Bill of Rights Defense Campaign

BILL OF RIGHTS Defense Committee - Working with communities to uphold the Bill of RightsWe the People
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Dissent Is Patriotic

The Bill of Rights Defense Committee's e-mail newsletter

April 2008, Vol. 7, No. 3

In this issue:

Your Gift to BORDC Gets a Major Boost!

Your support of BORDC's work to restore civil liberties will go twice as far with the help of the $40,000 challenge grant BORDC received from the Open Society Institute. Help us take advantage of this generous offer.

BORDC relies on your support. To contribute funds or stock online, click here, or mail a check or money order to:

Bill of Rights Defense Committee
8 Bridge St., Suite A
Northampton, MA 01060

People's Campaign for the Constitution is Launched. Pledge Today!

For the last several months, we at BORDC have been talking with grassroots organizers around the country about how we can restore justice in the face of Congress's failure to adequately address increasing government violations of our Constitution. Through these discussions, BORDC has developed a plan for a new campaign involving the following:

  • Local education and debate about the importance of upholding constitutional guarantees;
  • Collaboration throughout communities and congressional districts across "war on terror" issues to build political power; and
  • A coordinated national campaign of communities holding their legislators accountable to the Constitution and to their constituents' demands, rather than to the power structure in Washington, DC.

BORDC's new website for the campaign includes grassroots networking tools, a pledge form, tell-a-friend capability, and blogging tools for connecting with other organizers, posting your community's progress, and adding your personal touch to the site. BORDC has posted a strategic plan outline and a list of resources provided and to come. We are adding new features to the website each week.

So, pledge your support for the People's Campaign for the Constitution (PCC) today, and encourage your friends to join you. When you pledge, your first name and zip code will appear on a map, so you can see places where other people are pledging to start a local campaign. BORDC will follow up with each person who pledges to help you build a base of support in your community.

To learn more about the campaign, and to receive notes from a series of three teleconference calls about the campaign that BORDC held with grassroots organizers around the country, contact Ben Grosscup.

Outrage Builds as Government Asks Domestic Travelers,"Are You a Citizen?"

Whether you're catching a train or bus on the east coast, or a ferry on the west coast, chances are you may soon be required to answer the question, "Are you a citizen?" US residents from across the political spectrum are outraged at this most recent act of the US government carrying out the practices of repressive regimes.

New York, NY - Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been boarding trains and buses without warning in recent weeks, detaining anyone who is not a US citizen. On April 2, a group called Families for Freedom held a rally at Penn Station demanding that Amtrak and Greyhound apologize and give refunds to families that have been detained after boarding a train or bus. They marched from Penn Station to the Greyhound Bus Terminal at Port Authority demanding that Amtrak and Greyhound stop participating in ICE's trap for immigrants.

Anacortes, WA - Border patrol agents say they're just doing "transportation checks," but local residents call it extortion and coercion. The agents aren't patrolling a US border - they're asking passengers disembarking from the ferry in Anacortes, WA, "Are you a US citizen?" and arresting those who refuse to answer, or answer "No." Both local residents and city officials are exploring how they can challenge this new government harassment.

At a standing-room-only county council meeting in early March, council members Alan Lichter and Howie Rosenfeld expressed outrage that residents have been "disappeared" from the community. At least 25 people have been apprehended since the checkpoints started in late February. According to a newspaper report, the wife of an Orcas Island resident was finally able to locate her husband at the detention center in Tacoma after days of not knowing where he was. She is a documented resident, but her husband doesn't have legal residency. Both have worked on Orcas for several years, and have a baby on the way. His bail has been set at $15,000, prompting residents' charges of "extortion." Community members originally from Germany say these "transportation checks" are reminiscent of what they endured in the 1930s, when Jews, gypsies, and gay people were rounded up and shipped to concentration camps, and they say the citizenship checks have no place in a free society.

The Anacortes ferry does not travel to or from Canada; it travels exclusively within the United States. But the Border Patrol claims a scope of authority within 100 miles of the border, and states it will apprehend anyone who refuses to answer the question, "Are you a citizen?" Local residents are organizing to outlaw these searches in Anacortes and surrounding communities. They are also contacting their congressional representatives for relief. The ACLU of Washington is looking into whether Border Patrol agents are using racial profiling in conducting these citizenship checkpoints.

