- We defend the rights of everyone, even our opponents.
At a staff retreat this summer, we
all discussed why we work for the ACLU and which issues are most important to
us. The range of issues that our staff cares about covered the entire scope of
the ACLU’s work, but the one response that came from every one of us to the “why
we’re here” question is our consistency of principle. It may sometimes be difficult or complicated
to protect the First Amendment right to free speech and assembly and petition
for everyone, but the First Amendment does not articulate any exceptions and we’re here to
make sure of that. Just this year, the Town of Farmington tried to
prohibit a group from gathering signatures to repeal the legislation for marriage equality on town property, and they called on us.
The town reversed its decision within a week of receiving our letter reminding
the selectmen of their obligations under the First Amendment.
- You’re never too
young to learn your rights.
One of the perks of my job is
attending the Bill of Rights Conferences hosted for High School Students around
the state, organized by our Field Organizer Brianna
Twofoot. During these days students revisit
the Bill of Rights, attend a mock trial between two MCLU volunteer lawyers,
participate in a mock trial themselves, and learn more about their
1st, 4th, and 14th amendment rights. Our
Executive Director Shenna Bellows asks
students to find the word “privacy” in the Bill of Rights, which does not exist,
but is vested in the Fourth Amendment, a fundamentally important right, which
prevents warrantless surveillance of Americans, protects a woman’s right to
choose and gives all citizens protection from unreasonable strip searches. Some
students already know their rights, and others walk away empowered with more
knowledge than they had before. Just recently, Brianna was told that a student
who had attended one of our conference knew he had did not have to consent to a
search of his car and demanded that he have a parent present. When you hear a
story like that, you know you’re doing the right thing.
- We don’t always
win, but we never stop trying either.
It’s hard for me to describe the
mood in our office and how I felt on November 5th of this year, the
day after marriage equality was denied at the ballot box in Maine. While the defeat was
truly heartbreaking, it is fair to say we all felt a sense of resolve that
Question 1 was just a setback, and that we would never relent in the fight for
marriage equality in our state. I’ve only been an employee of the MCLU for six
months, so I know that my colleagues at the MCLU have had a larger share of
setbacks and losses on issues such as REAL ID and the
Patriot Act, but out of those losses I can attest to the sustained determination
of our office on every issue, regardless of past outcomes. There is a quote on a
wall in our office which hangs right across from my desk, which says “eternal
vigilance is the price of liberty”. The MCLU will never relent on the issues
that matter to all of us.
- The country would
look a little different without the ACLU.
As a high school student, I heard
about the release of the Bush administration torture memos, and did not know at the time that
their release was the result of an ACLU Freedom of Information Act request. As
Glenn Greenwald has noted, “the
ACLU has performed the function which Congress and the media are intended to
perform but do not.” In addition to the more publicized aspects of the
ACLU’s work, you will also find affiliates in every state of the country making
phone calls and writing letters to public schools and local government officials
to remind them of their obligations under the Bill of Rights. I’ve seen this
firsthand in our office. I think we would all be a little less free today
without the work of the ACLU.
- We truly could
not do our work without the support of our members.
We are a member-supported
organization, and from the electricity in our office to the student Bill of
Rights conferences we organize all over the state, you are the reason why we’re
able to do the work that we do. This has been a tough year all around, and we
know how fortunate we are to have committed members renew their membership and
give a gift to the MCLU so we can continue our work, and we have plenty on our
plates in the coming year, ranging from a bill to limit and regulate the use of
solitary confinement in prisons to the use of license plate scanners on police
cruisers. The ACLU has just lost 25% of its budget and we can use your continued support,
especially now, and you can click here to make
a donation.