ACLU

<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">see also&nbsp;</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">promotes to primary 1/18</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">see bak</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">card carrying member ?</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">fundraising ad on trms 1 23? re dobbs?</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">not sure when written but on www 1 23</font></p><p style="color: rgb(66, 58, 56); margin: 0px 0px 1.33333rem; font-family: cschoolbook, Georgia, "Times New Roman", "DejaVu Serif", serif; font-size: 20px;">In&nbsp;<b>Citizens United, </b>the Supreme Court ruled that independent political expenditures by corporations and unions are protected under the First Amendment and not subject to restriction by the government. The Court therefore struck down a ban on campaign expenditures by corporations and unions that applied to non-profit corporations like Planned Parenthood and the National Rifle Association, as well as for-profit corporations like General Motors and Microsoft.</p><p style="color: rgb(66, 58, 56); margin: 0px 0px 1.33333rem; font-family: cschoolbook, Georgia, "Times New Roman", "DejaVu Serif", serif; font-size: 20px;">That decision has sparked a great deal of controversy. Some see corporations as artificial legal constructs that are not entitled to First Amendment rights. Others see corporations and unions as legitimate participants in public debate whose views can help educate voters as they form their opinions on candidates and issues.</p><p style="color: rgb(66, 58, 56); margin: 0px 0px 1.33333rem; font-family: cschoolbook, Georgia, "Times New Roman", "DejaVu Serif", serif; font-size: 20px;">We understand that the amount of money now being spent on political campaigns has created a growing skepticism in the integrity of our election system that raises serious concerns. We firmly believe, however, that the response to those concerns must be consistent with our constitutional commitment to freedom of speech and association. For that reason, the ACLU does not support campaign finance regulation premised on the notion that the answer to money in politics is&nbsp;<em>to ban political speech</em>.</p><p style="color: rgb(66, 58, 56); margin: 0px 0px 1.33333rem; font-family: cschoolbook, Georgia, "Times New Roman", "DejaVu Serif", serif; font-size: 20px;">At the same time, we recognize that the escalating cost of political campaigns may make it more difficult for some views to be heard, and that access to money often plays a significant role in determining who runs for office and who is elected.</p><p style="color: rgb(66, 58, 56); margin: 0px 0px 1.33333rem; font-family: cschoolbook, Georgia, "Times New Roman", "DejaVu Serif", serif; font-size: 20px;">In our view, the answer to that problem is to expand, not limit, the resources available for political advocacy. Thus, the ACLU supports a comprehensive and meaningful system of public financing that would help create a level playing field for every qualified candidate. We support carefully drawn disclosure rules. We support reasonable limits on campaign contributions and we support stricter enforcement of existing bans on coordination between candidates and super PACs.</p><p style="color: rgb(66, 58, 56); margin: 0px 0px 1.33333rem; font-family: cschoolbook, Georgia, "Times New Roman", "DejaVu Serif", serif; font-size: 20px;">Some argue that campaign finance laws can be surgically drafted to protect legitimate political speech while restricting speech that leads to undue influence by wealthy special interests. Experience over the last 40 years has taught us that money always finds an outlet, and the endless search for loopholes simply creates the next target for new regulation. It also contributes to cynicism about our political process.</p><p style="color: rgb(66, 58, 56); margin: 0px 0px 1.33333rem; font-family: cschoolbook, Georgia, "Times New Roman", "DejaVu Serif", serif; font-size: 20px;">Any rule that requires the government to determine what political speech is legitimate and how much political speech is appropriate is difficult to reconcile with the First Amendment. Our system of free expression is built on the premise that the people get to decide what speech they want to hear; it is not the role of the government to make that decision for them.</p><p style="color: rgb(66, 58, 56); margin: 0px 0px 1.33333rem; font-family: cschoolbook, Georgia, "Times New Roman", "DejaVu Serif", serif; font-size: 20px;">It is also useful to remember that the mixture of money and politics long predates&nbsp;<em>Citizens United&nbsp;</em>and would not disappear even if&nbsp;<em>Citizens United&nbsp;</em>were overruled. The 2008 presidential election, which took place before&nbsp;<em>Citizens United</em>,was the most expensive in U.S. history until that point. The super PACs that have emerged in the 2012 election cycle have been funded with a significant amount of money from individuals, not corporations, and individual spending was not even at issue in&nbsp;<em>Citizens United</em>.</p><p style="color: rgb(66, 58, 56); margin: 0px; font-family: cschoolbook, Georgia, "Times New Roman", "DejaVu Serif", serif; font-size: 20px;">Unfortunately, legitimate concern over the influence of “big money” in politics has led some to propose a constitutional amendment to reverse the decision. The ACLU will firmly oppose any constitutional amendment that would limit the free speech clause of the First Amendment.</p><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/07/aclu-demands-special-counsel-probe-into-barr-over-police-assault-on-protesters-the-suspect-cant-be-the-investigator/">https://www.alternet.org/2020/07/aclu-demands-special-counsel-probe-into-barr-over-police-assault-on-protesters-the-suspect-cant-be-the-investigator/</a></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">420 an s<a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click1.e.alternet.org/dmhsmljzjngfgmwwfrhjjfjwwrfwzcdbsnjghtlctrrp_ctjdtmqmftcqltmtggl.html?a=&b=4220&c=21989&d=2" style="text-decoration-line: none; border-collapse: collapse; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">lide into martial law’: ACLU attorney warns anti-coronavirus measures are coming at the expense of civil liberties</a></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">sometimes overdo it? CU? nazi in skokie?</font></p><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/3/6/1640698/-New-Student-Protest-Bans-disguised-as-Campus-Free-Speech-are-Backed-by-the-Koch-Network" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/3/6/1640698/-New-Student-Protest-Bans-disguised-as-Campus-Free-Speech-are-Backed-by-the-Koch-Network</font></a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><div class="story-intro story-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; letter-spacing: 0.125px;"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 10px; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ralph Wilson for&nbsp;<a href="http://www.unkochmycampus.org/" target="blank" title="" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">UnKoch My Campus</a>.</font></span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 10px; box-sizing: border-box;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">UPDATED 3/<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">9/2017.</span></font></strong></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 10px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In the past month, state lawmakers across the country coordinated an effort to file “campus free speech” bills. These bills make it illegal for students to protest in a way that “disrupts” the speech of anyone who has been invited onto campus.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 10px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>In a familiar twist, the free speech being protected is that of private donors and corporations, rather than students.</b></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">So far, bills have been filed (in some form) in</span><a href="http://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb17-062" target="blank" title="" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">&nbsp;</span>CO</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">,</span><a href="http://ltgov.nc.gov/lt-governor-dan-forest-push-campus-free-speech" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">&nbsp;</span>NC</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">,</span><a href="https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+HB1401" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">&nbsp;</span>VA</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">,</span><a href="http://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/110/Bill/HB0739.pdf" target="blank" title="" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">&nbsp;</span>TN</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">,</span><a href="http://www.legis.nd.gov/assembly/65-2017/bill-actions/ba1329.html" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">&nbsp;</span>ND</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">,</span><a href="http://le.utah.gov/_{2017/bills/static/HB0054.html}" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">&nbsp;</span>UT</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); box-sizing: border-box;">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/fulltext.asp?DocName=&SessionId=91&GA=100&DocTypeId=HB&DocNum=2939&GAID=14&LegID=104448&SpecSess=&Session=" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">IL</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">, and</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); box-sizing: border-box;">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.thecollegefix.com/post/31316/" target="blank" title="" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">WI</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">, with</span><a href="http://floridapolitics.com/archives/232665-florida-legislate-free-speech-college-campuses" target="blank" title="" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">&nbsp;</span>FL</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); box-sizing: border-box;">&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">possibly next.&nbsp;</span><b style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">These bills have found bipartisan support, and</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); box-sizing: border-box;">&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.coloradostatesman.com/campus-free-speech/" target="blank" title="" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">very little resistance</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">, sailing smoothly through committee after committee. In Utah and Colorado,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"> the ACLU has come out in support of the bills</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">.</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 10px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Most appear unaware of the origins or expressed intent of this legislation. It is based on a model bill, the “Campus Free Speech Act,” developed by two organizations affiliated with the Koch network; the Goldwater Institute and&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">the Ethics and Public Policy Center.</span></b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 10px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://goldwater-media.s3.amazonaws.com/cms_page_media/2017/1/30/Campus%20Free%20Speech%20Paper.pdf#page=19" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">See the model bill language here</a>.</font></p></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">intercept 320</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">i<strong style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://theintercept.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=43fc0c0fce9292d8bed09ca27&id=edde0b049c&e=613b87ca24" style="text-decoration-line: none;">CE’s New York Office Uses a Rigged Algorithm to Keep Virtually All Arrestees in Detention. The ACLU Says It’s Unconstitutional.</a></strong></font></div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Sam Biddle</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /></font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 24px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ICE is using an algorithm to determine whether detainees should be released or not, but eliminated options for both release and bond.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 24px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://theintercept.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=43fc0c0fce9292d8bed09ca27&id=4a8d762880&e=613b87ca24" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 0.6px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">READ MORE →</font></a></p><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">yup, still ~ CU 2017</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><a href="https://medium.com/@rex.salisbury/2-things-you-disagree-with-the-aclu-on-but-probably-shouldnt-51d04180458a"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://medium.com/@rex.salisbury/2-things-you-disagree-with-the-aclu-on-but-probably-shouldnt-51d04180458a</font></a></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;=</font></p><p><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/06/heres-the-shocking-amount-of-money-private-companies-are-making-from-detaining-immigrants/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2019/06/heres-the-shocking-amount-of-money-private-companies-are-making-from-detaining-immigrants/</font></a></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx grafs vid</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Here’s the shocking amount of money private companies are making from detaining immigrants</b></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">written by Jen Hayden / Daily Kos<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>June 26, 2019</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A new report from NBC News has detailed the enormous cost of housing the children and families being detained at the border. Are you sitting down? Because a for-profit, private company is billing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services a whopping<b>&nbsp;$775 per child, per day</b>&nbsp;to hold them in one of the “tent cities” on the Trump administration’s orders.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Professor W. Warren Binford, a law professor who is an “internationally recognized children’s rights scholar and advocate” and founder of the Willamette’s Child and Family Advocacy Clinic, visited a Border Patrol detention facility in Clint, Texas,&nbsp;</b>and she told PBS and several other media outlets about the squalid conditions these children are living in—sleeping on concrete floors, children taking care of toddlers, flu outbreak, diapers being reused or no diapers at all. Separated from their loved ones at the border as they turned themselves in to seek asylum and legal entry into the United States. This is a crisis entirely manufactured by the Trump administration as Professor Binford notes that nearly every child she interviewed had a family member in the United States willing to take them in and care for them.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Almost none of the children that we interviewed had come across the border themselves alone.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Essentially, they came across the border with family. And they are trying to be reunited with family who are living in the United States. Almost every child that I interviewed had family, parents, uncles, aunts, grandparents, siblings here in the United States who are waiting for them and are ready to care for them.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Instead they are being held in these facilities for an endless amount of time. How in the world is this fiscally responsible? Republicans are laser-focused on “responsible spending” and we can’t give health care to low-income residents because we must prove how we will pay for every penny in advance. But shelling out $775 per child, per day? They don’t bat an eye. To show you how utterly ridiculous this spending truly is, especially when these children could be released to waiting relatives desperate to see these kids again, I checked into rates at Trump’s D.C. hotel. On the random dates I checked (September 4-6, 2019), the room rate was $395. Throw in a breakfast package and we are looking at $415. These children could be staying in luxury hotels, ordering room service and we’d still be paying half the daily fee. THINK ABOUT THAT! And yet, we are told there isn’t even a budget for these children to have toothpaste, soap, mattresses, bed linens, or diapers. We are paying $775 per day, per child, to hold them in abusive, neglectful situations.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If you are asking yourself why the U.S. government is doing this, well, let’s follow the money.