Oregon ACLU members got a chance to shake hands and chat with National ACLU President Nadine Strossen during a visit to the state in September. Strossen was in Portland to speak at a daylong legal seminar sponsored by the Constitutional Law Section of the Oregon State Bar.
Strossen also managed to squeeze in a speech to the Portland City Club during her whirlwind 24-hour visit. Her City Club appearance, co-sponsored by the ACLU of Oregon, dealt with civil liberties challenges in the new century. Strossen noted that Oregon is currently at the center of three important civil liberties battles in which U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft figures prominently.
The first is Ashcroftās attempt to overturn Oregonās Death With Dignity Act by administrative fiat. In a ruling upholding the act last spring, U.S. District Judge Robert E. Jones held that Ashcroft has no power under federal law to prohibit medical practices permitted by the states÷in this case the prescription of controlled substances. Ashcroft recently appealed that decision to the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. (We filed a friend of the court brief in support of the Act in the trial court and plan to do so again on appeal.)
Strossen said the second battle with Ashcroft is national ACLUās legal challenge of the so-called Childrenās Internet Protection Act (CIPA) in which the Multnomah County Library is the lead plaintiff. CIPA would require all public libraries that provide patron access to the internet to install filtering software on all terminals. ACLU successfully argued to a special three-judge panel that such filtering would be unconstitutional censorship for adults÷and wouldnāt work to protect children. Strossen said that case is expected to reach the U.S. Supreme Court this term.
The third area where Oregon is in the thick of things relates to Attorney General Ashcroftās demands for unchecked governmental powers in the war on terrorism. Strossen applauded the City of Portlandās refusal to participate in thousands of "dragnet" interviews of Middle Eastern and Muslim men ordered by Ashcroft last year. She noted that Oregonās law prohibiting surveillance of individuals and organizations based on their political or religious activities is unique in the nation. And she applauded the Oregon ACLUās efforts to protect and enforce this important protection against unwarranted police spying, saying the Oregon law should be a model for the nation.
Strossen went on to discuss other anti-civil liberties actions by Ashcroft and the Bush Administration since 9/11. She said ACLU is committed to challenging the Administrationās attempts to eliminate÷or avoid÷the scrutiny of judges and the public even as they implement sweeping new powers approved by Congress in the so-called USA-PATRIOT Act.
Finally, Strossen noted that the Administrationās contempt for the Constitution has galvanized thousands of Americans to join the ACLU for the first time and strengthened the organizationās resolve to make sure that Americaās basic freedoms do not become a casualty of the "war" on terrorism.
It was a time to remember a dark chapter in Americaās past ö and to explore its lessons for the current war on terrorism.
The April 11th event sponsored by the ACLU at the Benson Hotel in Portland drew 130 people to mark the 60th anniversary of the relocation and incarceration behind barbed wire of tens of thousands of Japanese Americans during World War II.
Namba was asked about his personal recollections by panelist Peggy Nagae, lead attorney in the case of Yasui v. U.S., which in the 1980s reopened Minoru Yasuiās WWII curfew case, who is now an organizational consultant in Portland.
Davis, who died unexpectedly three months later, was questioned by Oregon ACLU Executive Director David Fidanque who asked about the frustration÷and rare successes÷associated with being one of the few activists on the west coast who organized against the internment.
Towards the end of the evening, Gloria Tuma gave her reactions as an Arab American in light of the developments since 9/11, prompting exhortations from all of the panelists that we must never take civil liberties for granted.
The evening also provided an opportunity for longtime friends and admirers of Charlie Davis to recognize his unceasing efforts to keep the WWII internment in public view as a reminder of how fundamental civil liberties can be ignored in a time of crisis. For many years, Davis denounced those who considered themselves to be civil libertarians÷including many in the ACLU÷who stood by or failed to act aggressively to prevent the relocation and incarceration of Japanese Americans.
Plaques were presented by Fidanque to Davis for his efforts to ensure that the history of the relocation and incarceration "is never forgotten nor revised," and to Namba for his willingness to share his personal experiences of the relocation and internment.
The ACLU and the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD) presented a pair of reports in July that use the Portland broadband cable network as a case study to describe the threats posed by the monopolization of broadband Internet access by network operators.
National ACLU Associate Director Barry Steinhardt and CDD Executive Director Jeffrey Chester also visited with local officials and broadband activists when they came to Portland this summer.
ACLU and CDD propose alternative, open access models that would preserve the open and democratic principles that prompted the Supreme Court to call the Internet "the most participatory form of mass speech yet developed."
The first report, a technical analysis prepared by Dr. Andrew Afflerbach, Principal Engineer of Columbia Telecommunications Corporation÷who also came to Portland, found that there are no technological impediments to the provision of open access. The second report, prepared by ACLU, explored the current and potential censorship dangers that could flow from monopoly control of internet access.
While in Portland, Steinhardt, Chester and Afflerbach spoke at a public meeting at the Multnomah County Library Central Branch. They were joined by Sue Disciple, chair of the Mount Hood Cable Regulatory Commission which has been a strong proponent of open access.
In addition, all four spoke at a City Hall news conference hosted by City Commissioner Erik Sten, who oversees Portlandās cable television franchise agreements.
While ACLU is pursuing legal strategies to require open access to the internet, the reports are part of a larger public education effort to convince Congress and the Federal Communication Commission to take action before monopoly control of broadband internet access results in widespread censorship of the internet by commercial interests.
At our annual membership meeting in May, US Rep. Peter DeFazio discussed the threats to civil liberties and civil rights after the passage of the USA PATRIOT Act in the post 9/11 rush to stop terrorism.