Friday Harbor, WA - A public forum, "Immigrants: Due Process Under the Law," featuring Matt Adams from the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, will be held on Sunday, April 13, from 2 to 4 pm, at Skagit Valley College in Classrooms A & B. The forum is being sponsored by the San Juan Island Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington and co-sponsored by the Bill of Rights Defense Committee. Contact Roger DeRoos at 360-378-6323 for more information.

Tell Us Your Story:
Please email us to share your experience with non-border related government checkpoints. Let us know these important pieces of information:

  • City or town in which the checkpoint was set up;
  • Government agency involved (Border Patrol, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, local police, etc.) and specific badge insignia/identifying numbers;
  • Date of the incident; and
  • Whether everyone on board was subjected to the same treatment, or if individuals were singled out by race, ethnicity, or other protected group characteristics.

It is important that we document these infringements of our individual rights to travel within the United States by public transportation without being subject to routine harassment.

Legislation

Wiretap Law Update

Now that Congress is back in Washington, DC, following its district work period, expect movement toward resolving the differences between the House- and Senate-passed bills related to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Shortly before its recess, the House passed HR 3773, a substitute for the Senate FISA Amendments Act. Compared to Senate bill S 2248, the House bill contains stronger Fourth Amendment privacy protections and better oversight on executive branch wiretapping and does not grant blanket immunity to the telecommunications companies.

If you have not already done so, please see how your representative voted on HR 3773 and give your feedback to him or her. Find your rep's Washington office telephone number at http://www.house.gov. A vote for HR 3773 was essentially a vote against the Senate/White House bill S 2248. Find talking points for holding Congress accountable for upholding the Fourth Amendment in our 3/18/08 Action Alert.

Bush Vetoes Anti-Torture Bill

On March 8, President Bush vetoed a bill that would have limited the CIA to interrogation techniques permitted in the Army Field Manual, which explicitly forbids torture. The House had passed the bill in December 2007, and the Senate passed it in February 2008. Congress failed to muster the two-thirds majority needed to override the veto. The president's veto is an endorsement of the torture that the CIA has conducted. Congress's failure to override the veto is a disturbing sign of how drastically our country's human rights standards have plummeted.

House aides tell us that the House can still attempt to override Bush's veto if they act before October. It's up to us to build the pressure to convince them to act. Your persistence in contacting your representatives and convincing others to make those calls could make a difference.

BORDC is joining with other human rights groups in conjunction with the distributors of a new Errol Morris film, Standard Operating Procedure, which shows clearly the government's hand in the torture at Abu Ghraib. This coalition of groups will be urging people to gather friends, family and allies to see the film and host house party discussions afterwards. You'll receive information about this in the coming weeks. We see this as an opportunity to continue to press Congress to override the veto and establish clear rules that US personnel must not torture, ever.

Counting Up Grassroots Victories

Grassroots Upsets Violent Radicalization Bill

The work to fully restore Bill of Rights protections may take years, but along the way there are moments to savor grassroots victories over government abuse of power. One of those moments came recently when congressional aides told us that the Senate will not take up the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act in 2008. The grassroots groundswell of outrage against what many have called a "thought crime" bill has shaken the halls of Congress. BORDC learned after recent inquiries to Senate bill (S 1959) sponsor Susan Collins's and Committee Chair Joseph Lieberman's (I-CT) offices that the Senate Homeland Security Committee does not plan to consider the bill in 2008 or to send the bill to the Senate floor for a vote.

The bill (HR 1955) that passed the House of Representatives 404-6 in October was repudiated by individuals and groups across the political spectrum. And this is a victory for all of us!

Carrying signs proclaiming "Thinking is Not a Crime," residents of Maine showed up at Senator Collins's office on February 19 to rally against the Violent Radicalization bill. Scores of blogs and independent media articles skewered the bill. Thousands of Americans wrote to or called their congressional representatives in opposition. Radio programs from the left to the right opined that the bill would continue the scapegoating of Muslims and create another House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) that investigates dissenters to the status quo the same way suspected communists were targeted.

Representative Jane Harman (D-CA), who sponsored the House version (HR 1955), was apparently convinced when she proposed this bill that it was necessary in the fight against terrorism. She said, "The threat of a 'Made in the USA' suicide bomber has never been greater. This bill, though not a silver bullet, will help develop a better understanding of the root causes of homegrown terrorism, and the steps we can take to stop it. We must intervene before a person crosses the line separating radical views from violent behavior, create an environment that discourages disillusionment and alienation, and instill in young people a sense of belonging and faith in the future." But Representative Harman apparently did not realize that activists in the US, whether on the right or left, do not see the greatest threat coming from "homegrown terrorism." Indeed, the greatest threats in the past 6 plus years have come from our own government, as it is our own government whose policies have inflamed terrorism around the world.