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez<span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">AOC</span></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;Reminder: Caging kids is a for-profit enterprise, & the people who profit off camps finance the political campaigns of those who legislate more caging.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If you want to follow the money: GEO Group & CoreCivic are big ones. Look at the lenders & private equity grps they deal with. https://twitter.com/joycewhitevance/status/1143161956309884928 …</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Joyce Alene</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$775 per day, per kid & it doesn’t even cover a toothbrush, soap, a bed.&nbsp; https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/immigration-border-crisis/trump-admin-s-tent-cities-cost-more-keeping-migrant-kids-n884871 …</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>The ACLU has a brief, but informative, video below about the GEO Group in particular, which makes $1.6 billion per year from government contracts.&nbsp;</b>It is not coincidence whatsoever that private prison companies like GEO Group donate heavily to Republicans and Donald Trump. Their investment is paying off nicely for them at the expense of children dying and living in squalid conditions.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Here are some data points and graphics from OpenSecrets.org that tell the story.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Here’s a stunning graph showing the contribution trends of these for-profit companies and their record of donating to politicians. As you can see, they opened the taps to Republicans over the last three years and boy is it ever paying off for them!</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">We are paying Donald Trump and Republican party donors billions in U.S. taxpayer dollars to abuse these children and families, even though their own families are waiting for them. They have no interest whatsoever in processing these asylum claims in a timely manner. In fact, they’ve made it harder to process claims, allocating fewer resources. So, immigrants pile up at the border, Donald Trump gets to keep feeding red meat to his racist followers with a crisis of his own making, Fox News gets to keep their ratings up with a new “immigration scare,” Republicans cash those private prison checks and see their base motivated to come to the polls. It’s a win-win for Republicans, but a loss for humanity.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><a href="https://crooked.com/podcast-series/pod-save-america/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://crooked.com/podcast-series/pod-save-america/</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div class="row hover-container" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: -15px; margin-right: -15px; position: relative; margin-bottom: 40px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="col-xs-7 text-side" style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; min-height: 1px; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 15px; float: left; width: 434.578px;"><a href="https://crooked.com/podcast/the-worlds-assignment-editor/" class="text-side-inner" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; display: block;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h3 class="red-on-hover" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 34px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.33s ease 0s;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">“The world’s assignment editor.”</font></h3></span></a><div class="strapline strapline-date" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 12px; text-transform: uppercase; margin-bottom: 15px;"><a href="https://crooked.com/podcast/the-worlds-assignment-editor/" class="text-side-inner" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; display: block;"><span class="desktop-strapline" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">MAY.28.19</font></span></a></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 26px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">The President sides with a murderous tyrant over advisors and allies, the Attorney General targets Trump’s political enemies, and the Democratic candidates fight for media attention in a crowded field. Then ACLU attorney Chase Strangio talks to Jon L. about the Trump administration’s most recent attempt to roll back civil rights for transgender Americans.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 26px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/05/us-senate-poised-to-confirm-3-trump-judicial-nominees-who-wont-say-if-they-support-landmark-scotus-civil-rights-case/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2019/05/us-senate-poised-to-confirm-3-trump-judicial-nominees-who-wont-say-if-they-support-landmark-scotus-civil-rights-case/</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Republican-majority Senate this week is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/if-judicial-nominees-dont-support-brown-v-board-they-dont-support-the-rule-of-law/2019/05/12/d12c542a-734d-11e9-8be0-ca575670e91c_story.html?utm_term=.0df49874f4c2" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">poised to confirm three Trump judicial nominees who refuse to say they support a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case</a>&nbsp;on which critical modern-day civil rights are based.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/if-judicial-nominees-dont-support-brown-v-board-they-dont-support-the-rule-of-law/2019/05/12/d12c542a-734d-11e9-8be0-ca575670e91c_story.html?utm_term=.0df49874f4c2"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/if-judicial-nominees-dont-support-brown-v-board-they-dont-support-the-rule-of-law/2019/05/12/d12c542a-734d-11e9-8be0-ca575670e91c_story.html?utm_term=.0df49874f4c2</font></a></p><div class="p1_12" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The case: 1954’s&nbsp;<em style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Brown v. Board of Education</em>, which essentially codified that “separate but equal” is not equal. Brown strengthened the 14th Amendment, allowing it to become a key tool for civil rights advocates.</font></p><div class="p2_12" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="alt_ad_block story-page-in-content-graph-2" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="teadsNative" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><em style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Brown v. Board of Education</em>&nbsp;led to&nbsp;the end of legal segregation, or, as the NAACP’s Sherrilyn Ifill in The Washington Post writes, “legal apartheid in this country.”</font></p><div class="p3_12" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">(Meanwhile, on Friday,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.vox.com/identities/2019/5/10/18566052/school-segregation-brown-board-education-report" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Vox</a>&nbsp;reported: “65 years after Brown v. Board of Education, school segregation is getting worse.)</font></p><div class="p4_12" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Another landmark Supreme Court ruling, 2015’s&nbsp;<em style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Obergefell v. Hodges</em>, which found that same-sex couples have the same rights and responsibilities to marriage as different-sex couples, is based in part of the 14th Amendment, strengthened by&nbsp;<em style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Brown v Board of Education</em>.</font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ref wapo no lnx</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Opinions</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div>If judicial nominees don’t support ‘Brown v. Board,’ they don’t support the rule of law</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>Neomi Rao appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee in February. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)</div><div>By Sherrilyn Ifill May 12 at 4:21 PM</div><div>
</div><div>Sherrilyn Ifill is president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.</div><div>
</div><div>Since April 2018, more than two dozen executive and judicial nominees have declined to endorse the Supreme Court’s unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education. This week — one that marks the 65th anniversary of the landmark ruling that struck down legal apartheid in this country — the Senate is poised to confirm three of those judicial nominees to lifetime seats on the federal bench.</div><div>
</div><div>That is simply unacceptable.</div><div>
</div><div>Few of us — no matter our race, color or creed — would recognize our democracy or legal system without the changes touched off by this momentous civil rights case. For nearly 65 years, the legal consensus around Brown was unequivocal. With its transformational opinion eviscerating segregation and codifying the modern contours of equal justice, Brown remained above partisanship, ideology and everything else.</div><div>
</div><div>Even the most conservative judges affirmed its centrality to our nation’s democratic character. At his 2005 confirmation hearing, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. repeatedly affirmed his agreement with Brown. That same year, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. explained that Brown “vindicated what the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment was supposed to mean, which was to guarantee equal rights to people of all races.” Just last year, Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh described Brown as the “single greatest moment in Supreme Court history.”</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">But in April 2018,&nbsp;<b>Trump judicial nominee Wendy Vitter&nbsp;</b>bucked more than a half-century of unanimity by failing to offer support for the Brown decision. In response to Sen. Richard Blumenthal’s (D-Conn.) request for her position, Vitter said, “I don’t mean to be coy, but I think I get into a difficult area when I start commenting on Supreme Court decisions, which are correctly decided and which I may disagree with.”<b>&nbsp;Judicial nominees such as Andrew Oldham, Neomi Rao and Michael Park followed Vitter’s lead.</b></span></div><div>
</div><div>This response simply doesn’t pass muster. The reluctance to speak about Brown cannot be explained by the rationale frequently offered by nominees who refuse to answer questions about Citizens United, for instance, namely that the case is one that might come back before the court. But no serious legal analyst thinks the issue of segregation will be relitigated ever again. In 2005, Roberts deemed Brown as unlikely to come back before the court as Marbury v. Madison, the 1803 case that established the principle of Supreme Court judicial review.</div><div>
</div><div>More recently, and more perplexingly, President Trump’s nominee for deputy attorney general also refused to answer the question. This is unprecedented territory for a Justice Department nominee during the Trump administration, and it appears to be new ground for a Justice Department nominee in any administration since the watershed decision. Jeffrey Rosen said he could not be expected to go through “thousands of Supreme Court opinions and say which ones are right and which ones are wrong.” But the deputy attorney general oversees the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, whose mandate is to enforce the nation’s civil rights laws and precedent, including Brown. We do, in fact, have a right to know his position.</div><div>
</div><div>So, what’s the real reason these executive and judicial nominees are suddenly demurring on Brown? The ugly truth is that declining to offer approval of Brown signals a willingness to question the project of democracy that Brown created — one in which African Americans and other marginalized groups compelled the federal courts to honor the spirit of equal justice embodied in the words of the 14th Amendment. And this isn’t just deeply troubling; it’s also downright dangerous.</div><div>
</div><div>Once positioned near the center of the canon of Supreme Court jurisprudence, it’s hard not to conclude that a move is afoot to move Brown to the margins. If distancing oneself from Brown becomes an accepted marker of conservative legal bona fides, something monumental will have shifted in American legal thinking and values.</div><div>
</div><div>But there has been little public outrage about this clearly orchestrated response by Trump nominees. That is a colossal mistake. Perhaps we have blown past so many norms and guardrails over the past two years that we have become numb to the onslaught. But we must awaken from this paralysis. This year, when so much is at stake, we must reclaim Brown. We must demand that all nominees to the federal bench offer their support of this central feature of the rule of law in the United States.</div><div>
</div><div>If we are to pass down to our children a system that will protect their rights for decades to come, we must reject nominees who reduce Brown to merely one among “thousands of Supreme Court opinions” rather than as a seminal case that anchors our very conception of modern American democracy.</div><div>
</div><div>Support for Brown should be regarded as a low bar to clear for any judicial or Justice Department nominee. That scores of Trump nominees have been confirmed despite a refusal to even approach this simple question is a shameful reminder of how far we have moved away from principles that once enjoyed broad consensus in this “new normal.” Nominees either support Brown, the rule of law and equality under the law, or they do not. And if they do not, they put our very democracy at risk.</div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp; </font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">new cointelpro blk extremists</font></p><p><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/04/the-fbi-appears-to-be-engaged-in-a-modern-day-version-of-cointelpro-aclu-racial-justice-program-deputy-director/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2019/04/the-fbi-appears-to-be-engaged-in-a-modern-day-version-of-cointelpro-aclu-racial-justice-program-deputy-director/</font></a></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Janine Jackson interviewed Nusrat Choudhury about FBI targeting of black activists for the&nbsp;</span><a href="https://fair.org/home/deborah-vagins-on-gender-pay-gap-nusrat-choudhury-on-the-new-cointelpro/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">April 12, 2019, episode</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;of&nbsp;</span><b style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">CounterSpin</span></b><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">. This is a lightly edited transcript.</span></font></p><div class="p1_29" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Janine Jackson:</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;In the summer of 2017, as demonstrations&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/09/15/st-louis-tenses-for-verdict-in-murder-trial-of-former-police-officer/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">roiled</a>&nbsp;St. Louis, Missouri, in response to the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/15/us/jason-stockley-anthony-lamar-smith-st-louis-officer.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">acquittal</a>&nbsp;of yet another police officer who killed yet another black person, the&nbsp;<b>FBI&nbsp;<a href="https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/4067711/BIE-Redacted.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">issued</a>&nbsp;an intelligence assessment that purported to designate a new domestic terror threat: “Black Identity Extremists</b>.” And they&nbsp;<a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/black-identity-extremism-the-new-reverse-racism_b_59dc2d88e4b0a1bb90b83095" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">predicted</a>&nbsp;that</span></font></p><div class="p2_29" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="alt_ad_block story-page-in-content-graph-2" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="teadsNative" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 10px 20px 10px 24px; position: relative; line-height: 1.7; overflow: hidden; border: none !important;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"perceptions of unjust treatment of African Americans and the perceived unchallenged illegitimate actions of law enforcement will inspire premeditated attacks against law enforcement.</font></p><div class="p3_29" style="background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); font-style: italic; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /></blockquote><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Does that sound like a bizarre and dangerously imprecise targeting of people of color engaged in righteous and constitutionally protected protest? It sure does.