ACLU Exercises Its Right of Irony

Anthony Romero seems to invite conflict:

The American Civil Liberties Union is weighing new standards that would discourage its board members from publicly criticizing the organization's policies and internal administration.

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Given the organization's longtime commitment to defending free speech, some former board members were shocked by the proposals.

Nat Hentoff, a writer and former A.C.L.U. board member, was incredulous. "You sure that didn't come out of Dick Cheney's office?" he asked.

[...]

But some former board members and A.C.L.U. supporters said the proposals were an effort to stifle dissent.

"It sets up a framework for punitive action," said Muriel Morisey, a law professor at Temple University who served on the board for four years until 2004.

Susan Herman, a Brooklyn Law School professor who serves on the board, said board members and others were jumping to conclusions.

"No one is arguing that board members have no right to disagree or express their own point of view," Ms. Herman said. "Many of us simply think that in exercising that right, board members should also consider their fiduciary duty to the A.C.L.U. and its process ideals."

This isn't the first time Anthony Romero has taken an anti-free speech position:

As we learned from this year's presidential race, it is hard to forgive where there is no admission of error. So it was with joy and relief that I learned, October 18, that the American Civil Liberties Union finally had owned up to a whopper — the signing of a pledge, as a condition of receiving a grant from the Ford Foundation grant, not to "promote or engage in violence, terrorism or bigotry or the destruction of any state."

[...]

When it came to light in July that the ACLU had signed the Ford and Combined Federal Campaign pledges, many ACLU supporters were shocked. Romero's damage control regarding the federal campaign pledge made it worse. He said he had signed, in effect, with his fingers crossed behind his back and that he had never intended to actually check the watch lists.

Then, when ACLU President Nadine Strossen called that a "clever interpretation" of the pledge language, the shock turned to outrage. The whole fiasco became Topic One throughout the ACLU and its scores of state and local affiliates.

As an ACLU member I have to think that it's time for Romero to go.





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