Dissent Is Patriotic
The Bill of Rights Defense Committee's email newsletter
December 2009, Vol. 8, No. 12
In this issue:
- This Bill of Rights Day, Show Your Support for BORDC
- BORDC News: BORDC Leads Coalition of 30 Organizations Calling for Release of Torture Photos; New Members Join BORDC’s Board of Directors and Advisory Board; Board President Speaks at Stanford
- People’s Campaign for the Constitution News: Start a Local Campaign; Get Involved in the People’s Campaign for the Constitution; Read the Latest News and Analysis on Our Blog
- Law and Policy: Supreme Court Joins DC Consensus Allowing Defense Department to Hide Evidence of Crime; "Black Jails" Remain Open Despite Obama’s Promises; Supreme Court Will Hear PATRIOT Act Challenge
- Grassroots News: Georgia Fights Back Against 287(g) Local Immigration Enforcement; California Activists Call for Prosecution of Bybee and Yoo; Alaskans Celebrate Bill of Rights Day; Condoleezza Rice Faces Protests in Minneapolis; Fast and Vigil to Shut Down Guantánamo
- New Resources: Support BORDC in YouTube’s Video Volunteers Contest
Please support BORDC's work to defend the Bill of Rights! Contribute funds or stock online, or mail a check or money order to:
Bill of Rights Defense Committee
8 Bridge St., Suite A
Northampton, MA 01060
Get involved! Learn how you can help BORDC restore the rule of law.
This Bill of Rights Day, Show Your Support for BORDC
Today, December 15, is Bill of Rights Day. It was 218 years ago today that the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution went into effect, after being ratified by three-fourths of the states. Much has changed in the United States since 1791, but the Bill of Rights remains a vital reflection of American values shared across our society.
Unfortunately, the Bill of Rights has suffered in recent years. Government infiltration of law abiding activist groups, along with intrusive surveillance and crowd control measures, have dramatically chilled and discouraged free speech and assembly. Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures have fallen to rampant racial and religious profiling, warrantless wiretapping, and pervasive domestic intelligence collection, dissemination, and analysis. Due process rights, and even the fundamental right of habeas corpus, have been violated by indefinite detention without access to counsel or trial. The unfortunate list goes on.
The Bill of Rights Defense Committee is organizing resistance to these violations of our constitutional rights and liberties, to ensure that they and the rule of law are restored. We have launched efforts around the country to enact legislation restoring protections that the federal government has undermined. We have built national networks of professionals that offer opportunities for individuals who care about civil liberties to join others with similar interests and raise their voices together. We have led coalitions of organizations in calling on the President to fulfill his campaign promise for transparency, and we have organized letters on behalf of thousands of Americans calling for executive accountability for torture. And we have employed social networks and new technologies to reach out to underserved constituencies and reinvigorate the grassroots movement to restore constitutional rights and liberties.
However, none of our work is possible without your support. BORDC operates on a shoestring budget, and we rely on the generosity of proud Americans like you who believe in the civic responsibility to defend our Constitution in times of crisis. This Bill of Rights Day, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to BORDC to support us in our efforts to restore the rule of law. Thanks to a generous grant, 50 percent of your contribution will be matched—so even the smallest contribution can make a real difference.
Thank you for your continued support. It is crucial to enabling our continuing efforts to bring America back to our founding principles.
BORDC News
BORDC Leads Coalition of 30 Organizations Calling for Release of Torture Photos
On November 24, a coalition of 30 national and regional organizations representing a diverse array of interests wrote to President Barack Obama. Seeking the transparency he has repeatedly promised, and the accountability for potential crimes required by international law, the coalition urged the administration to reconsider its refusal to disclose evidence of torture.
Specifically, the coalition’s letter requests that President Obama direct the Department of Defense to comply with court orders mandating disclosure of photos documenting detainee abuse, rather than exercise an authority recently granted by Congress to keep them secret. It also “explain[s] why transparency and robust accountability are a strategic national security imperative, and…expose[s] the self-interest of voices counseling against accountability.”
Organizations endorsing the letter—which prompted some third-party media coverage—represent a wide range of interests, including those of civil liberties supporters, marginalized communities, the peace and justice movement, religious and interfaith communities, medical professionals, and more. Initiated by the Bill of Rights Defense Committee (BORDC), the coalition also includes the Alliance for Justice, American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Center for Constitutional Rights, Coalition for an Ethical Psychology, Code Pink: Women for Peace, Progressive Christians Uniting, Veterans For Peace, and Witness Against Torture.
New Members Join BORDC’s Board of Directors and Advisory Board
BORDC is pleased to announce an expansion of our board of directors. This month, we welcome three new members: Lisa Graves and Gladys Limon, both of whom previously served on our advisory board, and Joan Mandell.
Lisa Graves is the executive director of the Center for Media and Democracy. She previously served as a senior advisor in all three branches of the federal government, as a leading strategist on civil liberties advocacy, and as an adjunct professor at George Washington University Law School.
