Community Resolution for Carlisle, MA

A Resolution to Protect the Civil Liberties of Carlisle Citizens

To determine whether the Town of Carlisle wishes to take action to defend the civil liberties of its residents and all others within its boundaries by agreeing to the following resolution:

WHEREAS:

1. The Citizens of Carlisle, through its town meeting, hereby reaffirm the fundamental and unalienable civil liberties secured by the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the U.S. Constitution for all people within the Town, including the rights to freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures, and due process of law;
2. Provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act (“”the Act””) and associated federal executive orders are assaults on these long-cherished civil liberties; and
3. As a great Massachusetts-born patriot, Benjamin Franklin, so well stated, “”They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.””

THEREFORE, be it resolved that:

1. The Town of Carlisle urges its elected representatives in the U.S. House and Senate to monitor the implementation of the Act and related executive orders, and to actively work for the repeal of those portions of the Act that violate civil liberties as guaranteed by the Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution, particularly the rights to freedom of speech and assembly, due process of law, freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures, whether such searches and seizures take place in homes, libraries, schools, or elsewhere, and the right to counsel and to confront accusers;
2. The Town Meeting requests the Board of Selectmen, acting through the Town Administrator, to instruct the employees of the Town of Carlisle and its schools to act in a manner scrupulously consistent with the civil liberties guaranteed by the Constitutions of the United States and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, to the extent legally permissible.
3. The Town Administrator is requested, to the extent legally permissible, report annually to the Town Meeting any information in the Town’s possession about the manner in which the PATRIOT Act is being implemented in the Town, such as by disclosing the names and whereabouts of any Town resident(s) detained pursuant to the Act;
4. The Town Clerk and Board of Selectmen is requested to arrange to post and publish this resolution prominently and to send a copy of it to all Town departments, the Middlesex County District Attorney, the Massachusetts State Police, the Massachusetts General Court, the Attorney General and Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the United States Attorney for Massachusetts, the United States Attorney General, our elected representatives in Congress, and the President of the United States, for their action thereon.