Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Former Government Officials and ACLU Clients Are Among Featured Speakers
WASHINGTON - More than
1,500 “card-carrying” members of the American Civil Liberties Union converged on
the nation's capital today for the organization’s third membership conference,
an event the ACLU called a rallying point for activists to mobilize in support
of civil liberties at a time when the administration has asserted unchecked
powers in the name of national security.
“This is our democracy, our
America, and we are here in Washington to reclaim it,” said ACLU Executive
Director Anthony D. Romero. “The hallmark of the past five years has been
the administration’s stunning dismissal of the rule of law and its willingness
to trample on our Constitution. It’s time to stand up against these abuses
of power.”
The membership conference opens with two provocative
“conversations” about civil liberties: the first between Supreme Court Justice
Antonin Scalia and ACLU President Nadine Strossen, moderated by NBC News
correspondent Pete Williams, and the second between MSNBC political commentator
Tucker Carlson and Rachel Maddow of Air America, moderated by the ACLU’s Romero.
“The national conversation about civil liberties cannot be one-sided, and
our membership conference is the ideal forum in which to hear from all
viewpoints,” said ACLU President Nadine Strossen. “The ACLU has been
engaged in this conversation since our founding in 1920 and we will always be
there -- with our members -- to advocate aggressively for our fundamental
freedoms.”
During the conference, ACLU members will meet with and hear from
many top political leaders and newsmakers, including Donna Brazile, Joe Wilson,
John Dean, Alberto Mora, Cecelia Fire Thunder and Mary Beth Tinker. The
conference will also feature performances by legendary recording artist Deborah
Harry; reggae artist Maxi Priest; and comedians Jim Morris and Greg
Proops.
Conference events begin this afternoon and run through Tuesday. Many
of the plenary sessions will be webcast live at www.aclu.org. The session with Justice
Scalia, which is the first plenary at 5:00 p.m. EDT today, will be carried live
on C-SPAN-1. This will be the first time that an ACLU-sponsored event with
Justice Scalia has been televised.
The full agenda is online at www.aclu.org/conference.
Highlights include:
• Slam for Civil Liberties by spoken-word
artists Steve Connell and Sekou (tha misfit), who will present a specially
commissioned piece on government abuse of power, with the all-female hip-hop
troupe Decadancetheater. (October 15, 9:00 p.m.)
• Torture, Secrecy and
Surveillance: Holding Government Accountable, with Anthony D. Romero, former
Ambassador Joe Wilson, and ACLU clients who have challenged the administration’s
national security policies. (October 16, 12:30 p.m.)
• ACLU Gala Tribute
to Civil Libertarians honoring philanthropist Peter Lewis and veteran ACLU
members, with performances by Deborah Harry, Philip Glass and Maxi Priest.
(October 16, 7:00 p.m.)
• Abuse of Power: Law, American Values and the
National Interest with John Dean, former Nixon White House Counsel; Alberto
Mora, former General Counsel of the Navy; Katrina vanden Heuvel of The Nation
and ACLU Legal Director Steven R. Shapiro, moderated by NPR’s Jackie Northam.
(October 17, 1:00-2:30 p.m.)
• A multi-media Action Center to mobilize
members on a wide range of civil liberties issues, including the
administration's ongoing abuse of power, the First Amendment and racial justice.
• Youth Stand Up for Freedom featuring young ACLU clients and
presentation of the Tinker Award by Mary Beth Tinker, an ACLU plaintiff in a
landmark Vietnam-Era student free speech case (October 17, 2:45
p.m.)
• Hill Visits: ACLU activists will converge on Capitol Hill to
lobby their federal lawmakers to protect the fundamental rights and freedoms of
all Americans (October 17, 9:30-12:00 p.m.)
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.
Headquartered in New
York City, the ACLU has 53 staffed affiliates in major cities, more than 300
chapters nationwide, and a legislative office in Washington. Anthony D.
Romero has been Executive Director of the national ACLU since 2001; Nadine
Strossen was elected president of the National Board in 1991.