</font></p><div class="p4_29" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But as we&nbsp;<a href="https://fair.org/home/the-bureau-is-once-again-profiling-black-activists-because-of-their-beliefs-and-their-race/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">discussed</a>&nbsp;at the time with our next guest, a tool in the hands of the country’s most powerful law enforcement need not be precise to be used to do tremendous damage.</font></p><div class="p5_29" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nusrat Choudhury is deputy director of th<b>e&nbsp;</b><a href="https://www.aclu.org/blog/racial-justice/race-and-criminal-justice/fbi-wont-hand-over-its-surveillance-records-black" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;"><b>ACLU&nbsp;</b>Racial Justice Program</a>. She joins us now by phone from here in town. Welcome back to&nbsp;<b style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">CounterSpin</b>, Nusrat Choudhury.</font></p><div class="p6_29" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="alt_ad_block story-page-in-content-graph-5" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">NC:</b>&nbsp;Thank you so much for having me.</font></p><div class="p7_29" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">JJ:&nbsp;</b>When we&nbsp;<a href="https://fair.org/home/nusrat-choudhury-on-black-identity-extremists-neil-demause-on-amazon-bidding-war/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">spoke</a>&nbsp;with you in the fall of 2017, the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/terrorism" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">FBI Domestic Terrorism Analysis Unit</a>&nbsp;had just&nbsp;<a href="https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/4067711/BIE-Redacted.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">issued</a>&nbsp;this weird and disturbing threat assessment, with this new fabricated category of “Black Identity Extremists.” And the ACLU and other groups were working to see just what they were doing—how was this being used? And the FBI wasn’t all that keen for the sunshine. What has happened, or not happened, since then, such that now the ACLU, along with the&nbsp;<a href="https://centerformediajustice.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Center for Media Justice</a>, have filed a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.aclu.org/cases/center-media-justice-et-al-v-federal-bureau-investigation-et-al" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">lawsuit</a>&nbsp;against the FBI?</font></p><div class="p8_29" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">NC:</span>&nbsp;As you said, we&nbsp;<a href="https://www.aclu.org/foia-document/cmj-and-aclu-original-foia-request-fbi" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">requested</a>, under the Freedom of Information&nbsp;<a href="https://www.foia.gov/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Act</a>,</b>&nbsp;records about what appears to be a highly disturbing surveillance program,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4067711-BIE-Redacted.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">targeting</a>&nbsp;a fictitious threat of so-called “Black Identity Extremists,” which we and civil rights groups, black-led organizations, black activists and even members of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/sessions-questioned-on-black-identity-extremists-report-1096129091961" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Congress</a>&nbsp;have&nbsp;<a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4687882/cbc-special-hour-cointelpro-20-black-identity-extremists" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">said</a>&nbsp;raises a red flag that there may be racial profiling and the targeting of black protesters for their First Amendment–protected activity.</font></p><div class="p9_29" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">After sending that Freedom of Information Act request, what we got back from the FBI were&nbsp;<a href="https://www.aclu.org/foia-document/fbi-cover-letter-february-disclosure" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">two</a>&nbsp;letters, refusing to even search for certain categories of records that we had requested, and a number of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.aclu.org/foia-document/disclosure-documents-fbi" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">documents</a>, several hundred pages of highly redacted FBI emails, in response to one of the three categories of requested records.</font></p><div class="p10_29" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And the FBI, to the extent that it has disclosed any information, hasn’t explained why it’s keeping that information secret with any reliable justifications. So we don’t really know what else is even out there, as well as information from the emails that they’ve redacted.</font></p><div class="p11_29" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And this refusal to search is barring the public from getting the information that we need to find out how this surveillance program, targeting this fictitious group that even some law enforcement have said&nbsp;<a href="https://noblenational.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/FBI-Black-Identity-Extremists-NOBLE-Press-Statement.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">doesn’t exist</a>, is operating and impacting people on the ground.</font></p><div class="p12_29" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And that’s why we need a lawsuit. And we the ACLU are standing with our partners at the Center for Media Justice to&nbsp;<a href="https://centerformediajustice.org/2019/03/21/we-just-sued-the-fbi-for-hiding-its-surveillance-of-black-activists-and-organizations/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">demand</a>&nbsp;information on behalf of ourselves and the public.</font></p><div class="p13_29" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">JJ:</b>&nbsp;You’re describing it as a surveillance program. I was going to ask, what sorts of activities do we think that this designation is trying to justify, or is trying to encourage? I mean, it sounds like it could be almost anything. Once you’ve designated something a domestic terrorist threat, it sort of greenlights all kinds of activities, mightn’t it?</font></p><div class="p14_29" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">NC:</b>&nbsp;The FBI appears to be engaged in a modern-day version of&nbsp;<a href="https://vault.fbi.gov/cointel-pro" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">COINTELPRO</a>, and many of us remember, COINTELPRO took place in the last century, in the ’50s and ’60s, targeting covert activities against civil rights leaders and black people who had the courage to protest racial discrimination and to advocate for full equality and racial equity in this country. It looks like it’s version 2.0.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></p></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;=</font></p><p><a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2019/4/19/headlines/aclu_warns_of_fascist_militia_holding_migrant_border_crossers_at_gunpoint"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.democracynow.org/2019/4/19/headlines/aclu_warns_of_fascist_militia_holding_migrant_border_crossers_at_gunpoint</font></a></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">American Civil Liberties Union is warning that armed vigilantes are working directly with the U.S. Border Patrol to unlawfully detain hundreds of migrants at gunpoint along the U.S.-Mexico border. The&nbsp;<span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: top;">ACLU</span>&nbsp;cites videos posted on social media showing members of a militia group pursuing migrants in New Mexico’s desert west of El Paso, Texas, and effectively kidnapping them against their will. In one video, vigilantes armed with assault rifles are seen approaching a group of several dozen people seated on the ground, as the video’s narrator, a man named Jim Benvie, films.</font></p><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding-left: 30px; border-left: 3px solid rgb(241, 242, 243); vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: top; margin-bottom: 0px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: top;">Jim Benvie</strong>: “Hey, guys. This is Jim with the United Constitutional Patriots and We Build the Wall. … As you can see, we did actually end up getting everybody wound up. It was a combination of us and some good horses over there and basically a team effort here.”</font></p></blockquote><p style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a letter to New Mexico’s governor and attorney general calling for an investigation, the&nbsp;<span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: top;">ACLU</span>&nbsp;called the United Constitutional Patriots an “armed fascist militia organization,” adding, “The Trump administration’s vile racism has emboldened white nationalists and fascists to flagrantly violate the law.”</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/28032019/pipeline-protest-crackdown-state-law-legislation-south-dakota-conspirators-riot-boosting">https://insideclimatenews.org/news/28032019/pipeline-protest-crackdown-state-law-legislation-south-dakota-conspirators-riot-boosting</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</font></div><div><div class="content" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-items" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This story was updated with a lawsuit filed March 28 over the&nbsp;<b>South Dakota law.</b></font></span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Bills to clamp down on pipeline protests have spread to at least nine new states this year, part of an industry-backed push that began two years ago to heighten penalties for activists who try to block fossil fuel infrastructure projects.</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Several of the bills also&nbsp;<b>allow prosecutors to go after people or organizations as "conspirators" or "riot boosters" for merely supporting or coordinating with others who violate the law.</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Civil liberties advocates argue that these vague and far-reaching provisions risk violating free speech protections under the First Amendment<span id="docs-internal-guid-dd3b970d-7fff-fca6-16a3-b6411b0c246b" style="box-sizing: inherit;">, and they have already started launching legal challenges.</span>&nbsp;</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The latest government move came on Wednesday in South Dakota—one of the states the planned Keystone XL pipeline is slated to cross—when Republican Gov. Kristi Noem signed a law that enables state and local governments, as well as "third parties," to seek civil damages from people or organizations that engage in "riot boosting."</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Lawmakers in North Dakota, a hub of oil and gas development, also&nbsp;<a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/north-dakota/articles/2019-03-25/north-dakota-legislature-bumps-pipeline-tampering-penalties" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">passed a bill</a>&nbsp;this week that stiffens penalties for anyone who interferes with the construction or operation of pipelines and other "critical infrastructure.</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;Once the Senate approves some minor changes, it heads to Republican Gov. Doug Burgum, who has not said whether he will sign it.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The North Dakota bill was based on a law&nbsp;<a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/22082018/pipeline-protest-laws-felony-free-speech-arrests-first-amendment-oklahoma-iowa-louisiana" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">that was enacted in Oklahoma in 2017</a>&nbsp;and then circulated by the industry-backed American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Versions of that legislation&nbsp;<a href="http://www.icnl.org/usprotestlawtracker/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">have now been introduced</a>&nbsp;in at least 15 states, three of which have enacted it: Oklahoma, Louisiana and Iowa. A version of the bill passed the Indiana legislature this week, too, though the Senate there must also approve some amendments before sending it to the governor.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">While the details vary from state to state, the bills generally increase penalties for trespassing on or tampering with a range of facilities, including pipelines, oil storage tanks, railroads and utility infrastructure. Several of them, including North Dakota's, also include language assigning&nbsp;<b>higher penalties—up to $1 million in some cases—for any group found to be a conspirator in violating the law.</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The&nbsp;<b>South Dakota law is different. Rather than imposing new penalties for interfering in pipeline construction, the bill enables state or local governments—or a third party working with government—to seek compensation from anyone who engages in "riot boosting," which includes encouraging or directing someone to engage in a riot, defined by the state as the use of force or violence by three or more people acting together.</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Someone can qualify as a "riot booster" even if they reside out of state and act indirectly "through any employee, agent or subsidiary." Anyone found liable would be responsible for three times the ordinary penalty.</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The bill was introduced at the end of the legislative session and approved&nbsp;<a href="https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/politics/2019/03/07/keystone-xl-pipeline-protest-bills-pass-south-dakota-senate-house/3090014002/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">over the course of four days</a>, with only one hearing.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Environmental and civil liberties advocates, as well as many Native American tribes, say the bills are an attempt to stifle legitimate protest by creating harsh penalties for minor infractions and by trying to scare off advocacy groups. An organization that holds a nonviolence training, for example, might be targeted under the law if attendees are later part of a protest that ends in a clash with private security forces or police.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"'Riot boosting' is an unusual and new term. You might be asking yourself what that means, and I think protesters will too," said Vera Eidelman, an attorney with the&nbsp;<b>American Civil Liberties Union&nbsp;</b>who has tracked the bills. "I think it poses a unique threat to speech and appears to be targeted at protests. It uses words like 'encouraging' and 'advising' that are very broad and refer to a category of protected speech."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-d9941a62-7fff-3f3a-237b-31269614d12e" style="box-sizing: inherit;">On Thursday, the ACLU&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.aclusd.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/complaint_0.pdf" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">sued South Dakota officials</a>&nbsp;in federal court on behalf of indigenous and environmental groups, arguing that the new law and two related statutes violate the Constitution by suppressing free speech and failing to describe what actions could qualify as violations. In a statement, the group said "such vague and broad language invites arbitrary enforcement, will chill protected speech, and will result in indiscriminate targeting of peaceful organizers."</font></p><h3 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.333;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Industry-Backed Group's 'Model Legislation'</font></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The legislation is part of a wave of state bills introduced across the country since President&nbsp;<a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/tags/donald-trump" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Donald Trump</a>'s election in response to high-profile protests like those against the Dakota Access Pipeline on the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota in 2016 and 2017.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Oklahoma state Rep. Scott Biggs said he was responding to those protests when he&nbsp;<a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/22082018/pipeline-protest-laws-felony-free-speech-arrests-first-amendment-oklahoma-iowa-louisiana" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">introduced a bill</a>&nbsp;in 2017 to impose harsh penalties on people or groups who interfere with "critical infrastructure." After ALEC adopted the bill as model legislation, versions quickly spread across several states with active pipeline projects.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The bills' supporters have said they make it easier for prosecutors to go after protesters or vandals who violate the law, and that they do not target free speech.