By John Stephenson
I just finished reading Indefensible: 10 Ways The ACLU Is Destroying America by Sam Kastensmidt. I highly recommend it for everyone.
The book covers most of our own top ten reasons to stop the ACLU, however much more extensively. It covers everything the ACLU stands for. From the agenda of silencing the churches and abortion to the sexualization of children…the book covers it in excellent detail.
There have been many great books written on the ACLU. Most focus on the social and religious issues that are under attack. Alan Sears’ book, ACLU Vs. America, focused on mainly on these issues, however it did touch upon how the ACLU attacks our sovreignty. This book, Indefensible, also focuses on the social issues, but I was happy to see that it devoted an entire chapter on how the ACLU is Impeding America’s War On Terror. I’m going to share a few excerpts from sections within that particular chapter.
ACLU Fights Measure To Halt Terrorists’ Funding
Only weeks after the tragedy (911), Congress acted to dismantle the financial infrastructure supporting known terrorist organizations. On October 3, 2001, U.S. Rep. Michael Oxley (OH) introduced the “Financial Anti-Terrorism Act of 2001,” seeking to freeze all accounts directly linked to the “financing of terrorism.”
The need for such legislation was deemed so vital to national security that it passed the U.S. House on a vote of 421-1. Almost the entire Congress recognized that this legislation’s passage was imperative. Still, on the day before the vote was scheduled, the ACLU delivered letters of opposition to all members of Congress.
“We urge you to oppose the ‘Financial Anti-Terrorism Act of 2001,'” the letter began. Why? One portion of the bill made it a federal crime to conceal large amounts of “illegally obtained” cash (over $10,000) while traveling. In a desperate and shameful attempt to justify its stance, the ACLU played the race card. The letter argued, “This provision may impact, disproportionately, people of color and immigrants….[because] these groups of people often have a more difficult time getting access to sources of credit and bank accounts and so use cash transactions more frequently than others do.”
Under the ACLU’s reasoning, impoverished people would be discriminated against by this bill. The likelihood of impoverished minorities carrying around more than $10,000 in cash and concealing it was supposedly a grave concern for the ACLU. Thankfully the ACLU’s efforts to stop this were unsuccessful.
A little more from the book:
Later in the war, the ACLU actually volunteered its legal services to represent suspected terrorists!
In 2001, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments from several alleged “illegal combatants,” including two cases involving U.S. citizens and one case involving 14 foreign “illegal enemy combatants.” The ACLU filed amicus briefs on behalf of the suspected terrorists in each case, arguing that ll “enemy combatants” cpatured during a time of war should have access to American courtrooms-regardless of their citizenship.
The Pentagon contended that “enemy combatants” should face military tribunals-the standard procedure in all previous international wars. U.S. Solictor General Theodore Olson, whose wife, Barbara Olson, was killed on September 11, when Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon, reminded the Supreme Court Justices that the plaintiffs were requesting a “jurisdiction that is not authorized by Congress, does not arise from the Constitution, and has never been exercised by this Court.”
Though the U.S. Constitution does not extend rights to non-citizen enemy combatants, judicial restraint did not prevent the moder Court from creating this new right out of thin air.
Thankfully this decision was made moot by the passing of the Military Commission Act. However, the ACLU’s war on National Security continues, and giving habeous corpus to non-American citizens is on their New Year Resolution list. It is actually number one on the list, followed by destroying the NSA terrorist surveillance program, and destroying our ability to keep secrets.
Overall the book was well put together and very informative. I highly recommend checking it out.
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