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House Joint Memorial 400: AFFIRMING CIVIL RIGHTS AND LIBERTIES; DECLARING OPPOSITION TO FEDERAL MEASURES THAT INFRINGE ON CIVIL LIBERTIES. Constitutional scholars and public watchdog groups on both left and right claim that federal legislation, presidential Executive Orders, and FBI edicts since 9-11 violate many of the amendments to the Constitution contained in the Bill of Rights. For instance, 1. The USA PATRIOT Act, among other things -authorizes secret searches and seizures without notification; -grants federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies broad access to personal, medical, financial, library and educational records; -allows wiretapping and internet monitoring without customary judicial oversight. 2.Presidential Executive Orders since 9-11 have established military tribunals, along with secret detainments, secret evidence, and secret trials. 3. Changes in FBI policy by AG Ashcroft allow the FBI to conduct surveillance of religious services, internet chat rooms, political demonstrations and public meetings of any kind- actions previously prevented due to FBI and intelligence agencies abuses like COINTELPRO 4. Further proposals by the Bush administration have included -plans for organized spying by mailmen, cable installers, and service people (the TIPS program); -creation of a dossier on every American with complete personal, medical, financial, communications and other data (TIA, the Total Information Awareness program); and -reconfiguration of the internet for ease of surveillance, allowing direct monitoring of all internet and email communications without the need for a warrant. -Plans to extend the USA PATRIOT Act in the “Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003” -the new Act would remove judicial oversight on phone taps and search warrants, allow police spying on American citizens and groups, and in some cases strip Americans of their citizenship and rights SJM30, Affirming Civil Rights and Liberties, guards New Mexicans against these unconstitutional federal actions. SJM30: 1. IS PATRIOTIC: -defending the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and preserving the fundamental freedoms of our nation, is the highest form of patriotism. - to destroy our freedoms in the name of security is to fulfill the aim of the terrorists. 2. IS SUPPORTIVE OF EFFECTIVE ANTI-TERRORISM EFFORTS infringements and violations of our constitutional freedoms do NOT further the War on Terror : they merely squander resources needed to defend against terrorism, on massive domestic spying efforts easily avoided by terrorists. -in terms of not enforcing federal immigration law: it prevents the waste of precious law enforcement effort on misdemeanor immigration effort; criminal immigration law enforcement would continue as usual – C(1). - our lawful and constitutional system works :the last time the country was faced with a major terrorist attack – Timothy McVeigh, he was successfully arrested, charged, and tried under full constitutional protections. THE SYSTEM WORKS, it just has to be used. 3. PROTECTS THE FIDUCIARY INTERESTS OF THE PEOPLE AND THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO -Engaging in unconstitutional actions opens the State of New Mexico to costly lawsuits when these actions are challenged in the courts. Our best defense against these is to not incur them by engaging in unconstitutional actions. 4. PROTECTS NEW MEXICANS AGAINST INTRUSIVE BIG -GOVERNMENT AND POLICE-STATE SPYING, and PROTECTS THE RIGHTS OF NEW MEXICANS TO FREEDOM OF SPEECH, FREEDOM OF RELIGION, AND ACCESS TO INFORMATION NECESSARY OR DESIRABLE TO EXERCISE THEIR RIGHTS AS CONSTITUENTS --through protecting the rights of political, religious, and social groups offering education and information, that might otherwise be surveiled, investigated, and infiltrated by law enforcement under provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act --by requiring notice of ‘sneak-and-peak’ and other searches, and refraining from participation in unconstitutional sneak-and-peak searches – C(6) --by alerting New Mexicans to surveillance of libraries, bookstores, and educational records – C(3), C(5), D, E --by requiring NM law enforcement to refrain from participation in unconstitutional domestic spying programs like TIPS – C(7) -by requiring ongoing reports to the NM legislature from federal authorities, through the NM homeland security department, concerning the impact of anti-terrorism efforts on New Mexico residents - F 6. PROTECTS THE PRIVACY AND 4th AMENDMENT RIGHTS OF NEW MEXICANS BY -preventing unjustified profiling by race or religion – C(4) -preventing stoppages of motorists without cause – C(8) -refusing to assist in unconstitutional sneak-and-peak searches C(6) 7. PROTECTS CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS TO DUE PROCESS BY -by seeking to assure that New Mexicans will not be subject to military or secret detention or secret immigration procedures without access to counsel C(2) -requiring the names, circumstances, and counsels of all those detained –F(1) IN SUMMARY: SJM30 PROTECTS THE CONSTITUTIONALLY-GUARANTEED RIGHTS OF ALL NEW MEXICANS against unconstitutional federal actions. It does not prevent lawful anti-terrorism actions, but upholds the rule of law in seeking to prevent unconstitutional actions by New Mexico government and law enforcement .