Gladys Limon is the staff attorney at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF). As a recipient of the Fried Frank Fellowship, she spent two years as a litigation associate at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver, and Jacobsen LLP in New York before joining MALDEF. Gladys received her J.D. from Stanford Law School in 2003 and was a law clerk to the Hon. Lawrence K. Karlton in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California (2003-2005).
Joan Mandell is a documentary filmmaker, educator and activist based in Detroit, MI, where she directs Olive Branch Productions. Her ground-breaking documentaries include Tales from Arab Detroit,Voices in Exile: Immigrants and the First Amendment, Gaza Ghetto (about the impact of war and military occupation on family life)and One Million Postcards (about how children can become involved in grassroots organizing and activism).
In addition, Kit Gage, who has served on BORDC’s board of directors since 2004, has been appointed treasurer.
Finally, we also welcome Aziz Huq to our advisory board. Professor Huq teaches at the University of Chicago Law School, and formerly served as deputy director of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School, and as a clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. He is also a prominent litigator and author, with Fritz Schwartz, of Unchecked and Unbalanced: Presidential Power in a Time of Terror.
Board President Speaks at Stanford
Chip Pitts, president of BORDC’s board of directors, recently spoke at the Stanford International Law Society. Audio of his speech, “The PATRIOT Act, Warrantless Surveillance, and Detention,” is available online.
People’s Campaign for the Constitution News
Start a Local Ordinance Campaign
This October, BORDC released two pieces of model legislation designed to encourage national policy changes through action at the local level. One ordinance limits domestic surveillance, immigration enforcement, and racial and religious profiling by local law enforcement authorities—combining several functional limits on local police in an effort to enable broad coalitions. BORDC’s second ordinance offers an opportunity for cities and towns to seek executive accountability for torture.
The ordinances, which author and blogger David Swanson described as “powerful tools for restoring the rule of law and defending our civil rights,” provide concrete targets around which supporters of the Constitution can organize locally. BORDC’s ordinance toolkit offers resources and guidance to help you start your local ordinance effort.
Activists across the country have started work on campaigns to introduce and enact these ordinances, and Kurt Daims has volunteered to serve as coordinator of our local legislative efforts supporting accountability. We’ve held a conference call for organizers working on passing the ordinances in their communities, and are planning coordinated actions at the end of this month to take place in Berkeley, CA; Oakland, CA; Minneapolis, MN; Jackson, WY; and Brattleboro, VT.
Email Emma to participate in an existing action, or plan your own in your city or town.
Get Involved in the People’s Campaign for the Constitution
Volunteer Your Skills for the PCC
The PCC is currently seeking volunteer bloggers and researchers. Several have already begun to contribute weekly posts to the PCC blog, but a few volunteer slots remain. We also seek volunteers to help with a variety of research projects. If you are interested in taking on a volunteer project to pursue from home at your convenience, please sign up to lend your time.
Join an Affinity Network
The PCC has organized networks of legal professionals and educators from across the country. We are also developing groups for health professionals, clergy and lay religious leaders of all faiths, graphic and web designers, software engineers, and English language learners. If interested in raising your voice with others around the country who share your background, browse our full list of groups and opportunities and contact Emma if you'd like to get involved.
Update the PCC About Your Local Activities
Please send information about your actions and events to Emma, our grassroots campaign coordinator, to help inform and inspire others. We’ll publicize your efforts in our next newsletter.
Read the Latest News and Analaysis on Our Blog
Recent highlights from the People’s Campaign for the Constitution blog:
- What does the government know about you?
- First they came for the… (a post on the firing of former Guantánamo prosecutor Colonel Morris Davis)
- Obama’s Duplicity
- The Right to Privacy: A Global Issue
Law and Policy
Supreme Court Joins DC Consensus Allowing Defense Department to Hide Evidence of Crime
Despite public calls for increased transparency, the Supreme Court has ruled to allow the Obama administration to continue hiding photos depicting detainee torture. In a November 30 ruling in Department of Defense v. ACLU, the Court issued a ruling that reinforced executive secrecy in the context of covering up evidence of potential war crimes.
Authorized by an act of a complacent Congress, the Defense Department recently opted to withhold evidence of its own misconduct, while claiming an illusory justification based on the safety of U.S. troops abroad. BORDC is disappointed by this ruling, but continues to call on the Obama administration to honestly release and confront evidence of torture, rather than sweep it under the rug.
"Black Jails" Remain Open Despite Obama’s Promises to Stop Torture
In January, President Obama ordered the elimination of all so-called “black sites” run by the CIA. However, according to a recent New York Times report by Alissa Rubin, “black jails” operated by military Special Operations forces remain active.
American military detention camp in Afghanistan is still holding inmates, sometimes for weeks at a time, without access to the International Committee of the Red Cross, according to human rights researchers and former detainees held at the site on the Bagram Air Base.
The site, known to detainees as the black jail, consists of individual windowless concrete cells, each illuminated by a single light bulb glowing 24 hours a day. In interviews, former detainees said that their only human contact was at twice-daily interrogation sessions.
