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defending rights & dissent
On 45th Anniversary of Break-In That Exposed COINTELPRO, 60 Groups Demand Congressional Commission to Investigate FBI & DHS
Over 60 national and local groups have signed on to a letter initiated by the Bill of Rights Defense Committee and Defending Dissent Foundation, calling on the Senate and House Judiciary Committees to investigate the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) monitoring of political protests and social movements.
Mar 08, 2016
Over 60 national and local groups have signed on to a letter initiated by the Bill of Rights Defense Committee and Defending Dissent Foundation, calling on the Senate and House Judiciary Committees to investigate the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) monitoring of political protests and social movements. Signatories include the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee, Center for Constitutional Rights, ColorOfChange, Council on American-Islamic Relations, Government Accountability Project, Greenpeace USA, National Lawyers Guild, Popular Resistance, Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, Rising Tide North America, School of the Americas Watch, US Uncut, United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, and Veterans for Peace.
The letter is a response to recent revelations that the FBI has been spying on Black Lives Matter, School of the Americas Watch, and anti-Keystone Pipeline groups, and earlier revelations that both the FBI and DHS engaged in similar surveillance of Occupy Wall Street. Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that the FBI continuously invokes counterterrorism authorities to monitor groups it admits are peaceful and nonviolent. The signatories are asking for a full investigation to determine the extent of FBI and DHS spying in the past decade.
The letter is delivered on the 45th anniversary of the break-in at the FBI's Media, PA office by eight peace activists, which exposed COINTELPRO, the FBI's expansive program to surveil, disrupt, and "neutralize" lawful political groups. Popular outrage over the revelations forced Congress to act with its own investigation (the Church and Pike Committees) and reform legislation (such as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act).
"That the FBI cannot discern between activism and terrorism shows us that they think dissent is still the enemy," BORDC/DDF Legal Fellow Chip Gibbons said. "There have been multiple attempts at reform but after each and every one we see the same thing happening again. The FBI claims to no longer investigate groups for their political beliefs, but look at who the FBI investigates under its counterterrorism authority - peace groups, racial justice groups, economic justice groups - the very same types of organizations that were targeted during the heyday of J. Edgar Hoover."
Letter: https://bordc.org/fbi-dhs-letter
Background: https://bordc.org/investigate-the-fbi
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Leaders Unite Across Party Lines to Defend Constitution from NDAA
Transpartisan leaders from across the country work to restore due process
Feb 22, 2012
In the first few weeks of 2012, at least six jurisdictions have enacted local resolutions opposing the military detention provisions of the controversial National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) signed into law by the president only a few weeks ago. Meanwhile, legislation to nullify the NDAA has been introduced in legislatures of several states from coast-to-coast, with a Virginia bill passing the House of Delegates 96-4 last week.
Concerns about NDAA detention provisions transcend political party, ideology, and geography, and representatives in these diverse jurisdictions have stood up to resist an ongoing bipartisan assault on constitutional rights by federal officials. While a debate about the scope of the NDAA's potential abuses continues to distract congressional policymakers, who voted without realizing the law's terrifying implications, their counterparts in state and local governments are proving more conscientious, proactively acting on their oaths of office to defend the Constitution.
This Thursday, Feb. 23, a diverse group of state and local elected leaders from both major political parties, representing various parts of the country, will address their shared concerns about the need to restore due process in the wake of the damage wrought by the NDAA. These women and men have answered the call for all levels of government to actively work to restore vital limits on dangerous--and profoundly un-American--federal powers.
What: A conference call to brief journalists about national momentum across local and state governments to repeal or nullify the NDAA's detention provisions
When: Thursday, Feb. 23, at 2 p.m. EST (11 a.m. PST)
Where: Register online at https://myaccount.maestroconference.com/conference/register/MX3AV13968E4HAO
Who: Speakers will include the following:
- Naomi Wolf, author, journalist, former consultant to Vice President Al Gore
- Bruce Fein, attorney and former Justice Department official under President Reagan
- Missouri State Representative and former US Marine Paul Curtman (R)
- North Carolina State Senator Ellie Kinnaird (D)
- Washington State Rep. Matt Shea (R)
- Northampton, MA City Councilor Bill Dwight (D)
- El Paso, CO County Commissioner Peggy Littleton (R)
Sponsors: Bill of Rights Defense Committee, Tenth Amendment Center, and Demand Progress
About the Bill of Rights Defense Committee
The Bill of Rights Defense Committee (BORDC) is a national non-profit grassroots organization formed in 2001 to defend the rule of law and rights and liberties challenged by overbroad national security and counter-terrorism policies. BORDC supports an ideologically, ethnically, geographically, and generationally diverse grassroots movement to protect and restore these principles by encouraging widespread civic participation; educating people about the significance of our rights; and cultivating grassroots networks to convert concern, outrage, and fear into debate and action. For more information, visithttps://www.bordc.org or call (413) 582-0110.
