep us safe or free, and have denigrated the U.S. in the eyes of the world. We are hopeful that the next administration won't continue these wrongheaded policies and will help restore our country to the defender of human rights we once used to be.
Young Americans Talk About the ConstitutionDo college-age kids care about the Constitution? Do they even know about it? See what some University of Mississippi students have to say about our nation’s founding document. They speak angst and hope, knowing their future depends on defending what the Constitution stands for.
Join us in speaking up, and pledge to vote your values. Join these students in telling the candidates, loud and clear: "You can’t ignore the Constitution."
TPM Talks TortureTo say we at the ACLU are fans of Jane Mayer's work would be an understatement. And clearly we're not the only ones. This week at TPM's Book Club, an impressive panel of writers and bloggers will discuss Mayer's new book, The Dark Side: The Inside Story Of How The War On Terror Turned Into A War On American Ideals. Panelists are journalist Christopher Hitchens (who knows a little something about torture), attorney and Harpers contributor Scott Horton; Slate senior editor Emily Bazelon; Attackerman blogger Spencer Ackerman; and attorney, professor and Balkinization blogger Marty Lederman. Mayer kicks off the discussion with a doozy, noting that torture hasn't come up during the presidential campaign: ...Understandably, this is a toxic subject, reeking of political payback. But I have personally interviewed CIA officers who have said they refused to partake in the "enhanced interrogation" program because they feared that eventually it would lead to criminal charges. They had seen this happen before, and wanted nothing to do with it, even if it meant in some instances, leaving the CIA. The threat of prosecution clearly acted as a deterrent. My question is what happens if there is no accountability for America's first program of state-authorized torture? Does it send a green light to torture again when the next attack takes place? Is it an invitation to other forms of lawlessness by the U.S. Government? But, if top officials of the Bush Administration who were acting in what they believed to be the best interests of the country's security, are now prosecuted, is that just? Will the public support it?We're curious about this too, and one of the reasons we launched our Constitution Voter campaign: to push issues like torture and "enhanced interrogation techniques" to the forefront of this election. Join us by signing the pledge; let the candidates know we care about these issues and want to hear how they would address them. What's the plan to close Guantánamo? Will they bring those who authorized the torture of detainees in U.S. custody to justice? Will they ban the use of torture and rendition without exception? Tell the candidates to address these issues now, while they still need our votes and support. Ask them the hard questions, and let them know they can't ignore the Constitution. Tags: constitutionvoter
The Faces of Constitution VotersAre you a Constitution Voter? We were in Mississippi last Friday for the first presidential debate, and found the Ole Miss campus crawling with students who care about the Constitution. Many of them pledged to vote based on how well they think candidates will uphold the Constitution. See the faces and voices from the University of Mississippi and then sign the pledge yourself. Go to /constitutionvoter. Don't forget, we'll be sending these pledges to the presidential candidates in October. Let's show them how much American voters care about the Constitution, and tell them to address the issues we care about, like torture, warrantless spying and closing Guantánamo. Join these students in telling the candidates, loud and clear: "You can’t ignore the Constitution."
Ready, Set, Debate!
As we were told by the lovely family who's housing us in Oxford, tonight will be a combination of debate-watching and tailgating. Issue alley is situated in the Grove, what seems to be the nerve center of the Ole Miss campus, where a lot of tailgating goes down during football season. Lots of locals and students have been setting up their lawn chairs and digging in for tonight's big event. The debate will happen in the Ford Center. Last night we walked around campus and saw the ginormous media tent, a.k.a. the "spin room," where pundits and camera crews will gather for pre- and post-debate coverage. 
We're having a lot of fun telling people about our Constitution Voter campaign, getting lots of signatures to the pledge, and lots of photos. (Check out the entire Flickr set if you don't want to wait for the pix to scroll through.) We're cheered to see how most people want to hear the candidates talk about the Constitution in this campaign, so we're hoping for some meaty, substantive questions about the Constitution in this and following debates. Protecting the Constitution is something that all voters can get behind. Our intrepid Multimedia Producer Joel Engardio is talking to Ole Miss students about the election, so stay tuned for video from today. For a taste, check out our Constitution Day video on YouTube!
We're at the Debates!
The ACLU is in Oxford, Miss., today for the first presidential debate. We've got a table in "Issue Alley" with a bunch of other great groups, like Vote Darfur and the Ole Miss law school's Public Interest Law Foundation. Last night we met Hays Burchfield, who just started Outlaw, a group for LGBT law school students, at the Ole Miss law school. Rock the Vote is busy providing an eclectic array of tunes — the ACLU is nonpartisan, but we're partisan when it comes to music and our favorites so far have been the North Mississippi All-Stars. We've also got a lot of people taking pictures with our Constitution Voter sign, so check out the photo feed if you haven't already. 
We'll be here all day, so if you're in the area, stop by for a visit. We'll take your picture with our Constitution Voter sign and give you a free pocket Constitution. Sounds like a deal, right? |
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