April Hearings on FBI National Security Letter Abuses

When the FISA court refused an FBI request for personal records because it believed the target's activities were protected by the First Amendment, the FBI obtained the information using a National Security Letter (NSL), which requires no court oversight. That is just one of the hundreds of abuses revealed in the second annual audit of FBI NSL usage by Department of Justice Inspector General Glenn Fine.

Congress added the requirement for annual, internal audits when it reauthorized the USA PATRIOT Act in March 2006. The passage of 400 local and statewide civil liberties resolutions is credited with Congress's move to add oversight to this power. Both the House and Senate Judiciary Committees are planning hearings on NSLs this month. We at BORDC will inform you of opportunities to roll back this power in order to protect against further abuses.

REAL ID Revolt

In the showdown between the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and a handful of states ready to defy REAL ID, the grassroots has won - for now. DHS originally set a deadline of March 31 for states to register to implement REAL ID, or to apply for extensions. Though several states have said they will not comply with REAL ID, DHS granted extensions anyway, meaning the showdown is now postponed until December 31, 2009. Previously, DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff threatened that residents of states refusing REAL ID would not be allowed to board airplanes without a passport. In a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on April 2, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) criticized DHS for insisting on implementing a program that has been widely rejected throughout the US. "Bullying the states is not the answer," he said, "nor is threatening their residents' right to travel. From Maine to Montana, states have said no."

Grassroots organizing to resist the national identification system has resulted in at least five states bucking the federal government - Idaho, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, Oklahoma and South Carolina. Maine was the last state to get a federal extension, because it is one of six states that do not require proof of citizenship to obtain a driver's license.

On April 1, Idaho's legislature passed a bill rejecting REAL ID driver's licenses. Lawmakers are concerned about the cost of the program and potential for invasion of privacy. The bill now goes to Governor Butch Otter for signature.

Montana, New Hampshire, Oklahoma and South Carolina also refused to comply with REAL ID, but DHS has offered those states extensions until 2010, even though each of those states wrote letters stating their refusal to accept REAL ID.

Last year, the following 17 states rejected REAL ID in their legislative sessions: the six states named above, and Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Hawai'i, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Tennessee, and Washington.

Grassroots News

Fighting Rendition at Home

Palo Alto and San Jose, CA - Peninsula Peace and Justice and the South Bay Coalition to Stop Torture continue their work to raise public awareness of the monster in their midst - Jeppesen Dataplan, a company that allegedly files flight plans for extraordinary rendition flights around the world. Meanwhile, on Friday, March 21, the ACLU filed an appeal to a judge's dismissal of a lawsuit brought on behalf of five men who were captured and tortured in overseas prisons operated by the CIA. The ACLU brought the lawsuit against Jeppesen, accusing the company of knowingly participating in the program that kidnaps people suspected of terrorism. Binyam Mohamed, who is held at Guantánamo and is a subject of Clive Stafford Smith's book, Eight O'Clock Ferry to the Windward Side, is one of the litigants. Assuming government infallibility and denying a court process for captured individuals can result in a situation like the one of German car salesman Khaled El-Masri, whose life has been shattered since his 2003 kidnapping and torture at the hands of the US government.

Grassroots Patriots Day

Boise, ID - It was a successful grassroots effort that recently stopped REAL ID in Idaho. The state legislature passed a bill refusing to implement the federal identification program. Terry Shepard, also known as "Boise Ben," who often dresses as Benjamin Franklin to speak about constitutional issues, joined with Ron Paul supporters to urge their representatives to stop the federal government from imposing the standardized identification system on Idaho.

Two years ago, Terry and other Boise Patriots convinced the state to pass a bill celebrating Patriots Day on April 19, commemorating the first US battles to fight for liberty and individual rights. "Boise Ben" is working with the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution to plan this year's ceremony in Boise.

Justice for Sami Al-Arian

Raleigh, NC - On March 15 and 16 activists in Raleigh, NC, held vigils in support of Dr. Sami Al-Arian, a jailed Palestinian professor who remains imprisoned despite a jury's having acquitted him of terrorism charges in a government prosecution based entirely on First Amendment-protected activities. Demonstrators dressed in orange prison garb held vigils at the Federal Building and at the Butner Federal Medical Center where Al-Arian was being held. Al-Arian has been a political prisoner since February 20, 2003. Find more information about his case here.