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Advocates have pointed out that the actions in question—<b>trespassing, vandalism—are already covered by existing laws. Instead, they say, the aim of the bills is to intimidate protesters who draw attention to their concerns through civil disobedience,</b>&nbsp;including minor infractions like blocking the gates of construction sites. Advocates say these protests are part of a long tradition of American civil disobedience dating back to the Boston Tea Party.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>"Even where these bills are simply introduced, even if they do not move, even if they do not become law, they have potential to chill free speech and curtail activism," said Maggie Ellinger-Locke, a staff attorney with Greenpeace. "We're hearing from people on the frontlines of activism in these states that these bills frighten them.</b>"</font></p><h3 style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.333;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Pipeline Companies Register Their Support</font></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Energy companies and associations have supported the bills and have continued to push the legislation this year, according to documents compiled by Greenpeace.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">TransCanada, the Canadian company behind the Keystone XL pipeline,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5755007-Missouri-SB-293-Witness-Slips-From-Senate.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">registered its support</a>&nbsp;for the bill this year in Missouri along with the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers and other industry groups.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/Witnessslip.asp?LegDocId=147293&DocNum=1633&DocTypeID=HB&LegID=116175&GAID=15&SessionID=108&GA=101&WSType=PROP" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">In Illinois</a>, TransCanada was joined by Enbridge and Energy Transfer, two other leading pipeline developers, as well as the American Petroleum Institute.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Sen. Janne Myrdal, who sponsored the North Dakota bill this year and is a member of ALEC's energy task force,&nbsp;</b>did not respond to requests for comment. But&nbsp;<a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/north-dakota/articles/2019-03-25/north-dakota-legislature-bumps-pipeline-tampering-penalties" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">she told the Associated Press</a>&nbsp;that she introduced the bill in response to a protester who in 2016 broke into a control site for the existing Keystone pipeline that cuts through the state and manually closed one of the valves.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"There was frustration from law enforcement and residents that there wasn't enough teeth in current law to go after these people and the organizations that support them," she said.</font><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">[pix]</span></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The protester, Michael Foster, was convicted and sentenced to three years in prison, though two of those years were suspended. He ended up serving about half a year.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>In South Dakota, Gov. Noem's&nbsp;</b>office did not answer emailed questions about TransCanada's role in drafting the bill, but Noem&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kotatv.com/content/news/Noem-meets-with-TransCanada-officials-505732281.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">said in February</a>&nbsp;that she had met with representatives of the company to discuss her legislative package, which also includes a bill that requires pipeline developers to contribute to a fund that would help pay for government costs associated with construction.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"I fully support the freedoms of speech and assembly, but we must also have clear expectations and the rule of law," Noem said in a statement issued Wednesday. "My pipeline bills make clear that we will not let rioters control our economic development."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Terry Cunha, a spokesman for TransCanada, said in an email that "we appreciate the efforts of Governor Noem and her administration to help advance Keystone XL construction and other pipelines," adding that "any legislation that deters unlawful activities and encourages the advancement of critical infrastructure projects is a positive step."</font></p><h3 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.333;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Is It Stifling Dissent?</font></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Some activists say the bills are part of a wider effort by the oil and gas industry and its allies in government—through&nbsp;<a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/22012019/greenpeace-racketeering-lawsuit-rico-claims-dismissed-federal-court-resolute-forest" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">lawsuits</a>, public relations campaigns and legislation—to paint protesters as criminals and even terrorists.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"All of these things I think incorrectly mischaracterize protesters and respond to a powerful pushback against pipelines and other protests, not by trying to engage on the issues but by trying to stifle dissent," Eidelman said. "I think this is really part of a broader trend."</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Last year, the&nbsp;<a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/07092018/protester-surveillance-anti-terrorism-training-keystone-xl-pipeline-aclu-lawsuit-federal-law-enforcement" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">ACLU sued the federal government</a>, accusing several agencies of withholding documents detailing preparations for the potential construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. The group had submitted records requests seeking information about the preparations, and the documents that did emerge, mostly from state agencies, showed that law enforcement agencies were conducting trainings for potential protests. The ACLU said the activities risked treating activists as criminals even before protests broke out. State officials have said they are simply doing their jobs.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In January, The Intercept&nbsp;<a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/01/30/enbridge-line-3-pipeline-minnesota/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">reported on similar concerns</a>&nbsp;in Minnesota, where police had been preparing for a year and a half for protests against Enbridge's proposed Line 3 pipeline expansion project by identifying groups opposed to construction and monitoring some activists.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The <b>ACLU</b> and other civil liberties groups said they are continuing to evaluate the state bills and considering whether they may challenge them as unconstitutional. So far,<b>Louisiana is the only state where protesters have been</b>&nbsp;<a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/24082018/pipeline-protests-new-louisiana-law-activist-arrests-oil-bayou-bridge-energy-transfer-partners" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">arrested under the new laws</a>. Bill Quigley, a lawyer who is representing several of the activists, said prosecutors have two years to press charges and have yet to do so.</font></p></div></div></div></div><div class="tagged-with" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-transform: uppercase; margin-bottom: 1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><label style="box-sizing: inherit; display: block; line-height: 1.2;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">PUBLISHED UNDER:</font></label><div class="field field-name-field-topics field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-items" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div class="field-item even" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; padding-right: 0.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/topics/activism" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">ACTIVISM</a></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div>&nbsp;<div class="field-item odd" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; padding-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/topics/oil-spillspipelines" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">OIL SPILLS/PIPELINES</a></div>&nbsp;<div class="field-item even" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; padding-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/topics/regulation" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">REGULATION</a></div></div></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">yay rare win? FAIL</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2019/02/14/energy-transfer-racketeering-claims-greenpeace-dakota-access-pipeline-dismissed">https://www.desmogblog.com/2019/02/14/energy-transfer-racketeering-claims-greenpeace-dakota-access-pipeline-dismissed</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</font></div><div><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>A North Dakota federal judge dismissed Energy Transfer’s racketeering lawsuit against Greenpeace and all its co-defendants in a sharply worded ruling issued today, finding that the pipeline builder’s allegations fell “far short of what is necessary to establish a [racketeering]&nbsp;claim.”</b></font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In August 2017, Energy Transfer filed a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (<span class="caps">RICO</span>) Act civil complaint against Greenpeace and other environmental groups who had opposed the company’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/energy-transfer-partners-bakken-oil-pipeline-through-iowa" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Dakota Access pipeline</a>, claiming that the protests had caused $300 million in damages (and requesting three times that amount from the&nbsp;defendants).</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Today’s ruling flatly rejected Energy Transfer’s&nbsp;claims.</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span class="dquo" style="margin-left: 0px;">“</span>Donating to people whose cause you support does not create a&nbsp;<span class="caps">RICO</span>&nbsp;enterprise,” District Judge Billy Roy Wilson wrote in a terse&nbsp;<a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/ETP.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">12-page opinion</a>&nbsp;dismissing all state and federal claims in the suit. “Posting articles written by people with similar beliefs does not create a&nbsp;<span class="caps">RICO</span>&nbsp;enterprise.”</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>The company labeled opponents “eco-terrorists” in its 187-page complaint,</b>&nbsp;DeSmog&nbsp;<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/08/22/dakota-access-trump-greenpeace-racketeering" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">reported</a>&nbsp;at the time; Greenpeace responded that the lawsuit should be considered a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (a so-called&nbsp;<span class="caps">SLAPP</span>&nbsp;suit) and was nothing more than an attempt to deter legitimate organizing&nbsp;work.</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Other civil society organizations agreed with Greenpeace’s&nbsp;stance.</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="dquo" style="margin-left: 0px;">“</span>Defendants employed time-honored, lawful means to advance their views, protected by core constitutional rights of free speech and association,” the American Civil Liberties Union&nbsp;<b>(<span class="caps">ACLU</span>) wrote in a friend-of-the-court&nbsp;<a href="https://www.aclu.org/legal-document/etp-v-greenpeace-amicus-brief" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">brief</a>&nbsp;o</b>bjecting to Energy Transfer's (then Energy Transfer Partners, or&nbsp;<span class="caps">ETP</span>)&nbsp;claims of racketeering, defamation, and conspiracy. “Under&nbsp;<span class="caps">ETP</span>’s theories, ordinary political speech that runs counter to a corporation’s business interests could expose the speaker to enormous,&nbsp;unwarranted&nbsp;liability.”</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Judge Wilson ruled today that Energy Transfer’s lawsuit could not go forward, dismissing all of the federal claims with prejudice (so that they cannot be re-filed), writing that “any additional amendments [by the plaintiff] would be futile.” He also dismissed the state claims, though without&nbsp;prejudice.</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Energy Transfer said it planned to pursue futher action in state court, given that the federal judge had declined to hear their state law claims.</b>&nbsp;“We are disappointed, but because the judge&nbsp;dismissed the state claims without deciding their merits, we intend to quickly pursue those in the appropriate venue,” Lisa Dillinger, an Energy Transfer spokesperson, said in a Friday email to&nbsp;DeSmog.</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The federal judge dismissed Energy Transfer’s allegations of “wire fraud and mail fraud” in a single sentence. “There appear to be problems with both causation and the fact that most (if not all) of the alleged ‘false and sensational’ claims are either subject to debate, matters of opinion, or&nbsp;inconsequential.”</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The judge’s Valentines Day 2019 ruling describes the case’s history, observing that claims against two of Greenpeace’s co-defendants were dismissed in July. Plaintiffs then added individual defendants, named in today’s ruling as “Greenpeace’s employee Charles Brown, and alleged protesters Cody Hall, Krystal Two Bulls, Jessica Reznicek and Ruby&nbsp;Montoya.”</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="dquo" style="margin-left: 0px;">“</span>This is a huge victory not just for Greenpeace but for anyone and everyone who has ever stood up against powerful corporate interests,” Greenpeace&nbsp;<span class="caps">USA</span>&nbsp;General Counsel Tom Wetterer said in a&nbsp;statement.</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="dquo" style="margin-left: 0px;">“</span>Today’s decision to dismiss Energy Transfer's baseless lawsuit against Greenpeace and others sends a clear message to companies trying to muzzle civil society that corporate overreach will not be tolerated,” he said. “It is also a check on corporate efforts to silence&nbsp;dissent.”</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The ruling comes just one month after&nbsp;<span class="caps">RICO</span>&nbsp;claims against Greenpeace by Resolute Forest Products –- a case also filed by attorneys from Kasowitz Benson Torres (a law firm used by President&nbsp;<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/donald-trump" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Donald Trump</a>) – were similarly dismissed in&nbsp;January.</b></font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Greenpeace hailed the federal court decision as showing that, in their words, “[j]ustice has been&nbsp;served.”</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><span class="dquo" style="margin-left: 0px;">“</span>We must and will continue to hold Energy Transfer accountable for its corporate behavior on current risky pipeline projects like Bayou Bridge,</b>” Wetterer said, referring to the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/conflict-cajun-country-bayou-bridge-pipeline-louisiana-standing-rock" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Energy Transfer oil pipeline being built in Louisiana</a>,&nbsp;“where the company is continuing to use private security to intimidate protestors and has aggressively used eminent domain laws to secure&nbsp;land.”</font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></font></div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">2nd 5-4 ruling</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;a major blow for immigrant rights, the Supreme Court ruled the government can detain immigrants with past criminal records indefinitely and without due process—even decades after their convictions. The 5-4 ruling Tuesday in favor of the government centers around a 1996 law that allows immigration officials to take immigrants into custody after they are released from jail—but without specifying a time frame. The&nbsp;</span><span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">ACLU</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, which brought the case on behalf of immigrants affected by the law, said, “[T]he Supreme Court has endorsed the most extreme interpretation of immigration detention statutes, allowing mass incarceration of people without any hearing, simply because they are defending themselves against a deportation charge. We will continue to fight the gross overuse of detention in the immigration system.”