Today’s Constitution Day. On this day in 1787, 39 delegates signed the U.S. Constitution. (We think this is just as deserving of huge fireworks displays and parades that the Fourth of July gets, and it even has cooler weather. But we digress.) Today’s a big deal for us civil liberties types.
So if you do one thing to celebrate the Constitution today, how ’bout reading that great document? If you’re short on time, how about just the Bill of Rights? (If you’ve got 25 minutes or so, I would highly recommend Glenn Greenwald’s podcast interview with ACLU Washington Legislative Director Caroline Fredrickson, who gives a great rundown of our “I’m a Constitution Voter” campaign.)
Today we’ll be holding a mini-symposium, with ACLU staff writing about what they think are the most pressing constitutional issues right now, and what we hope the next president will address on his first day in office. We’re also excited to welcome guest blogger Senator Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) to the ACLU’s Blog of Rights. Sen. Feingold, as we all know, is one of the hugest defenders of civil liberties in the Senate. While many of his colleagues were crumbling around him, Sen. Feingold stood strong against the FISA Amendments Act. For that, the ACLU, and many civil libertarians, are eternally grateful. Stay tuned for his post!
To kick it off, ACLU Multimedia Producer Joel Engardio produced this fun Constitution Day video:
If you get an error message while attempting to view this clip, please reload the page or press F5.
Please note that by playing this clip You Tube and Google will place a long-term cookie on your computer. Please see You Tube’s privacy statement on their website and Google’s privacy statement on theirs to learn more. To view the ACLU’s privacy statement, click here.
Our “I’m a Constitution Voter” campaign will show the candidates how much American citizens care about the Constitution. So if you haven’t already, please sign our pledge. (Would you sign if we told you there’s a free bumper sticker in it for you? ‘Cause there is!). We’ll deliver the pledges to the McCain and Obama campaigns next month—let’s show them how much we care about our civil liberties. Let’s make the Constitution a front-and-center issue now, while the candidates need our votes.
And Happy Constitution Day!
