"Censorship is telling a man he can't have a steak just because a baby can't chew it." -- Mark Twain

"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."
-- George Orwell

"There is no 'slippery slope' toward loss of liberty, only a long staircase where each step down must first be tolerated by the American people and their leaders."
-- Alan K. Simpson

"We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason if we remember that we are not descended from fearful men, not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate and to defend causes which were, for the moment, unpopular."
--Edward R. Murrow

"In Germany, the Nazis first came for the communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, but I didn't speak up because I was a protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak for me." -- Reverend Martin Niemoeller

News

• ACLU Urges Supreme Court Not to Abandon Landmark Student Free Speech Ruling.   The ACLU has urged the U.S. Supreme Court not to abandon its famous 1969 ruling that students do not "shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate."   3/19/2007
   
• ACLU Sues White House Staffers for Ejecting Denver Residents from Bush Event.   The ACLU has filed a complaint against three White House staffers for illegally ejecting Denver residents from a taxpayer-funded town hall with President Bush, even though they had done nothing to disrupt the event. The residents--who have been dubbed the "Denver 3" by the media--were singled out because of an anti-war bumper sticker on their car. "The president does not have the authority to ignore the First Amendment simply because he disagrees with someone's views," said ACLU Senior Staff Attorney Chris Hansen, who is lead counsel in this case. "There has been a consistent pattern from the White House of handpicking which Americans are allowed entry to public events. That is unacceptable when taxpayers of all political stripes are footing the bill."   3/15/2007
   
• ACLU: Congress Must Investigate Claims Gonzales Shut Down NSA Review to Escape Scrutiny.   Following reports by the National Journal that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales advised President Bush to shut down an internal review of the National Security Agency's warrantless surveillance program due to the possibility that his own actions would be scrutinized, the ACLU has renewed its call for a special prosecutor to be appointed to investigate the program.   3/15/2007
   
• Judge Rejects Government Efforts to Block Details of Deficient Medical Care in Wisconsin's Largest Women's Prison.   The ACLU has announced that a federal judge has ruled that claims of grossly deficient medical and mental health care for Wisconsin's women prisoners must be heard. Judge Rudolph Randa denied efforts by prison officials to dismiss these claims of inadequate health care at Taycheedah Correctional Institution (TCI), Wisconsin's largest women's prison.    3/15/2007
   
• ACLU Praises Committee's Vote For Religious Freedom, Head Start Will Continue to Hire Teachers Based on Qualifications not on Religious Beliefs .   The ACLU has praised the House Education and Labor Committee for standing for religious freedom during its mark up of HR 1429, the "Improving Head Start Act of 2007." The committee rejected an amendment to the bill that would have removed longstanding civil rights protections prohibiting the hiring of teachers, staff, and volunteers based on religion in Head Start programs. The provision failed by a vote of 24 to 13.   3/14/2007
   
• ACLU Urges Key House Panel To Grill FCC on NSA Spying, NSL Abuses; Says Commission Has Duty to Protect American's Privacy.   The ACLU has urged the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet to force the Federal Communications Commission to hold telecommunication companies accountable for their role in facilitating the National Security Agency's warrantless surveillance and the use of National Security Letters.   3/14/2007
   
• ACLU Praises Protection of Freedom of Information Act; Says OPEN Government Act A Step in the Right Direction.   The ACLU applauds the Senate introduction of the OPEN Government Act of 2007. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) introduced the legislation, which will both protect and strengthen the Freedom of Information Act.    3/13/2007
   
• ACLU Calls for Repeal of Expanded Patriot Act Powers in Response to Government Report on Abuses; Says Attorney General and FBI Are Part of the Problem and Can't Be Trusted to Curb Abuses of Power.   The ACLU has called on Congress to repeal a provision of the Patriot Act granting the FBI expanded powers to demand sensitive personal information without judicial supervision through the use of so-called National Security Letters.   3/9/2007
   
• ACLU Refutes FBI's Claims of "Unintentional" Patriot Act Abuses, Citing Lies About Authority to Demand Phone Company Records.   Claims that the FBI's reported Patriot Act abuses were the "unintentional" result of outmoded computer systems and human error are not credible, the ACLU has said, citing evidence that agents contracted with phone companies to obtain customer records and later sought to cover up the illegal requests. The report also shows that the FBI is issuing hundreds of thousands more National Security Letters than ever imagined, and that tracking of the NSLs is sloppy, resulting in thousands of innocent Americans being entered into databases that are shared with numerous U.S. agencies and foreign governments.   3/9/2007