Organizing on the Farm and in Small Towns

Hood River, OR - Rural Oregonians will gather in Hood River on April 26 for the annual Rural Organizing Project (ROP) Caucus and Strategy Session. According to ROP Director Marcy Westerling, rural activists will discuss "next steps in Dismantling the War at Home and Abroad including voter education and mobilization for elections 2008, and ongoing training and resources to strengthen the local capacity of our human dignity groups." ROP's focus in 2008 is addressing how current US policies violate the Constitution. One caucus session will feature a discussion of the BORDC's People's Campaign for the Constitution. For more information on the ROP Caucus click here.

BORDC to Present People's Campaign for the Constitution at Regional Strategy Conference

Boston, MA - BORDC will present the People's Campaign for the Constitution as a strategy proposal at the regional conference of New England United on April 24-25 in Boston, MA. The conference includes both educational workshops and a series of strategy sessions to discuss and adopt united actions that can be taken regionally in New England. Find more information on the conference here.

Book and Film Reviews

Book Review - You Have No Rights: Stories of America in an Age of Repression

Matthew Rothschild's book is a collection of 82 stories of people whose freedoms, lives and careers have been touched, altered, or destroyed in the wake of the September 11th attacks.

The book's first chapter, "The Edifice of Repression," lays out the changes in laws and policies that have brought about the current era. Many stories will be familiar to those who have followed The Progressive's "McCarthyism Watch" series, which Rothschild, the magazine's editor, began in 2002. The stories reveal patterns of abuse that have become commonplace since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, including violations of First Amendment rights, privacy rights, due process, and basic human rights. Demonstrating how rights violations have gone beyond federal policy, Rothschild includes stories involving school administrators and local governments, as well as repression on campuses, in malls, and in workplaces. The broad picture reminds us how deeply our society has been affected. The New Press, 2007.

Book Review - The Terror Dream

In 2003, an American soldier, Jessica Lynch, was wounded in battle in Iraq. Initially, her story was manipulated by the US government to demonize Iraqis and dramatize American heroism. The government story of a Black Hawk helicopter rescue paints a classic picture of a heroic male and a damsel in distress. The "rescue" was unnecessary, however, and the story of heroism was false.

In her 2007 book, The Terror Dream, Susan Faludi takes us back to the earliest days of American colonialism to underline similarities with the terror wars of today. She reveals undercurrents of a strategy in use since that time: The government whips up fear of an enemy from whose clutches, it says, we must rescue helpless women. Both the enemy and the helpless woman are false constructs, built to support unbridled power. It's that unbridled power that has been used in recent years to undermine the Constitution, start pre-emptive wars, indefinitely imprison and torture Arab and Muslim men, and spy on all of us through wiretapping and email interception.

Faludi writes, "...first we conquered, then we made up a fiction of defiled womanhood to rationalize it." It's a striking comparison to the so-called Global War on Terror where government-generated fear of Islam and Muslims is used to justify conquering countries rich in oil resources. Metropolitan Books, 2007.

Film Review - Washington, You're Fired!

This video calls Americans to challenge government erosions of constitutional protections. The documentary, written, produced and directed by William Lewis, and co-written and produced by Keith Abel, includes interviews with constitutional lawyer Jonathan Turley and many others. Each video segment begins with the effects on constitutional rights of new laws and policies such as the USA PATRIOT Act, the REAL ID Act, the Military Commissions Act, and the NSA wiretapping program, and concludes with action steps and images of Americans taking action. The video urges viewers to log on to bordc.org and pass a local resolution to defend the Bill of Rights. The video's message is clear: If you want your constitutional rights, organize. Bridge Stone Media Group, 2008. (Note: The video says that the Maine legislature passed the first statewide resolution, but actually, Maine's resolution was the fourth. Hawai'i's was the first.)

Editor: Nancy Talanian, Director
Managing Editor: Barbara Haugen, Administrator
Contributing Writers:
Hope Marston, West Region Organizer
Ben Grosscup, East Region Organizer

Bill of Rights Defense Committee
8 Bridge St., Suite A
Northampton, MA 01060

Web: www.bordc.org/
Email: info@bordc.org
Telephone: 413-582-0110
Fax: 413-582-0116