ACLU and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

December 10, 2008, marks the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. You can find out more about this critical document from an ACLU perspective at Dignity Begins At Home.

Protest Prop 8 in Boston & Northampton

The day after last week's election, the ACLU helped file a lawsuit seeking to overturn Prop 8, which took away equal marriage rights in California.

An ongoing nationwide protest against Prop 8 will take place this Saturday. More than 4,000 people have already said they plan to attend the Boston rally:

Nationwide Protest of Prop 8
Saturday, November 15, 2008
1:30 - 4:00 p.m.
Boston City Hall/Government Center
1 City Hall Plaza

Nearly 500 have said they plan to attend the Northampton rally:

Saturday, November 15, 2008
1:30pm - 4:00pm
City Hall
210 Main Street
Northampton

Please help spread the word, and check our events page for the latest details.

The passage of Prop 8 shows that we cannot take the pioneering, first-in-the-nation breakthrough for marriage equality in Massachusetts for granted -- and that fundamental rights to equality under the law should not be decided by popular vote.

Big Brother comes to Cambridge

Come find out what you should know about Department of Homeland Security Surveillance Cameras in Cambridge:

http://www.aclum.org/events/

Law students: Want to intern here?

Of course you do.

Impeaching George Bush?

Bruce Fein, the speaker at our upcoming breakfast briefing, believes that George Bush committed impeachable offenses.

Here's our media advisory about his talk:

===============================================================

Bruce Fein to speak Wednesday at ACLU of Massachusetts briefing

Reagan Deputy Attorney General will discuss his new book "Constitutional Peril: The Life and Death Struggle of Our Constitution and Democracy"

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 10, 2008

BOSTON -- Please join us for a provocative conversation with author and constitutional scholar Bruce Fein as he discusses his new book, "Constitutional Peril: The Life and Death Struggle of Our Constitution and Democracy."

November 12, 2008, 8 a.m.
Law Offices of Goodwin Procter
53 State Street, Boston

PHOTO ID REQUIRED

Bruce Fein is a lawyer who specializes in constitutional and international law. He served as general counsel to the Federal Communications Commission and then as deputy attorney general in the U.S. Department of Justice during the Reagan administration. A regular contributor to the Washington Times and Politico.com, Mr. Fein has also been an adjunct scholar with the American Enterprise Institute, a resident scholar at the Heritage Foundation, a lecturer at the Brookings Institution, and an adjunct professor at George Washington University.

Mr. Fein has been advocate of the impeachment of President Bush, has testified before Congress on signing statements, Executive Privilege, and civil liberties.

- end -

Priorities for the Obama administration

High on the ACLU's wishlist of priorities for the Obama administration is closing the infamous U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay ("Gitmo"). Today, the national ACLU ran this full-page ad in The New York Times, supporting the President-elect's campaign pledge to close Gitmo. You can learn more about this issue here.

But closing Gitmo is just one item on a very long list of things that the ACLU believes need to be done to put the nation's civil liberties house back in order. You can read all about it here:

www.aclu.org/transition

How private are your searches?

Not very.

Recently, we looked at questions raised about e-mail privacy. This video below, produced by ConsumerWatchdog (and recommended to me by George Jenkins at I'veBeenMugged) shows how every search you do -- or even kind of half-do -- can be used, along with other information about you.

So little time, so much damage

As Americans vote today, the New York Times focuses on the damage that President Bush could still do to the nation's civil liberties during his remaining 77 days in office, in So Little Time, So Much Damage.

Meanwhile, the Boston Globe today urges the next president to swiftly close the infamous prison at Guantanamo Bay, in Guantanamo's Final Days.

Voter turnout

Laura Rótolo says:

We have been in New Hampshire all day and have seen massive voter turnout. About 1 in 4 voters we saw were new registrants, too. It is great to see our democracy in action!

Why can't Massachusetts do this?

Another report from Laura Rótolo in New Hampshire:

We are at a second polling location where turnout is very high as well. The impact of Election Day registration has quickly become apparent. There are lines of voters at the new registration table - many of whom are voting for the first time. It is unfortunate that in Massachusetts this is not possible. The poll workers seem to have been preparing for these numbers and they are moving people through quickly.

6:45 Manchester

Our staff attorney Laura Rótolo and legislative specialist Gavi Wolfe are in New Hampshire today working as poll monitors. They'll be providing live updates as time permits!

Laura sent this report early this morning:

Gavi and I arrived at our first assigned polling location to act as monitors with Election Protection - a non-partisan coalition of groups that the ACLU is a part of. We were quickly informed that 250 people had already voted! This is compared to the total 525 people who voted here in the primary. The atmosphere is lively and people seem excited to cast their ballots. Each party has its challengers sitting right behind the poll workers but we haven't seen any challenges yet.

Jury convicts in only 2nd Guantanamo trial

After nearly seven years, only two trials have been completed for the hundreds of people brought to the infamous prison at Guantánamo Bay. A jury made a conviction in the second today.

As part of our transition plan for the next president, Actions for Restoring America, the ACLU urges the immediate closure of Guantánamo. The detainees should either be charged and tried under criminal law in federal criminal courts or before military courts-martial, or transfered to countries where they will not be tortured or detained without charge.