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YORK - September 9 - One year after the tragic terrorist attacks of September
11, much has fundamentally changed in America. Some of these changes, like a renewed
sense of national purpose, are heartening. Yet much else is deeply disturbing
to those who cherish freedom and the American way of life. And perhaps the most
disturbing change is the government’s apparent belief that our society cannot
be both safe and free.
Certainly the terrorists who attacked
us took insidious advantage of our tolerance and our love of liberty -- enjoying
our freedoms while plotting our destruction. But does that mean our freedoms are
at fault? Or that being tolerant of others is wrong? Our answer is an emphatic
"NO." The principles enshrined in our Constitution are the bedrock of
our country. They define us as a people. They are the source of our strength as
a nation. They are our enduring legacy to the world. Defending them in a time
of national crisis is more than an act of patriotism -- it is a moral imperative.
As numerous polls have shown, many
Americans are concerned about the ongoing erosion of their basic freedoms in the
name of unproven security measures. Examples include the government’s plan
to recruit American workers - including bus and truck drivers -- to spy on their
fellow Americans; the secrecy surrounding the hundreds of Arabs, South Asians
and Muslims who have been detained or deported; the plan to monitor confidential
attorney-client conversations; the selective enforcement of immigration laws based
on race, ethnicity and country of origin; and the passage of the USA PATRIOT Act
and the often-unchecked powers it gave law enforcement agencies.
Of particular concern about USA PATRIOT
and other government actions are the new security measures that erode and evade
judicial review. Checks and balances are the cornerstone of our democracy. The
Founders established the judicial branch of government to protect our rights,
a role they can’t play if Congress explicitly forbids them from even reviewing
and law enforcement actions.
Yet the courts have shown remarkable
resilience and courage in the face of government power grabs. In case after case
brought by the ACLU and others, courts have repudiated the government’s
continued attempts to shroud its actions in secrecy.
Most recently, on August 26, a unanimous
federal appeals court panel in Ohio struck down the government's blanket policy
of conducting secret deportation hearings in post-Sept. 11 cases. As Judge Damon
Keith, author of the decision, so eloquently put it, “Democracies die behind
closed doors.”
Earlier that same week, a newly released
decision from the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court rebuked the government's
response to last year's terrorist attacks and exposed Attorney General John Ashcroft's
efforts to use intelligence powers to circumvent the Constitution.
This week, as the nation marks a
tragic anniversary when thousands of innocent men and women died, we at the ACLU
are also mourning our friends and neighbors who died at the World Trade Center
and those who perished at the Pentagon and in the crash outside Pittsburgh. But
our sadness is tempered by our belief in the strength of our democratic traditions
and our nation's love of liberty. Now more than ever, we must have the courage
of America’s convictions, and we must lead with our values rather than follow
our fears.
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