About the Tenth Amendment Center
The Tenth Amendment Center is a national think tank that works to preserve and protect the principles of strictly limited government through information, education, and activism. The center serves as a forum for the study and exploration of state and individual sovereignty issues, focusing primarily on the decentralization of federal government power as required by the Constitution. The Tenth Amendment Center, in conjunction with the Rhode Island Liberty Coalition, drafted the Liberty Preservation Act, now spreading across the country at both the state and local level." For more information, visithttps://tenthamendmentcenter.com/about/ or call (213) 935-0553.
About Demand Progress
Demand Progress is a grassroots organization with more than one million members which works to promote civil rights, civil liberties, and progressive government reform. It helped lead the organizing effort in opposition to the Stop Online Piracy Act, and has generated more than 200,000 emails to Congress and President Obama in opposition to the indefinite detention provisions of the NDAA. For more information, visit https://demandprogress.org.
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Civil Rights Coalition: TSA Violates Travelers' Rights
Oct 06, 2010
Late last week, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC),
supported by the Bill of Rights Defense Committee (BORDC), filed a
lawsuit in federal court, seeking an emergency stay of TSA's
controversial airport body scanner program.
Arguing that the airport security program violates several
federal laws and the Constitutional right to privacy, the coalition
urges a federal appeals court to suspend the program.
"The TSA has disregarded virtually every law and
constitutional principle that applies to the operation of the body
scanner program. This lawsuit is critical to uphold the rule of law,"
said Chip Pitts, president of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee's
board of directors, and a plaintiff in the lawsuit. Marc Rotenberg,
president of EPIC and lead counsel in the case, said the TSA program is
"unlawful, invasive, and ineffective."
According to the coalition's filing, the TSA program
violates the federal Privacy Act, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act,
the Administrative Procedures Act, and the Fourth Amendment, as the
body scanners are highly invasive and are applied to all air travelers
without any particular suspicion.
In an earlier a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit
concerning the body scanner program, EPIC succeeded in obtaining
government records revealing that the TSA required the devices to be
able to store and record images of naked air travelers.
Taking note of that revelation, the coalition has also
argued that the body scanner program, which makes it possible for TSA
officials to observe air travelers stripped naked, violates the
religious beliefs of some air travelers.
The case is EPIC, et al. v. DHS, et al., No. 10-1157. D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, filed July 2, 2010.
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Grassroots Constitutionalists Distressed by PATRIOT Extension
Mar 01, 2010
On Saturday, President Obama signed into law legislation extending all three provisions of the controversial PATRIOT Act that were set to expire in 2009, without any of the long overdue protections for civil liberties and transparency demanded by voices from across the political spectrum. The President's signature follows a 315-97 vote in the House last Thursday, and a 70-28 vote in the Senate last Wednesday.
By abandoning even the minor protections and reporting requirements crafted by the House and Senate Judiciary Committees last fall, Congress has once again abdicated its responsibility to check and balance the executive branch, writing another blank check despite documented, repeated, and ongoing abuses. The Bill of Rights Defense Committee, which has led the grassroots opposition to the PATRIOT Act's privacy- and Constitution-violating surveillance powers since 2001, is distressed and deeply disappointed by the extension of these provisions without needed protections for privacy and civil liberties that the American public has called on Congress to provide.
BORDC Executive Director Shahid Buttar reacted to the extension, saying, "Despite repeated abuses by intelligence agencies documented by the executive branch itself, Congress just wrote another blank check for the FBI and other agencies to continue abusing the rights of millions of law-abiding Americans. Congress holds a constitutional responsibility to ensure transparency and accountability in government and its repeated failure holds tragic consequences for our Republic."
Chip Pitts, president of BORDC's board of directors, concurred, saying, "Grassroots education and action remain paramount if we are to have any chance of 'leading our leaders' in Congress and the executive branch and restoring the fundamental rights that have always formed the cornerstone of our national identity, success, and true strength. The Bill of Rights Defense Committee and activists, affinity groups, and coalition partners around the country remain committed to the defending and restoring those rights."
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