</span></font></p><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; background-color: rgb(241, 242, 243);"><li style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; list-style-type: none; padding: 0px 0px 23px; line-height: 1.33;"><a data-ga-action="Widget: Headline" href="https://www.democracynow.org/2019/3/20/headlines/scotus_rules_govt_can_detain_immigrants_with_criminal_records_indefinitely" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; border: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">SCOTUS</span>&nbsp;Rules Gov’t Can Detain Immigrants with Criminal Records Indefinitely</font></a></li></ul><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">180 on CU?</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><h2 class="node-title" style="font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; width: 164px; color: rgb(204, 204, 204); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/aclu-fights-back-trump-pushes-stealth-proposal-limit-publics-right-protest-outside-white-house" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration-line: none; font-family: museo_slab500, sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">ACLU Fights Back as Trump Pushes 'Stealth Proposal' to Limit Public's Right to Protest Outside White House</a></h2><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://YYY.theguardian.com/environment/2018/sep/20/keystone-pipeline-protest-activism-crackdown-standing-rock</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">will parrish and sam---</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>"Treating protest as terrorism': US plans crackdown on Keystone XL activists</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Documents suggest an aggressive response to possible protests against the oil pipeline amid fears of another Standing Rock</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Will Parrish and Sam Levin</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Thu 20 Sep 2018 04.00 EDT Last modified on Thu 20 Sep 2018 11.39 EDT</font></div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;Protests at Standing Rock during the resistance to the Dakota Access pipeline. Photograph: Rex/Shutterstock]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Angeline Cheek is preparing for disaster. The indigenous organizer from the Fort Peck reservation in Montana fears that the proposed Keystone XL pipeline could break and spill, destroy her tribe’s water, and desecrate sacred Native American sites.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But environmental catastrophe is not the most immediate threat.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The government has characterized pipeline opponents like her as “extremists” and violent criminals and warned of potential “terrorism”, according to recently released records.</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[Life on the Keystone XL route: where opponents fear the ‘black snake’</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;Read more]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The documents suggested that police were organizing to launch an aggressive response to possible Keystone protests, echoing the actions against the Standing Rock movement in North Dakota. There, officers engaged in intense surveillance and faced widespread accusations of excessive force and brutality.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“We have to stay one step ahead at all times,” said Cheek, a Hunkpapa and Oglala Lakota activist and teacher. “History is repeating itself.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The proposed TransCanada project would carry a daily load of 830,000 barrels of oil over 1,204 miles – from Alberta, Canada to Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska, linking to the existing Keystone pipeline and Texas refineries.&nbsp;</b>The path of the project, which was revived by Donald Trump last year, would cross dozens of rivers and streams and run near a number of Native American reservations, sparking legal challenges and a judge’s recent order for a full environmental review.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If the pipeline gets final approvals and construction advances in the coming months, some are anticipating massive demonstrations similar to the fight against the Dakota Access pipeline (Dapl). That conflict galvanized a global movement, but also led to FBI monitoring and the prolonged prosecution of hundreds of activists.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Documents obtained by the ACLU of Montana and reviewed by the Guardian have renewed concerns from civil rights advocates about the government’s treatment of indigenous activists known as water protectors.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;Treating protest as terrorism is highly problematic</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mike German, former FBI agent</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Notably, one record revealed that<b>&nbsp;authorities hosted a recent “anti-terrorism” training session in Montana. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS)</b>&nbsp;and the<b>Federal Emergency Management Agency</b>&nbsp;also organized a “field force operations” training to teach “mass-arrest procedures”, “riot-control formations” and other “crowd-control methods”.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">A US justice department intelligence specialist told the Guardian the terrorism training was an annual presentation not specific to Keystone. But the ACLU noted that its records request was specifically about the pipeline protests, suggesting that authorities considered the session relevant to Keystone preparation.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The repeated mass arrests at Standing Rock led to a litany of charges, but hundreds were eventually dismissed due to lack of evidence. Police deployed water cannons, teargas grenades, bean bag rounds and a wide array of weapons in North Dakota.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Many of our residents were in Standing Rock, and they saw the level of violence that could be visited on us,” said Remi Bald Eagle, the intergovernmental affairs coordinator of the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe, which is located along the Keystone route. “There’s a level of anxiety and fear because we don’t know what’s going to happen.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;A depot used to store pipes for the planned Keystone XL oil pipeline in North Dakota.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Facebook Twitter Pinterest&nbsp; A depot used to store pipes for the planned Keystone XL oil pipeline in North Dakota. Photograph: Andrew Cullen/Reuters</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Resistance Now: Sign up for weekly news updates about the movement</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;Read more]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The ACLU of Montana, which filed a lawsuit this month against the government seeking Keystone records, earlier obtained a DHS report that said pipeline protesters were engaged in “criminal disruptions and violent incidents”. The report included two past cases of alleged “environmental rights extremists” committing violence.</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">But the events in question – a 2012 bombing and a 2015 shootout with police – had no clear links to any environmental protests, said Mike German, a former FBI agent and fellow with the Brennan Center for Justice.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Treating protest as terrorism is highly problematic,” said German, noting that the US government has long labeled activism as “terrorism”, once claiming that filing public records requests was an “extremist” tactic. “It’s an effective way of suppressing protest activity and creating an enormous burden for people who want to go out and express their concerns.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The “terrorist” and “extremist” labels can be used to justify brutality and a militarized operation, said Andrea Carter, an attorney with the Water Protector Legal Collective, a group that has represented Standing Rock defendants.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>&nbsp;They are instant experts on quashing the indigenous insurgency. It’s very, very concerning</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rachel Lederman, civil rights lawyer</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“It’s a really egregious tactic,” she said, noting that the labels also lay the groundwork for prosecutors to turn low-level misdemeanor cases into federal felony trials. “A lot of it has to do with public relations.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Montana documents have also shone a light on the coordination between governments across state lines, raising questions about how extensively law enforcement was devoting resources to Keystone protests before they had materialized. An email from the Montana fish, wildlife and parks department from earlier this year said state officials had conducted “extensive conversations with North Dakota to learn what worked and what didn’t work” when responding to Dapl demonstrations.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Montana authorities have done further training sessions on harnessing social media and have begun monitoring posts of anti-pipeline activists</b>, a sheriff said at one meeting, according to a local news report.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The records also highlighted the existing relationships between law enforcement and TransCanada<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">.</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;A county sheriff included a TransCanada executive on communications about one law enforcement training. In August 2017, the Montana Petroleum Association, a trade group, also hosted a panel on “environmental activism” in the state, featuring three law enforcement officers alongside TransCanada’s senior security adviser<b>. = FASCISM</b></span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rachel Lederman, a civil rights lawyer representing Standing Rock activists in a civil case, said it was alarming to see that law enforcement from North Dakota was giving advice about future pipeline protests: “They are instant experts on quashing the indigenous insurgency. It’s very, very concerning, because what happened at Standing Rock was just a wholesale violation of civil rights.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">John Barnes, a Montana justice department spokesman, defended the preparation efforts, saying in an email to the Guardian that authorities were committed to protecting “the first amendment rights of everyone while also protecting private property and public safety”. He added: “In North Dakota, bad actors associated with the Dakota Access pipeline protests maliciously targeted public officials and law-enforcement personnel online, and so it is important that people be prepared here.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;A protests against the Keystone XL pipeline in Washington.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Facebook Twitter Pinterest&nbsp; A protests against the Keystone XL pipeline in Washington. Photograph: Gary Cameron/Reuters</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Some activists said the law enforcement tactics would not deter them from Keystone opposition efforts – whether in court or on the ground.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“We’ve got a lot against us. We’re the underdog,” said Lance Four Star, the Fort Peck Assiniboine council chairman, who recounted a recent incident of harassment and heckling by a pro-pipeline, pro-Trump group while the tribe was doing a ceremony. “I may never see the results of my efforts in my lifetime, but hopefully our grandchildren will. What we’re protecting now is this water we inherited.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Peck said she was also concerned about a potential increase in violence against indigenous women, stemming from the “man camps” where oil workers live.&nbsp;</b>But the Montana wildlife department appeared to minimize this concern in one of the records, saying, “Although man-camps bring a certain degree of law enforcement challenges, the primary enforcement focus is protest activity.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Organizers have discussed a “variety of strategies” to oppose construction, including “prayer camps” similar to Standing Rock, said Cheyenne River Sioux tribal member Joye Braun, who organized against Dapl and has been involved in Keystone efforts.&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“Clearly, they’re scared of the power of our movement,” she said, adding that she accepted the reality that she may be under surveillance when she travels the pipeline route to meet activists. “We haven’t gone anywhere, and we’re just building momentum.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Native Americans know the risks are immense. But the “terrorism” label would not intimidate them, said Leoyla Cowboy, the wife of Little Feather, who was recently sentenced to three years in federal prison for “civil disorder” at Standing Rock.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“As indigenous people, it’s embedded in our DNA. It’s our obligation to stand up.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no pix</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/07092018/protester-surveillance-anti-terrorism-training-keystone-xl-pipeline-aclu-lawsuit-federal-law-enforcement">https://insideclimatenews.org/news/07092018/protester-surveillance-anti-terrorism-training-keystone-xl-pipeline-aclu-lawsuit-federal-law-enforcement</a></font></p><div class="content" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-items" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>This story follows&nbsp;<a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/22082018/pipeline-protest-laws-felony-free-speech-arrests-first-amendment-oklahoma-iowa-louisiana" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">an in-depth ICN report</a>&nbsp;on efforts to pass laws in 31 states to crack down on protests.</b></font></span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Keystone XL pipeline is expected to draw protests from indigenous and environmental activists when construction begins, and many activists are worried law enforcement agencies may be planning surveillance and a militarized response. <b>Now, the American Civil Liberties Union is accusing federal agencies of trying to hide the extent of these preparations, which the group says are clearly underway.</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The ACLU and its Montana affiliate&nbsp;<a href="https://www.aclu.org/legal-document/aclu-v-dod-complaint-0" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">sued several federal agencies</a>&nbsp;this week, including the Departments of Justice, Defense and Homeland Security, saying the agencies are withholding documents that discuss planning for the expected protests and any coordination among state and local authorities and private security contractors.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fears about the law enforcement response follow the 2016 armed crackdown on people protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline, where authorities used&nbsp;<a href="https://theintercept.com/2016/11/21/medics-describe-how-police-sprayed-standing-rock-demonstrators-with-tear-gas-and-water-cannons/" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">tear gas</a>&nbsp;and turned&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/11/21/police-citing-ongoing-riot-use-water-cannons-on-dakota-access-protesters-in-freezing-weather" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">water cannons</a>&nbsp;on protesters in freezing temperatures. Since then,&nbsp;<a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/22082018/pipeline-protest-laws-felony-free-speech-arrests-first-amendment-oklahoma-iowa-louisiana" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">dozens of bills and executive orders</a>&nbsp;have been introduced in at least 31 states to clamp down on protests. Activists say the bills are part of a concerted campaign by energy companies and their allies in government to suppress these protests by increasing criminal penalties for minor violations and in some cases trying to use anti-terrorism laws against activists.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The ACLU says documents it obtained from state agencies in Montana suggest law enforcement agencies have begun extensive trainings in preparation for the&nbsp;<a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/13072018/keystone-xl-pipeline-native-american-resistance-oil-spill-cheyenne-river-sioux-dakota-access-transcanada" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Keystone XL project</a>, and that federal agencies are involved.&nbsp; The records raise concerns that law enforcement agencies are preparing to stifle any protests even before they've begun</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, said Alex Rate, legal director of the ACLU in Montana.