President Obama has promised repeatedly to defend and uphold human rights, but his administration’s actions contradict those promises, as the detention center at Bagram Air Base remains open and torture continues at Guantánamo Bay.
Supreme Court Will Hear PATRIOT Act Challenge
Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, which concerns the “material support” statute of the USA PATRIOT Act, will be the first case challenging a portion of the act to be argued before the Supreme Court. As reported in an article by William Fisher:
The plaintiffs, led by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), charge that the law goes too far in making speech advocating lawful, nonviolent activity a crime….
The case challenges those aspects of the "material support" statute that criminalize pure speech – specifically the prohibitions on providing "training," "personnel," "expert advice or assistance," and "service."
Under the law, any speech that falls within these terms – no matter how peaceable and nonviolent – is a crime if communicated to, for, or with the collaboration of any organization placed on a list of "foreign terrorist organizations" maintained by the State Department.
This case provides an opportunity for the Supreme Court to uphold the constitutional right to free speech and begin restoring the fundamental liberties that the PATRIOT Act has undermined.
Grassroots News
Georgia Fights Back Against 287(g) Local Immigration Enforcement
On Saturday, December 5, Atlantans Building Leadership for Empowerment (ABLE) held a forum in response to the implementation of a 287(g) agreement in Gwinnett County, GA. Participants in the forum maintained that the agreement, which gives local law enforcement officers the powers of federal immigration enforcers, will lead to an increase in race-based arrests. Victims of racial profiling testified about the effect the agreement has had on their lives, and the ACLU of Georgia plans to compile their testimony into a report supporting anti-profiling legislation.
Interested in working against 287(g) in your community? Let us know.
California Activists Call for Prosecution of Bybee and Yoo
On Sunday, December 13, members of CODE PINK and other organizers held a vigil in front of John Yoo's house in Berkeley, CA, calling for his dismissal, disbarment, and prosecution for complicity in torture. Participants wore Yoo masks, jail outfits, and handcuffs. They have been holding vigils monthly and welcome participation in future actions. Email Cynthia to get involved.
John Yoo is not the only torture lawyer facing protests in California, however. Judge Jay Bybee now sits on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Pasadena, CA, where activists, led by the OC Peace Coalition, held a protest on December 10.
Alaskans Celebrate Bill of Rights Day
Today, December 15, is Bill of Rights Day. In honor of this occasion, elected officials in Fairbanks, AK, will read the ten amendments that make up the Bill of Rights aloud. If your community is doing something to observe Bill of Rights Day, contact Emma and we’ll include it in our next newsletter.
Condoleezza Rice Faces Protests in Minneapolis
When Condoleezza Rice came to Minneapolis last month, she was greeted by hundreds of constitutionalists demanding that she be held accountable for her role in authorizing torture. The protest received national press coverage, and offers a great model for organizing against officials complicit in torture who speak in your community.
Activists in Minneapolis have continued to target OLC lawyer Robert Delahuntey, who co-authored a foundational memo on the Geneva Convention and now teaches at the University of St. Thomas. On December 10, they held a demonstration in front of the federal courthouse, with participants wearing orange jumpsuits with hoods.
Fast and Vigil to Shut Down Guantánamo
From January 11 to 22, Witness Against Torture will organize a Fast and Vigil to Shut Down Guantánamo, End Torture, and Build Justice. January 11, 2010, is the eighth anniversary of the opening of the Guantánamo Bay detention center; January 22, 2010, is the first anniversary of Obama's executive order to close the detention center, and the date by which that order promised the prison would be closed. Despite the executive order, the detention center remains open and shows no signs of closing any time soon. Join Witness Against Torture in calling attention to the men still detained at Guantánamo, against whom the government has admitted they have little or no evidence. To participate in Witness Against Torture's actions in Washington, DC, or organize a parallel effort in your community, contact Emma.
New Resources
Support BORDC in YouTube’s Video Volunteers Contest
This month, YouTube is featuring human rights organizations in its Video Volunteers contest. The contest is an opportunity to promote causes you care about with YouTube videos. This is how the contest works:
- Choose an organization working on human rights (BORDC!)
- Make a promotional video (three minutes or less) about issues including executive secrecy, torture and executive accountability for it, arbitrary detention or surveillance.
- Submit your video at http://www.youtube.com/videovolunteers on or before December 21.
- Send us a link to your video so we can publicize it.
At the end of the month, the top three videos will be featured on the YouTube homepage.
Democracy 411 Retreat for Citizen Leaders
This February, the Woodhull Institute for Ethical Leadership is convening a retreat for Americans interested in becoming citizen leaders. The retreat, called Democracy 411, will be held February 18-21, 2010, in Ancramdale, NY. BORDC Executive Director Shahid Buttar will be one of the professionals leading the retreat, alongside author and BORDC advisory board member Naomi Wolf, Woodhull Institute Executive Director Wende Jager-Hyman, and others.
Visit the Woodhull Institute's website for more details and information on how to register.
Editor: Amy Ferrer, Associate Director
Managing Editor: Barbara Haugen, Administrator
Contributing Writers: Emma Roderick, Grassroots Campaign Coordinator
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