National Gathering to Focus on Continuing Overreach of Bush Administration
WASHINGTON -- During a gathering of more than 1,500 civil libertarians, the
American Civil Liberties Union today continued its charge to end the Bush
administration’s unprecedented abuse of power. Citing a variety of
examples, the organization fielded high-charged panels of experts all united in
calling for the return to fundamental Constitutional principles and the rule of
law.
“The ongoing abuses of power that we have seen by the current
administration must stop,” said Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the
ACLU. “The America we hold in our hearts and our minds is one of fairness,
justice and the rule of law; all principles that we have seen this
administration betray time and again.”
The ACLU membership conference,
currently being held in the nation’s capital brings together more than 1,500
card-carrying members of the civil liberties union for an unprecedented
gathering of experts on the government’s abuse of power. They are joined
by many of the individuals who have courageously stood up in protest.
Today’s
opening plenary titled “Abuse of Power – Government Intrusion into Private
Matters” features Cecelia Fire Thunder, the former President of the Oglala Sioux
Tribe who lost her position for considering opening a Planned Parenthood branch
on her reservation, Reverend James Lawson who is a member of the ACLU National
Advisory Council and longstanding civil rights activist and Vic Walczak of the
ACLU of Pennsylvania and his clients Barrie and Fred Callahan, Beth Eveland,
Tammy Kitzmiller, Bryan Rehm, Christie Rehm, Cynthia M. Sneath and Steven Stough
who challenged their school board’s attempt to teach intelligent design as
science in public school classrooms. The session will be moderated by Rob
Remar of the ACLU National Board.
“It is the courage of ordinary
people coupled with a vibrant and unwavering commitment to the rule of law that
makes America so strong,” said Steven R. Shapiro, ACLU Legal Director.
“Repeatedly we have seen this government betray these principles by spying on
Americans exercising their First Amendment rights, holding hundreds
incommunicado without charging them for any crimes and tapping into the
conversations of ordinary people without ever getting a warrant from a
judge.”
High-powered political leaders and newsmakers will continue
the conversation throughout the day and into tomorrow when the lunchtime plenary
will highlight “Abuse of Power -- Law, American Values and the National
Interest.” This session, moderated by Jackie Northam of NPR, will feature
John Dean, former counsel to the Nixon White House, Alberto Mora, the former
general counsel of the U.S. Navy, Steven R. Shapiro, the ACLU Legal Director and
Katrina vanden Heuvel, the publisher and editor of The Nation.
ACLU leaders
are available for comment during the duration of the conference, including on
Tuesday, when President Bush is expected to sign the Military Commissions Act
into law. The ACLU has been vocal in its opposition to the act, noting its
failure to protect due process, elimination of habeas corpus for many detainees,
undermining of enforcement of the Geneva Conventions, and granting of a "get out
of jail free card" to senior officials who authorized or ordered illegal torture
and abuse.
Founded in 1920, the ACLU is the nation’s premier guardian of
liberty, working daily in courts, legislatures and communities to defend and
preserve the individual rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution and
the laws of the United States.
More information is available at
www.aclu.org/conference.