</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"What we're concerned about is the surveillance and crackdown on peaceful protesters," Rate said. The records suggest law enforcement officers were given anti-terrorism and social media trainings in preparation for anticipated construction of Keystone XL and any related protests. "I think it would come as news to many people that the government is doing this to prepare for environmental protests about legitimate issues," he said.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The group submitted public records requests to six federal offices and agencies in January, but received only a small number of records in response so far. Some agencies have said they have no records matching the request, while others have yet to respond. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Army Corps of Engineers provided some records but withheld others, saying they were exempt from disclosure because they would interfere with a law enforcement proceeding, among other reasons.</span></font></p><h3 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.333;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Montana Official: We're Just Doing Our Jobs</font></h3><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Documents that have been released suggest federal and state agencies have created an interagency team and have been conducting trainings for local law enforcement on how to handle the protests.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.aclu.org/other/foia-document-government-email-about-anti-terrorism-training-ahead-keystone-xl-pipeline" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">One email</a>&nbsp;from an <b>intelligence specialist in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Montana to a state official said the office would be hosting an anti-terrorism training event in August.</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">A&nbsp;<a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4829859-EXHIBIT-3-to-Supplemental-Request.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">January email</a>&nbsp;from David Loewen, head of the law enforcement division of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, said the state's Division of Criminal Investigations had been in touch with officials in North Dakota "to learn what worked and what didn't" at Standing Rock during the Dakota Access Pipeline protests. The email noted that while "man-camps" to house workers would come along with pipeline construction and bring law enforcement challenges, "the primary enforcement focus is protest activity."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In an interview, Loewen said the ACLU's concerns about law enforcement agencies suppressing protests were "a bit silly."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Our job is to prepare and train, that's what law enforcement does all the time," he said. "If we have a protest coming, chances are things are going to be peaceful and fine and dandy. But on the outside chance that they're not, we want to be prepared."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Leif Johnson,&nbsp;assistant U.S. attorney in Montana, confirmed the anti-terrorism training was held in August and said it was unrelated to Keystone XL.&nbsp;Burke Honzel, head of preparedness for Montana Disaster & Emergency Services, said his staff attended&nbsp;the&nbsp;training and that it&nbsp;<b>"did not discuss Keystone XL or protests and was geared towards overseas terrorism tactics."</b></font></p><h3 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.333;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">First Amendment Rights and Protester Arrests</font></h3><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Environmental and indigenous activists have describe harsh treatment by law enforcement and security officers in Louisiana, where at least 13 people have been arrested under a new law since it went into effect on Aug. 1, including four activists who were detained on Tuesday.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The law created a felony charge with up to five years in prison for anyone who trespasses on a pipeline easement, and&nbsp;<a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/24082018/pipeline-protests-new-louisiana-law-activist-arrests-oil-bayou-bridge-energy-transfer-partners" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">many of the arrests</a>&nbsp;came under questionable circumstances. Activists posted photos and video of the most recent arrests on Facebook, including&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/LeauEstLaVie/videos/462077807637601/" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">a video showing two uniformed officers</a>&nbsp;assisting a man who was not in uniform and who is holding a protester against the ground, his arm across her throat, while putting her hands in cuffs behind her back.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The records obtained by the ACLU in Montana echo others in Oklahoma, Louisiana, Virginia and other states that have shown law enforcement agencies focusing anti-terrorism resources on environmental activists and, in some cases, <b>cooperating with private security companies employed by pipeline companies to surveil and arrest protesters.</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.aclu.org/blog/free-speech/rights-protesters/government-planning-surveil-keystone-xl-protesters?redirect=blog/government-planning-surveil-keystone-xl-protesters" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">blog post</a>&nbsp;announcing the organization's lawsuit, Jacob Hutt of the ACLU said the organization hopes to determine from the documents its requested how and whether federal agencies are "thwarting, surveilling, and otherwise engaging with indigenous and environmental activists" opposed to Keystone XL.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"The First Amendment protects political speech from the threat of undue government scrutiny, and the extent of such scrutiny is currently unknown," he wrote. "If the government is planning to prevent or monitor indigenous and environmental protests, the activists involved have a right to know about it."</font></p></div></div></div></div><div class="tagged-with" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-transform: uppercase; margin-bottom: 1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><label style="box-sizing: inherit; display: block; line-height: 1.2;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">PUBLISHED UNDER:</font></label><div class="field field-name-field-topics field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-items" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div class="field-item even" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; padding-right: 0.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/topics/activism" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">ACTIVISM</a></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div>&nbsp;<div class="field-item odd" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; padding-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/topics/oil-spillspipelines" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">OIL SPILLS/PIPELINES</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-items" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div class="field-item even" style="box-sizing: inherit; 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background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">DAKOTA ACCESS PIPELINE</a></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div>&nbsp;<div class="field-item odd" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; padding-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/topic/keystone-xl" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">KEYSTONE XL</a></div></div></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/right-wing/tom-cottons-cease-and-desist-letter-activist-raises-serious-first-amendment-questions" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://www.alternet.org/right-wing/tom-cottons-cease-and-desist-letter-activist-raises-serious-first-amendment-questions</a></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In&nbsp;&nbsp;October, Stacey Lane — a human resources professional of 19 years,&nbsp;got in the mail a cease-and-desist letter from Senator Tom Cotton, R-Ark. The letter, in an envelope addressed to Lane, said that all communication “must cease and desist immediately with all offices of U.S. Senator Tom Cotton.”</font></div><div data-node="node-2" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“Healthcare was really big issue before I got the letter. I did what I could to call senators and congressmen and raise the concerns I had,” Lane told Salon.</font></p></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><ntv-passback id="7231516466765867" /></font></p><div data-node="node-4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The&nbsp;letter — now getting attention in the national media — is raising questions about&nbsp;whether or not it's possible to bar a person from petitioning their government's representatives.</font></p></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;" /><div alt="" class="media-image" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[ltr img]</font></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></p><div data-node="node-8" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Lane says she’d call the office once or twice a week, usually during times that preceded a major vote or legislative action. There would be several weeks where she wouldn’t call at all.</font></p></div><div data-node="node-10" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“My calls were purposeful typically surrounding a major vote or legislative action or call to action via the various activist groups. I was not a serial, daily caller-just-to-call type [of] person,” Lane said.</font></p></div><div data-node="node-12" style=""><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to Tom Cotton’s office, Lane — a member of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.resistandprotest.com/organizer/ozark-indivisible" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Ozark Indivisible</a>, an activist group part of the Resistance movement against the Trump administration, used vulgar language on multiple occasions. The final incident, which prompted officials in Cotton’s office to administer a cease and desist, was when Lane allegedly called a 19-year-old intern a ct. According to Cotton’s office, the letter was issued based on the guidance of the U.S. Capitol Police, who has not returned Salon’s request for immediate comment.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">When the cease and desist letter started to make noise on Twitter,&nbsp;</span><a href="https://twitter.com/noonanjo?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">John Noonan</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, ‎Senior Counselor for Military and Defense Affairs in Cotton’s office, tweeted about the event to set the record straight to anyone who criticized the move — like the </span><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">ACLU.</b></font></p></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">---</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/15/opinion/how-prosecutors-turn-a-protest-into-a-riot.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/15/opinion/how-prosecutors-turn-a-protest-into-a-riot.html</a></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">aclu helps j20</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/aclu-speaks-out-against-rules-shut-down-criticism-against-lapd">https://www.alternet.org/aclu-speaks-out-against-rules-shut-down-criticism-against-lapd</a></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-bad0905d-54ae-cf8a-2339-6d50743d1d36">&nbsp;Los Angeles Police Department has apparently been arresting residents for speaking 20 seconds longer than their allotted time at public city hearings. Now the ACLU&nbsp;</span>of Southern California is fighting an ordinance that could make it even harder for residents to speak out—especially those who dissent against the practices of the LAPD. If passed,&nbsp;<a href="https://ssl.capwiz.com/aclu/ca/issues/alert/?alertid=78947626&type=CU&ms=tw_171024_aff_CS_free_speech" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">the ordinance will make</a>&nbsp;it "an arrestable offense to violate any posted rules of public facilities” and would empower law enforcement to make criminal trespass charges, tighten restrictions on speaking time and shut down criticism at meetings.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-bad0905d-54ae-cf8a-2339-6d50743d1d36">Pushing back on the proposed restrictions, the ACLU is circulating a&nbsp;</span><a href="https://ssl.capwiz.com/aclu/ca/issues/alert/?alertid=78947626&type=CU&ms=tw_171024_aff_CS_free_speech" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">petition targeted at councilmembers</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;tweeted out a call to action Wednesday morning:</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></p></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">decentralized?</font></p><p><a href="http://volokh.com/2011/04/27/harvey-silverglate-on-the-aclu-and-free-speech/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">http://volokh.com/2011/04/27/harvey-silverglate-on-the-aclu-and-free-speech/</font></a>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;==</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">s glantz said tob co got cato but alsdo aclu (kpfa 1/17/14</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And that brings me to the ACLU today—the most depressing part of this story. I had an inkling that the ACLU had abandoned labor before my simple exercise check of their website. Mike Elk has shared with me some of his research into this subject. And it’s well known that the ACLU vigorously supported the disastrous Citizens United decision; the&nbsp;<a href="http://reason.com/blog/2011/02/25/the-koch-brothers-right-wing-c">ACLU also took $20 million dollars from the Koch brothers</a>, whose libertarian outfits have played a major role in making Citizens United a reality. Supposedly that money was meant to “fight the Patriot Act”—which is odd, considering that the director of the Koch brothers’ Center for Constitutional Studies at Cato and Vice President for Legal Affairs at Cato, Roger Pilon, explicitly&nbsp;<a href="http://www.thenation.com/article/167500/independent-and-principled-behind-cato-myth">supported the Patriot Act from 2002 through 2008</a>, and that the Kochs’ Cato Institute&nbsp;<a href="http://www.thenation.com/article/167500/independent-and-principled-behind-cato-myth">hired John Yoo</a> to serve on their editorial advisory board for the Cato Supreme Court Review. One should be&nbsp;<a href="http://news.firedoglake.com/2011/05/10/koch-u-florida-state-university-hands-over-economics-department-to-billionaire-libertarians/">skeptical</a> when it comes to&nbsp;<a href="http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/billionaires-role-in-hiring-decisions-at-florida-state-university-raises/1168680">Koch “donations”</a> sold to the public as charity work in the service of human rights.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Maybe there’s no connection there whatsoever between the Kochs’ $20 million gift to the ACLU, and the ACLU’s advocacy for the Kochs’ pet political issue, Citizens United, which transferred greater power from democracy and into the hands of billionaire oligarchs like the Kochs. Maybe it’s all a coincidence, I don’t know. But we do know that there is precedent for the ACLU taking money from corporations, advocating their cause under the guise of “protecting free speech” and hiding the conflict of interest from the public in order to make their defense seem more convincing.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the ACLU vigorously defended the interests of the tobacco lobby under the guise of protecting their “first amendment rights”—and they did it&nbsp;<a href="http://www.accuracy.org/release/102-full-disclosure-urged-for-aclus-ties-with-tobacco-firms/">for payments in-kind</a>.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.tobaccofreedom.org/issues/documents/aclu/">Leaked tobacco documents</a> in the 1990s exposed the ACLU working out explicit deals with the tobacco industry to take their money in exchange for advocating their interests in public, without disclosing that gross conflict of interest and violation of the public trust. The documents and memos revealed that the hundreds of thousands of dollars paid to the ACLU by the tobacco companies were payments in kind to for the ACLU’s defense of Big Tobacco, a relationship that both parties tried to hide in order to confuse the public into believing that the ACLU’s arguments for tobacco were motivated by purely altruistic constitutional arguments, rather than sleazy under-the-table cash payments. The ACLU is, after all, a trusted institution among progressives—that made them the ideal “Third Party Advocate” in PR terms for the tobacco industry’s interests....<a href="http://exiledonline.com/the-lefts-big-sellout-how-the-aclu-human-rights-groups-quietly-exterminated-labor-rights/">http://exiledonline.com/the-lefts-big-sellout-how-the-aclu-human-rights-groups-quietly-exterminated-labor-rights/

