Government backs down on ACLU Document Subpoena
Posted on December 19, 2006
Cross Posted from Revealing the ACLU:
One week after the American Civil Liberties Union moved to quash an unprecedented government grand jury subpoena demanding “any and all copies” of a previously “secret” memorandum, the government today backed down from the fight, asking a judge to withdraw the subpoena and saying that the document in question has been declassified.
[...]
The document at issue, which the government has now said is declassified as of last Friday, is a December 2005 memorandum, marked “Secret,” with the subject line: “The Permissibility of Photographing Enemy Prisoners of War and Detainees.” The memorandum concludes that the news media and members of the Public Affairs Office are allowed to photograph detainees “so long as the photography is done in such a manner that cannot be interpreted as holding the EPWs and detainees up to public curiosity.” U.S. soldiers, the memorandum says, are prohibited from photographing detainees and EPWs except as part of their official duties.
This is unconscionable! That the ACLU can so flagrantly violate the law, traffic in secret government document, and then force a Grand Jury to back down is unbelievable! Can any group be so far outside the law that the lawmakers themselves are afraid to take action? More importantly, this document which has now been declassified to avoid a confrontation pertains directly to our efforts in the war on terror. It was clearly marked secret, and the ACLU acted upon the information in that document without regard to the legality of doing so. The ACLUs actions where clearly criminal and, regardless of the current declassified state of the document today, should be prosecuted for their actions.
“This was a legal stand-off with enormous implications for free speech and the public’s right to know, and today the government blinked,” said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero. “The Bush Administration’s attempt to suppress information using the grand jury process was truly chilling and is unprecedented in law and in our history as an organization. We could not be more pleased to have turned back the government from its strong-arm tactics, which were clearly aimed at silencing critics – both those from within the government and those outside, such as the ACLU and members of the media.”
The only part of the self righteous, propaganda crap Romero spewed above which holds any resemblance to the truth is the fact that the Government backed down. They blinked. This perceived attack against free speech is not even the workings of a delusional mind, but rather a conscious and intentional effort to mold the minds of the sheeple out there who would believe that ACLU is really interested in the public welfare. The bottom line is that the ACLU has acted illegally, then dodged a Grand Jury by applying pressure at some unknown point.
Perhaps the ACLU is closer to realizing its communist goals that we thought.
This is a sad day for justice and for our liberties. The liberties of the common man, though of us unmarred by extreme lifestyles and perversions, are directly in the sights of the ACLU.
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8 Responses to “Government backs down on ACLU Document Subpoena”
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The Giants
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Whatever happened to the crime of receiving stolen property?
The government acted the coward. That is how opressors like the ACLU win.
[...] The Investor’s Business Daily bring up some very good points in reference to the recent backing down of the government in trying to obtain a classified document from the ACLU. “The government blinked,” gloated ACLU executive director Anthony Romero. [...]
[...] The Investor’s Business Daily bring up some very good points in reference to the recent backing down of the government in trying to obtain a classified document from the ACLU. “The government blinked,” gloated ACLU executive director Anthony Romero. [...]
[...] There is no doubt that a certain amount of transparency is essential for a modern democracy to function honestly. However, taken to the extreme, complete transparency would effectively make our National Security impotent and threaten the ability of the democracy to secure its very existence. There is a line that must be carefully walked. We must maintain common sense, especially in times that enemies threaten our very existence. We can not be so transparent that our enemies can see through us, and know our techniques and plans to fight them and protect ourselves against them. We should never cede our security to exist over to a utopian ideological dream of a completely transparent government. It is also important to have government watchdogs keeping an eye on government from abusing and overclassifying information that the public has a right to know. The danger lies in allowing too much liberty, especially to absolutist organizations like the ACLU, in that decision making process. The Investor’s Business Daily bring up some very good points in reference to the recent backing down of the government in trying to obtain a classified document from the ACLU. “The government blinked,” gloated ACLU executive director Anthony Romero. Judge Rakoff is notoriously liberal, having declared the death penalty unconstitutional in 2002 (a ruling quickly overturned), and earlier this year forcing the Pentagon to make public thousands of pages of information on suspected terrorist detainees at Guantanamo Bay. So it’s understandable for prosecutors to not want to fight an unwinnable battle. Are we nearing the day, however, when the ACLU has our legal system so wrapped around its finger that government secrets can no longer be kept from terrorists? Consider these points: • The ACLU’s Romero called the subpoena battle “a fight not over a document but over the principle that the government cannot and should not be allowed to intimidate and impede the work of human rights advocates like the ACLU who seek to expose government wrongdoing.” But if leftist activist groups or journalists, rather than the freely-elected U.S. government, decide what is legitimately secret and what is “intimidation,” there’s little that will remain secret. [...]
[...] The Investor’s Business Daily bring up some very good points in reference to the recent backing down of the government in trying to obtain a classified document from the ACLU. “The government blinked,” gloated ACLU executive director Anthony Romero. [...]
[...] There is no doubt that a certain amount of transparency is essential for a modern democracy to function honestly. However, taken to the extreme, complete transparency would effectively make our National Security impotent and threaten the ability of the democracy to secure its very existence. There is a line that must be carefully walked. We must maintain common sense, especially in times that enemies threaten our very existence. We can not be so transparent that our enemies can see through us, and know our techniques and plans to fight them and protect ourselves against them. We should never cede our security to exist over to a utopian ideological dream of a completely transparent government. It is also important to have government watchdogs keeping an eye on government from abusing and over-classifying information that the public has a right to know. The danger lies in allowing too much liberty, especially to absolutist organizations like the ACLU, in that decision making process. The Investor’s Business Daily bring up some very good points in reference to the recent backing down of the government in trying to obtain a classified document from the ACLU. “The government blinked,” gloated ACLU executive director Anthony Romero. Judge Rakoff is notoriously liberal, having declared the death penalty unconstitutional in 2002 (a ruling quickly overturned), and earlier this year forcing the Pentagon to make public thousands of pages of information on suspected terrorist detainees at Guantanamo Bay. So it’s understandable for prosecutors to not want to fight an unwinable battle. Are we nearing the day, however, when the ACLU has our legal system so wrapped around its finger that government secrets can no longer be kept from terrorists? Consider these points: • The ACLU’s Romero called the subpoena battle “a fight not over a document but over the principle that the government cannot and should not be allowed to intimidate and impede the work of human rights advocates like the ACLU who seek to expose government wrongdoing.” But if leftist activist groups or journalists, rather than the freely-elected U.S. government, decide what is legitimately secret and what is “intimidation,” there’s little that will remain secret. [...]
[...] The Investor’s Business Daily bring up some very good points in reference to the recent backing down of the government in trying to obtain a classified document from the ACLU. “The government blinked,” gloated ACLU executive director Anthony Romero. [...]