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Last update Oct 14, 2003 Get information and updates! ACLU Speaking Points on the Memorial The Big Picture: Key Reasons Not to Destroy Our Constitutional Freedoms -Global Dialog Project What the Memorial Does -Global Dialog Project Join our discussion list Join the events-announcement list |
"The rights of all men are diminished if the rights of any man are denied." -John F. Kennedy New Mexico State set to challenge federal infringements on constitutional freedoms Joint memorials in the New Mexico House and Senate are set to challenge federal actions that violate or infringe on constitutionally guaranteed liberties. Sponsored by Sen. Cisco McSorley by Rep. Max Coll, a proposed Joint Memorial will "affirm civil rights and liberties and oppose federal measures that infringe on them". The state memorials, to be introduced on October 27, broaden a nationwide movement at the local level to support and defend the Bill of Rights from federal encroachment. In New Mexico, cities around the state, including Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Socorro, Aztec, Farmington, Grant County, and Taos have passed similar resolutions to their city councils. Nationwide, more than 186 cities have passed comparable resolutions, including San Francisco, Detroit, and Denver as citizens around the country uphold our constitutional freeomds as guaranteed inthe Bill of Rights to the United States Constitution. 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, the USA PATRIOT Act, passed in October 2001, 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. Recent Presidential Executive Orders established military tribunals, along with secret detainments, secret evidence, and secret trials. They give President Bush the power to label American citizens ‘enemy combatants’, thus stripping them of civil liberties, including rights to due process. In a blow to freedom of speech and association as guaranteed by the First Amendment, the FBI is allowed to conduct surveillance of religious services, internet chat rooms, political demonstrations and public meetings of any kind- actions not seen since the days of COINTELPRO operations that targeted activists like Martin Luther King, Jr. Additional 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” were leaked from the Justice Department February 7. 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. Critics of the plan charge that trampling the Constitution is not necessary to national security. Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, top Democrat on the U. S. House Judiciary Committee, said the legislation "turns the Bill of Rights completely on its head." To support these memorials, contact your state representatives and ask them to say ‘yes’ to SJM30 and HJM40: AFFIRMING CIVIL RIGHTS AND LIBERTIES. For more information, email us at democracy@global-dialog.org, or see http://www.global-dialog.org/mvd/mvl.cgi?NextName=w.HJM40.talkpoints.html for how you can participate.