News & Commentary

The Real ID Act was passed by Congress last year, with no hearings, as part of a must-pass military appropriations bill. Real ID will turn state driver's licenses into national identity cards, and impose numerous financial and bureaucratic burdens on taxpayers and state governments.

The act rolls back civil liberties protections, attacks privacy rights, and sets the stage for a national ID. Many diverse groups, including the ACLU, the National Council of State Legislatures, the National Governors Association, and the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators are opposed to the Real ID Act. Conservative estimates place the minimum cost of the program at $12 billion, and some believe it could cost at least double that.

Read more about the act in our Frequently Asked Questions.

Justice Potter Stewart wrote that "The Fourth Amendment and the personal rights it secures have a long history. At the very core stands the right of a man to retreat into his own home and there be free from unreasonable government intrusion."

From using the telephone to seeking medical treatment to applying for a job or sending e-mail over the Internet, our right to privacy is in peril. Our personal and business information is being digitized through an ever-expanding number of computer networks in formats that allow data to be linked, transferred, shared and sold, usually without our knowledge or consent. The same technological advances that have brought enormous benefits to humankind also make us more vulnerable than ever before to unwanted snooping.

As technology provides new ways to gather information and databases proliferate, the need for privacy protections becomes more urgent. The ACLU is a national leader in working to guarantee that individuals may determine how and when others can gain access to their personal information.

In early 2006, Congress reauthorized the Patriot Act without fixing the law's most fundamental flaws. On March 9, 2006, President Bush signed the flawed reauthorization bill into law.

The ACLU is obviously disappointed with this outcome, the fight to reform the Patriot Act is far from over. Lawmakers have introduced legislation to ensure that needed changes are made to the Patriot Act, protecting our liberty and privacy. Both Congress and the courts are examining the National Security Letter (NSL) provisions of the act.

Additionally, Congress failed to include commonsense reforms to the Patriot Act that would target our precious anti-terrorism resources on suspected foreign terrorists rather than invading the privacy of innocent people through fishing expeditions into their financial, medical, library and Internet records. We need to contact our legislators and tell them to reprioritize our limited resources.

There are signs of progress in the mdist of it all. The Patriot Act debate has come a long way in the last four years. When the Senate first voted on the Patriot Act, only one Senator opposed it -- on this year's reauthorization vote, ten Senators opposed it. And a bipartisan group of 52 Senators stood up to the administration and filibustered the reauthorization bill late last year.

In the House, bipartisan majorities supported bills to limit the reach of the Patriot Act by placing better checks and balances into the law -- moves that were ultimately overridden by the Republican House leadership at the behest of the Bush administration's knee-jerk opposition to common-sense reforms.

Since the Patriot Act was first debated and passed, we've made tremendous progress. Thanks to your efforts, the White House was unable to secure the rubber stamp reauthorization and expansion of the Patriot Act it had hoped for. This debate over the need to protect our most fundamental freedoms laid the foundation for the public's rejection of the president's abuses of power, including the warrantless NSA program to spy on Americans. Now, more than ever, Americans are aware of the Bush administration's reckless policies, and they are speaking out.

If you are not already a member, please join our News & Action Network and/or Membership Action Squad to receive periodic updates and calls to action on issues as important as this one.

The Bush Administration and Congress have ignored their obligation to end the torture and abuse of detainees in U.S. military custody and restore faith in America's commitment to human rights at home and around the world.

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Throughout our country's history, national security has often been used as a pretext for massive violations of individual rights. In the name of national security, President Jefferson countenanced internment camps for political dissidents; President Wilson authorized the round-up and deportation of thousands of foreign-born suspected "radicals" during the Palmer Raids; and President Franklin Roosevelt interned 120,000 Japanese Americans. The Cold War era brought loyalty oaths, blacklisting and travel restrictions; the Vietnam War era saw the government's attempt to censor the "Pentagon Papers". None of these measures were actually necessary to preserve national security; all of them violated civil liberties.

Since September 11, 2001, our government has introduced countless new security measures as part of its "war on terrorism." Unfortunately, many of these new measures are either ineffective, unnecessary, or both, and they violate civil liberties principles. Whether we are looking at secret arrests and detentions, national ID cards, facial recognition technology, military tribunals, the USA Patriot Act, racial profiling, or the TIPS program encouraging people to spy on one another, we see security measures that will not stop terrorism, but will require us to give up our freedom. Terrorism, by definition, is not just intended to kill and destroy, it is also intended to make us act in fear, and make choices against our best interests. The United States was founded on the principles of freedom, justice and equality; if we give up these beliefs because of fear, then terrorists will have won.

Open government is a cornerstone of democracy that enables advocates, activists and the press to monitor government performance and expose corruption. Without transparency in government activities, the American people are vulnerable to deception and abuse by our leaders.

When gay and lesbian couples are denied the protections that come with marriage, they and their families suffer. One of the best things you can do to advocate for the ability for same-sex couples in your community to marry is to talk to someone who may be on the fence about it.

A new video website,10Couples.org, is a great tool to begin that conversation. It features streaming videos of ten gay and lesbian couples from across the country talking about their relationships and explaining how marriage is necessary for them and their families.

The site also features other helpful resources for taking action, such as a map highlighting the states where marriage fights are most critical, information on how to get involved in your own state, and links to information provided by organizations that are fighting for marriage protections. Additionally, the videos are available on YouTube.com.

The ACLU teamed with Emmy-award winning production company Public Interest to create the site. Campaign partners include the Equality Federation, Freedom to Marry, Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) Lambda Legal and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

On the Fight for LGBTQ Rights in San Diego . . .

“Locally, there is virtually no other organization that has consistently litigated the whole range of gay and lesbian issues and supported our cause whenever we needed help, other than the ACLU. . . . In San Diego the ACLU has been the only story in town as far as legal action to protect our rights. I think that the history of the ACLU will show that they’ve been vigorous and generally pretty successful for us. I think it’s an absolutely critical organization for our continued progress.”

Tom Homann
After whom San Diego's LGBT Bar Association was Named
In an Interview with The San Diego Gay Times

Tom Homann Law Association
http://www.thla.org/about/