Welcome to the Bill of Rights Defense Committee
Are you concerned that the government's warrantless surveillance, detainee policies, and other post-9/11 laws and policies undermine our basic civil rights and liberties and make our country less safe? Join the Bill of Rights Defense Committee's national network of people who are taking meaningful action to restore protections guaranteed under the Bill of Rights and the U.S. Constitution.
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BORDC is currently seeking a new executive director. See additional information on the executive director search.
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5 Reasons Why We Must Keep Fighting After Bush Leaves Office
- The damage done to constitutional protections, civil liberties, and human rights is extensive. Repairing the damage will be a long slow process, especially with the new administration focusing on the economy and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
- Historically, executive powers are often expanded but rarely reduced. It takes enormous pressure from the people to convince Congress and the President to reinstate the checks and balances required by the Constitution.
- Congress has been complicit in the Bush administration’s constitutional violations. To reverse these policies, implemented in the name of the “war on terror,” we must educate our congressional representatives and hold them accountable to their oaths to protect and defend the Constitution.
- President-Elect Obama has promised to close Guantánamo Bay detention center, but creating a process for trying and releasing the more than 250 remaining prisoners that is constitutional, timely, and safe will be complicated and difficult after years of the Bush administration’s fear-mongering. We must provide vocal support for such efforts to counteract this culture of fear.
- If we don’t fight to undo the damage to civil liberties, human rights, and other constitutional protections now, it will only get worse in the future.
NSL Gag Orders Declared Unconstitutional
On December 15, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an earlier decision striking down provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act that impose permanent gag orders on recipients of national security letters.
Doe v. Mukasey was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) on behalf of an Internet service provider (ISP) that received an NSL four years ago and is still under gag order. To this date, despite the fact that the FBI is no longer pursuing the information it requested from the ISP, the ACLU cannot reveal the identity of its client and the client cannot acknowledge that it received the NSL. “We are gratified that the appeals court found that the FBI cannot silence people with complete disregard for the First Amendment simply by saying the words ‘national security,’” said Melissa Goodman, staff attorney with the ACLU National Security Project. Read more about the ruling in Doe v. Mukasey.
Liberty & Security Transition Recommendations Released
On November 19, a group called the 2009 Liberty & Security Transition Coalition released a comprehensive set of recommendations for the Obama administration on a variety of constitutional issues. More than 25 organizations, including BORDC, and more than 75 individuals, including BORDC board members Flavia Alaya, Kit Gage, and Chip Pitts, collaborated on the recommendations, which are separated by issue focus into 20 chapters. Read and download the recommendations.
The PATRIOT Act and American Business
BORDC has just released a new booklet detailing the ways that the PATRIOT Act and other laws and policies harm American business and how businesses can protect themselves and their clients' privacy from government intrusion. Download The PATRIOT Act and American Business.
People's Campaign for the Constitution Toolkit
BORDC's initiative for the new Congress is the People's Campaign for the Constitution, a nationwide, nonpartisan, grassroots effort to hold Congressional representatives accountable to their oaths to protect and defend the Constitution. Our newly revised and streamlined toolkit for the People's Campaign is now available in printable form and, as always, online.
1/5, Mark Thompson, Time, Another Gitmo Grows in Afghanistan
1/5, Bruce Fein & Ralph Nader, San Francisco Chronicle, Bush-Cheney deserve censure for declaring war against the Constitution
1/5, Julie Bykowicz, Baltimore Sun, ACLU's 'wild guesses' on state police spying were 66% accurate
1/5, Shahid Buttar, Huffington Post, Could Gitmo Get Worse? The Policy Implications of Executive Accountability
1/5, Steven Aftergood, Secrecy News, Constitutionality of FISA to be Reviewed
1/5, Sovereign Society, Your Cell Phone Records Aren't Private
Grassroots News:
12/16, Pamela Lehman, Morning Call, Bethlehem's candid cameras make a splash
12/16, Lisa A. Young, Durham (NC) Herald-Sun, Bill of Rights reading honors 'mayor of Franklin Street'
12/10, News 14 Carolina, Anti-torture activists rally in Raleigh
12/8, Edward Sieger, The Express-Times (Easton, PA), Surveillance cameras in Easton spark civil rights debate
12/3, Raleigh News & Observer (NC), Roses & Raspberries: Margaret "Peggy" Misch
10/22, Nat Hentoff, Village Voice, Joining the War Over the Constitution
