Over our 106-year history, there has not been a time when the ACLU was not vital.
Our commitment to defending the rights of everyone – groups we don’t belong to, speakers we don’t agree with – has helped shape American law and public life in this country for more than a century.
Our organization has a long history of defending civil liberties during wartime, when our work and commitments become even more urgent. As our country once again goes to war, the ACLU knows what to expect because we’ve been here before: crackdowns on freedom of expression, invasions of privacy, and scapegoating of minority communities.
The founder of the ACLU, Roger Baldwin, was a conscientious objector, and one of the ACLU’s earliest fights concerned the right to mail anti-war pamphlets through the U.S. mail. We challenged the shameful internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, the refusal to seat Julian Bond in the Georgia state legislature over his opposition to the Vietnam War, and the baseless surveillance of ordinary phone and email users after 9/11. During the “war on terror” years, we expanded our work across the country to respond to the widespread threats to civil rights and civil liberties (we also expanded our staff – that’s when I joined the ACLU of Maine as its first staff attorney).
Now we are in another war, and once again we are seeing crackdowns on our most basic constitutional rights. The ACLU of Maine will continue to fight for the rights and liberties of Mainers across several areas:
The People’s Right to Decide on War
The Constitution is clear: the power to declare war belongs to Congress. In our democracy, the people have a say in whether our country uses military force, via our elected representatives. Trump is far from the first president to push past this boundary – every president since Truman has engaged with foreign conflicts without a formal declaration from Congress. When presidents do this, they cut the American people out of one of the most consequential and potentially devastating decisions a government can make.
That’s why it’s so important for us to keep pushing back against these abuses of power, regardless of what political party is in charge. Even if you believe in and trust one president who pushes the bounds of the Constitution, you might not trust the next. Events like next week’s No King rallies are a good way to make your voice heard, and demand that our government honor the most basic tenets of our democratic system. No one person should have the power to take our country to war.
Freedom of Expression
The right to disagree with the government and to express that disagreement takes on a special urgency during wartime. The first case I filed as a new lawyer at the ACLU of Maine involved a peace group that wanted to hold a march opposing the war in Iraq. The court ruled that the City of Augusta could not impose arbitrary restrictions on the marchers or require the group to purchase expensive event insurance that they could not afford.
That case established the legal framework still in place in Maine, and we intend to make sure that towns and cities understand that they need to work with protesters to facilitate free speech, not erect barriers or impose arbitrary restrictions preventing them from exercising their fundamental rights.
Threats to Privacy
In the years after 9/11, the government deployed new surveillance technology to monitor phone and internet traffic of millions of everyday Americans who were simply living their lives and had done nothing wrong. The government consistently lied about its practices and used absurd technicalities to keep courts from ruling on their constitutionality. Without the work of courageous whistleblowers, we might never have known the extent of these practices.
Unfortunately, technological tools have gotten even stronger, and wartime makes for a convenient excuse for the government to deploy these tools against our communities. We’re fighting for tougher legislation and regulation of surveillance technology. We’re also using open records laws to keep tabs on how the government is spying on us. If the government isn’t doing anything wrong, it should have nothing to fear from public scrutiny.
Religious and Ethnic Discrimination
Minority communities lacking political power often face threats from the government during wartime – the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II is the most stark example. And right now, anti-immigrant sentiment in this country is strong.
In a few weeks, a number of our staff will travel to Washington, D.C., to attend the U.S. Supreme Court argument of our case safeguarding the constitution’s guarantee of birthright citizenship – an issue that, even a few years ago, was impossible to imagine having to litigate.
We encourage all immigrants to know and understand their rights, and have recently undertaken several cases to protect due process for immigrants. We also fought for the passage of LD 1971, a bill that will prohibit Maine law enforcement from engaging in federal immigration operations.
The outpouring of organized defense of immigrant communities in Maine during the recent ICE surge was one of the most inspiring acts of mass resistance I have ever witnessed. It takes all sectors of our society, working together, to fight against those who try to divide us.
For over 106 years, the ACLU has diligently stood watch over the Constitutional rights of every person in this country, both in times of peace and war. We are not going anywhere. As the conflict in Iran continues, we are prepared to keep fighting for our freedoms of the people right here in Maine.
We truly could not do this without all of you. Democracy only works when we all participate. If you’re able, join us at one of the many No Kings rallies being held across Maine next Saturday, March 28th. We’ll be in Portland, Ellsworth, and Bridgton that day, standing in solidarity with our communities.
