ACLU Leader Calls on President to Uphold Constitutional Principles in Second Term

Anthony D. Romero Asks Obama to Fulfill His Promise to Close Guantanamo, Ensure Safe and Legal Abortions and Reform Immigration Policies

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NEW YORK – Now that President Obama has won another term, the head of the American Civil Liberties Union said this morning that the time had come for the president to reaffirm his commitment to civil liberties and core constitutional principles.

Anthony D. Romero, ACLU executive director, said addressing such issues as closing the Guantanamo Bay prison, ensuring access to abortion and reforming immigration enforcement would be important cornerstones in the president’s legacy.

“We congratulate President Obama on his re-election. This is his opportunity to reaffirm our constitutional principles and the fundamental American values of due process, respect for the rule of law and individual freedom. It is a time to once again be a nation where we can be both safe and free. We urge President Obama to end warrantless surveillance, extra-judicial killings by drones, indefinite detention and other un-American practices that have become official government policy.

Now is the time to make good the promise he made four years ago to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay. Closer to home, the president needs to end his administration’s discriminatory deportation policies, which foster racial profiling and do nothing to improve public safety, and remove the many dangerous abortion restrictions from the federal budget so that the right to a safe and legal abortion remains accessible to all women. With four more years in front of him and the history of his presidency yet to be written, President Obama has the opportunity to put us back on the right track.”