St. Louis Shows Its Spirit
Hentoff, Nat
Ashcroft Watch Nat Hentoff St. Louis Shows Its Spirit I have now debated two of John Ashcroft's colleagues in the command structure of the Justice Department. The first, not long after the...
...The headline in a St...
...Louis Bill of Rights Defense Committee, says that in virtually every state, the resistance is "moving fast and furious...
...Louis Post-Dispatch story on the debate the next day was "Ashcroft staff admits Patriot Act is unpopular...
...He is the author of the recently published book "The War on the Bill of Rights and the Gathering Resistance...
...Louis, State of Missouri, and United States...
...Louis's dissing of Ashcroft called on local members of Congress to repeal or revise those sections of the Patriot Act and executive orders that violate constitutional liberties...
...Louis-nine days before our debate-of a resolution reaffirming "its strong opposition to terrorism," but also demanding "that any efforts to end terrorism not be waged at the expense of the essential civil rights and liberties of the innocent people of the City of St...
...You don't have to be a resident of his state to let him hear from you...
...On March 21, at the Washington University School of Law in St...
...Chuck Rosenberg was quoted as saying, "We're losing this fight," and, as paraphrased in the account, "he said the 'bumper sticker' campaigns criticizing Ashcroft and the Patriot Act are making it harder to sell the public on the virtues of making it easier to go after terrorists...
...Members of Congress are increasingly aware of this rising dissent, but a number of bills that would significantly purge laws and executive orders of anti-constitutional language are stalled by the Congressional Republican leadership...
...The primary organizer of resistance to the Patriot Act and other Bush bypassings of civil liberties is the Bill of Rights Defense Committee in Northampton, Massachusetts...
...Leonard Robinson, co-founder of the St...
...Especially obstructionist is Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee...
...What may have increased Rosenberg's pessimism was the passage by the Board of Aldermen of the City of St...
...Louis Post-Dispatch reporter, Doug Moore, when Rosenberg broke this news...
...There's some hyperbole in that statement...
...He is now back teaching constitutional law at Georgetown University Law Center, and while still stoutly defending the Patriot Act, he is concerned the government's argument that American citizens can be imprisoned without charges solely by the President will not hold up in the Supreme Court...
...The first, not long after the Attorney General rammed the Patriot Act through Congress, was Viet Dinh, the architect of that festering document...
...Nancy Talanian, the chief coordinator of the group, also suggests building bridges to communities threatened by widespread "detentions, deportations, mistreatment, and a backlash against citizens of Arab, Muslim, or South Asian descent...
...The group's website (bordc.org) has links to organizations that assist Arab or Muslim people or that foster greater understanding...
...Louis- under the auspices of the American Jewish Congress- I engaged Chuck Rosenberg, chief of staff to the number two man in the Justice Department, Deputy Attorney General James Comey Rosenberg, with an extensive background in counterintelligence and counterterrorism, was also counsel to FBI chief Robert Mueller and counsel to Ashcroft...
...It can move faster...
...As the Bill of Rights Defense Committee suggests, anyone anywhere can join the resistance by "engaging candidates for local, state, and national office with questions on where they stand on civil liberties issues...
...As of this writing it lists 291 cities, towns, counties, and four states-Hawaii, Alaska, Vermont, Maine-that have passed these Bill of Rights resolutions...
...Since Rosenberg didn't concede this in his diligent defense of the Patriot Act during the debate, I asked the St...
...Nat Hentoff is a columnist for The Village Voice, Editor & Publisher, and The Progressive...
...During the intermission," I was told...
...Like other Bill of Rights resolutions across the country, St...
Vol. 68 • June 2004 • No. 6