</a>&nbsp;</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==

&nbsp;</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">anti fedsoc? The American Constitution Society for Law and Policy (ACS) &nbsp;<a href="http://www.acslaw.org/"> http://www.acslaw.org/</a> &nbsp;&nbsp;promotes the vitality of the U.S. Constitution and the fundamental values it expresses: individual rights and liberties, genuine equality, access to justice, democracy and the rule of law. The abiding principles are reflected in the vision of the Constitution's framers and the wisdom of forward-looking leaders who have shaped our law throughout American history. As a result of their efforts, the Constitution has retained its authority and relevance for each new generation.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In recent years, an activist conservative legal movement has gained influence - eroding these enduring values and presenting the law as a series of sterile abstractions. This new orthodoxy, which threatens to dominate our courts and our laws, does a grave injustice to the American vision.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The American Constitution Society for Law and Policy</b>

1333 H St, NW, 11th Floor Washington, DC 20005 Telephone: (202) 393-6181 Fax: (202) 393-6189 E-mail: <a href="mailto:info@ACSLaw.org">info@ACSLaw.org</a></font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CU <a href="http://www.acslaw.org/acsblog/states-struggle-to-find-way-in-a-post-citizens-united-world">http://www.acslaw.org/acsblog/states-struggle-to-find-way-in-a-post-citizens-united-world</a></font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></p>

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<h1><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">States Struggle to Find Way in a Post-Citizens United World</font></h1>

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<div class="field field-little-date field-little-date"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">July 31, 2012</font></div>

