A Black Quill Letter: ACLU Fails Its Supporters!

A BLACK QUILL LETTER: THIS ACLU POSITION IS TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!

CALL THE HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: (202) 225-3951

REACH THE PRESS

THE HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE

IT’S THE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE STUPID!

Dear Friend:

Thank you for your email. I appreciate your taking the time to write and share your concerns, and I am glad to have the opportunity to respond.

I truly appreciate your passion to hold the Administration accountable, and, of course, the ACLU fervently believes, as you do, that Congress should uphold the Constitution. Your choice of action to push for impeachment, however, is not our course of action at this time.

I fully agree with you that the Bush administration has repeatedly overstepped the limits on executive power, shrouded itself in secrecy, eroded our civil liberties and violated the Constitution and its Bill of Rights. The extent of this administration’s contempt for our constitutional freedoms is clear – due in large part to the ACLU’s work exposing its actions through our Freedom of Information Act lawsuits on extraordinary rendition, unlawful detention and the torture and abuse of detainees in U.S. custody; our litigation on issues around warrantless NSA spying, the Patriot Act, and the suppression of free expression and dissent; and our public education and lobbying efforts around violations of human rights and due process rights at Guantánamo Bay, the flawed Military Commissions Act and the restoration of habeas corpus.

It is Congress’ proper role to exercise oversight of the executive branch. The issuance of subpoenas for information about warrantless NSA spying were an important step in the right direction, but we certainly believe—and we will continue to forcefully argue—that Congress needs to do much more. To that end, we launched an ad campaign strongly criticizing the Congressional leadership’s cave-in to the Bush administration. You may view the ad online here: http://action.aclu.org/site/DocServer/BAAAD_ad.pdf?docID=1541.

The ACLU will continue to aggressively fight unconstitutional laws and government actions in the courts and document and publicize constitutional violations and abuses of government power. No other organization is more effective in that arena than ours. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court responded to our unprecedented request to make its secret court orders and legal papers regarding eavesdropping on Americans available to the public by ordering the government to respond. (Our press release is online at http://www.aclu.org/safefree/spying/31356prs20070817.html.) However, given our limited resources and the enormous task of restoring civil liberties where they have been most eroded, the ACLU must focus its staff and resources where we believe that we can realistically make the greatest difference at this time.

Thank you again for writing and for your support of the ACLU. Despite what may be a difference of opinion on this strategy, I hope that the ACLU can continue to count on your support and your inspiring passion, especially at this critical time for civil liberties.

Sincerely,
Joel Stedman
ACLU Correspondence