This month, Liz Cheney's political advocacy group "Keep America Safe" released a video questioning the loyalty of lawyers at the Justice Department who formerly represented or filed friend-of-the-court briefs supporting detained terrorism suspects. The video led to further attacks on those lawyers and other attorneys who have represented terrorism suspects.
These recent attacks are unfounded and dangerous, and they have rightly been condemned by individuals across the political spectrum, including a prominent group of conservative legal scholars. Attorneys who stand up for the rule of law by representing unpopular individuals, including those accused of terrible crimes, act in a long and venerated American tradition. They should be praised for defending our Constitution, not slandered. It is wrong and destructive to our democracy to attribute nefarious motives to attorneys because of the accusations against their clients.
The ACLU continues to fight to ensure that the U.S. upholds the rule of law, due process and American values in all cases, including those involving terrorism. Through its John Adams Project, the ACLU, in partnership with the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, provided expert civilian attorneys to work with military lawyers in their representation of the five Guantánamo detainees accused in the 9/11 cases. In 2005, the ACLU presented the military lawyers with its Medal of Liberty for their work challenging the constitutionality of the military commission system. The ACLU is proud of its association with these civilian and military lawyers, and strongly supports members of the legal profession who defend the Constitution by representing unpopular clients.