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<p><em><strong><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">by Clark Taylor</font></strong></em>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In <em>Citizens United v. FEC</em>, the Supreme Court paved the way for unprecedented amounts of outside campaign spending by powerful interests. As a result, billionaires like Sheldon Adelson and the Koch brothers have pledged to spend up to <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0612/78005.html">$400 million</a> in an all-out effort to ensure that the voices of the richest few are heard the loudest.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The numbers support the trend. Richard L. Hasen, an election law expert at University of California, Irvine, says <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2012/03/the_supreme_court_s_citizens_united_decision_has_led_to_an_explosion_of_campaign_spending_.html">outside campaign spending</a> through March 8 amounts to more than $88 million for federal elections. This represents a significant contrast to the $37.5 million in 2004 and $14.2 million in 2000. The growth is even starker in mid-term years as the same spending jumped from $1.8 million in 2006 to $15.8 million in 2010.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Perhaps most disconcerting, this regime has led to a situation in which the superrich can spend more and more on elections without any disclosure. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), in testimony before a Senate committee, claimed that there were at least <a href="http://politicalnews.me/?id=15939&keys=COURT-CORPORATIONS-INDIVIDUALS-ELECTIONS">23 families worth over $1 billion who have given more than $250,000</a> in campaign contributions this cycle. <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/07/big-campaign-spending-government-by-the-1/259599/">Just 196 Americans</a> have given more than 80 percent of the total money donated to super PACs.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">��</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Groups and individuals have proposed efforts to help blunt the or counter powerful interests seeking to sway elections. Professor Lawrence Lessig has advocated for a series of <a href="http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202564277666&et=editorial&bu=National%20Law%20Journal&cn=20120725nlj&src=EMC-Email&pt=NLJ.com-%20Daily%20Headlines&kw=%27Citizen%20conventions%27%20should%20respond%20to%20Citizens%20United%20%2C%20Harvard%252">citizen conventions</a> to craft a constitutional amendment. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) has called for a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/24/citizens-united-constitutional-amendment-senate-democrats_n_1700269.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular">constitutional amendment</a>. The group <a href="http://freespeechforpeople.org/">Free Speech for People</a> also proposes a constitutional amendment. Jeff Clements, co-founder and president of the group, stated in written testimony to the Senate, that <a href="http://freespeechforpeople.org/node/428">a constitutional amendment was needed</a> to restore congressional power over campaign finance regulation. Perhaps the closest Congress has come to reform was the DISCLOSE ACT, which would have required that independent groups disclose those donors who give more than $10,000. Though the bill received support from a majority of the Senate, <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/17/politics/senate-disclose-act/index.html">Republicans blocked the measure using a procedural move</a>.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But states also face growing challenges to ensure their elections are not bought by the superrich. The National Institute on Money in State Politics says that approximately <a href="http://www.followthemoney.org/database/nationalview.phtml">$623M has been raised</a> by candidates and committees for state offices so far this cycle. That number is in comparison <a href="http://current.com/shows/the-war-room/blog/the-battle-of-the-bucks-in-the-2012-election">to $2.9 billion which has been raised by federal campaigns, parties, and super PACs</a> through March.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In spite of <a href="http://www.acslaw.org/acsblog/the-populist-bipartisan-history-of-the-now-invalidated-montana-anti-corruption-law">the Supreme Court’s decision to summarily reverse a century old Montana law</a> put in place to protect the citizens of Montana from outright corruption at the hands of mining magnates, some states are forging ahead to fight for workable solutions.�� So far, <a href="http://www.iwatchnews.org/2012/06/27/9230/contribution-limits-risk-states-thanks-supreme-court">19 states have passed laws requiring more disclosure</a> since <em>Citizens United</em>. Other states have eliminated limits, while others have no limits, and others still have limits in place only for corporations and unions.&nbsp;</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Other states are finding it more difficult to forge a path forward.&nbsp; In Connecticut, Governor Malloy (D) <a href="http://www.theday.com/article/20120616/NWS12/306169937/-1/nws">vetoed a bill</a> that would have required disclosure of campaign contributions. Though Malloy claimed to be for transparency, in his veto message he argued that the bill likely violated the Constitution in light of <em>Citizens United</em>. The <a href="http://www5.cbia.com/newsroom/article/business-community-applauds-veto-of-campaign-finance-bill/">business community</a> applauded the veto.&nbsp;</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Perhaps the most glaring example of a state struggling to find a path forward is Illinois. Earlier this month Governor Quinn (D) <a href="http://www.pjstar.com/free/x1271219827/Quinn-signs-law-ditching-caps-he-championed">signed a law</a> that eliminated campaign contribution limits. The law repealed another measure which had capped campaign contributions. While Quinn’s spokeswoman said the new law provided a ‘<a href="http://www.mcdonoughvoice.com/news/x634674603/Quinn-signs-law-ditching-caps-he-championed">short-term fix,’</a> Brian Gladstein, executive director of the <a href="http://www.ilcampaign.org/">Illinois Campaign for Political Reform</a>, knocked it as a way for the powerful to buy political favors.</font></p>

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<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">slate:&nbsp;</font></p>

<div class="sl-art-head">

<h2 class="sl-art-head-hed"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Numbers Don’t Lie</font></h2>

<h1 class="sl-art-head-dek"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If you aren’t sure Citizens United gave rise to the super PACs, just follow the money.</font></h1>

<p class="sl-art-byline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By <a rel="author" href="http://www.slate.com/authors.richard_l_hasen.html">Richard L. Hasen</a><span class="sl-art-datetime"><span class="sl-art-head-pipe">|</span>Posted Friday, March 9, 2012, at 2:56 PM ET</span></font></p>

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<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2012/03/the_supreme_court_s_citizens_united_decision_has_led_to_an_explosion_of_campaign_spending_.html</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">

&nbsp;</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">gangs of america:</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">

[aclu forest for the trees problem]

...Not surprisingly, corporate America was delighted with the ACLU

position on free speech. According to one document released by the

U.S. House of Representatives Commerce Committee, “Strategy to

Combat Advertising Content Restrictions and Counter-Advertising Requirements,”

the tobacco industry considered the ACLU to be the “most

prominent and valuable of our constitutional ad ban allies.”

How did the ACLU capitulate so easily to the corporate framing of

First Amendment issues? It seems that the ACLU is motivated by a

“slippery slope” notions, believing that restricting the First Amendment

rights for one segment of society will inevitably undermine the protection

for other segments. Speech should be protected, no matter what the

source. After all, if the speech of pariahs such as pornographers or Nazis

deserves protection, then why should not the speech of a mainstream

element such as the corporation?

The problem with the ACLU position is that it bases its rationale

on the wrong metaphor. Protecting corporations is not a way of avoiding

the slippery slope, analogous to protecting the speech of an unpopular

speaker. After all, a corporation is not a speaker at all.speaker is

entirely the wrong metaphor. More aptly, the corporation might be

compared to a megaphone. Suppose you go to a PTA meeting, and you

notice that one of the other parents has brought along a megaphone that

allows him or her to drown out everyone else. By asking that person to

put the megaphone down, you’re not depriving him or her the opportunity

to speak. Rather, you’re protecting the ability of other speakers to

be heard....

The Corporate Megaphone and the Kasky Case

The fallacy of seeing the corporation as a “speaker” is demonstrated

in a recent case involving Nike, Inc. In 1996, Nike began to face

serious charges of sweatshop working conditions in the Asian factories

operated by its sub-contractors. Approximately 300,000 to 500,000

people, mostly young women, work in those factories, located mainly in

Vietnam, China, Indonesia, and Thailand. Reports in the news program

48 Hours and in the New York Times, the Financial Times, the San

Francisco Chronicle, the Kansas City Star, the Oregonian, the Buffao

News, and Sporting News contained a wide range of allegations. The

New York Times reported “grim conditions” and widespread human

rights abuses in factories where Nike shoes were made. A spot audit of

one Vietnamese factory found 77 percent of workers suffering respiratory

problems. An investigator for Vietnam Labor Watch found a pervasive

“sense of desperation” from interviews with the young women

making Nike shoes. In China, the Hong Kong Christian Industrial

Committee found workers subjected to 11- to 12-hour days, compulsory

overtime, and violation of minimum wage laws. Other reports described

physical, verbal, and sexual abuse, and exposure of young workers to

toxic chemicals, noise, heat, and dust without adequate safety equipment.

In response to the allegations, Nike mounted a publicity blitz in

which it denied the charges and asserted (1) that its workers were paid

double the minimum wage, on average, (2) that workers received free

meals and health care, (3) that its workers were not subjected to corporal

punishment or sexual abuse, and (4) that its products were made in

accordance with health and safety regulations.

208 .. GANGS OF AMERICA

Marc Kasky, a San Francisco resident, became convinced that

much of the information being used by Nike in its publicity campaign

was demonstrably false. Kasky decided to take action, and after coming

to the conclusion that Nike’s statements did not even accord with the

company’s own internal audits, he filed a false advertising lawsuit in

state court under California’s Business and Professions Code.

In response to Kasky’s lawsuit, Nike’s lawyers used an interesting

legal strategy. Rather than argue that the company’s advertisements

were factual, the lawyers asserted that factuality was irrelevant in the

case because Nike was protected by the First Amendment. Thus, the

company could publicize any sort of information it wanted.even

“facts” that the company knew to be completely false.

As the case worked its way through the courts, the legal arguments

became complex. Kasky’s attorneys argued that Nike’s statements constituted

“commercial speech,” which is subject to a lower level of First

Amendment protection because of the potential harm that can result

from misrepresentations about product safety and ingredients. Nike’s

lawyers, on the other hand, argued that the sweatshops issue was a political

debate, and that the entire of purpose of the First Amendment was

to ensure that no one in such a debate could be subjected to governmental

restriction.

Once the debate was set in these terms, Nike enjoyed a tremendous

advantage. The ACLU rushed to defend the company’s freedom of

speech, as did the AFL-CIO, a variety of corporations, editorials in major

newspapers, and the Bush Administration. Typical of the arguments

was that of the ACLU’s amicus brief, which cited “…the fundamental

First Amendment principles that protect the rights of those on both sides

of a debate to speak their minds freely….”

Here was the crux of the issue: the idea of a corporate mind. When

a corporation issues a press release or runs an advertising blitz, who is

actually speaking their mind? Obviously, a corporation itself does not

have a mind. It is merely a collection of papers.the name on a financial

statement. There are, of course, managers, directors, employees,

lawyers, and public relations firms involved in such campaigns. But do

JUDICIAL YOGA .. 209

the statements issued by the corporation actually reflect the personal

opinions of any of those people? Perhaps, perhaps not. But what is certain

is that holding a company accountable for the accuracy of its advertisements

and official statements about safety conditions, worker pay,

incidents of verbal or sexual abuse by factory supervisors, or other such

information hardly seems like a restriction on anyone’s freedom of

speech. Kasky’s suit was not directed at after-hours statements made by

human beings who happened to work for Nike.rather, the suit aimed at

official statements of the company.

The situation might be compared to the responsibilities of a corporation

in the financial arena. In official statements about its financial

status, a corporation is accountable for the truthfulness of all representations.

On the other hand, if an executive wants to go to a cocktail party

or a family reunion and brag about how successful his company is, he or

she should have every right to do so.

Ultimately, society must be able to make a distinction between the

rights and prerogatives of a $10 billion corporation such as Nike and an

ordinary human being like you and me. No one would ever propose that

a physical machine that emits words is entitled to free speech. It is human

speakers that the First Amendment protects, not machines. Contrary

to the fears of the ACLU that requiring corporate statements to be

truthful puts society on a slippery slope toward restricting human

speech, the actual slippery slope is different. The real slippery slope is

an ever-increasing tendency to treat corporations as though they were

human beings.

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