Campaign Controversy Over the ACLU

“A Republican Views the Case for the ACLU” (by Alan Pell Crawford, Opinion, Oct. 2) is a mixed bag which at best damns the ACLU with praise, and at worst is a plea trying to justify George Bush’s sneering contempt of the organization and, of course, for what it stands for--the Bill of Rights. Shedding crocodile tears, our Republican critic, who claims to be a “fellow traveler,” bemoans that most Americans’ view of the American Civil Liberties Union won’t be one that civil libertarians would appreciate. This view almost takes us back to the 1920s when the ACLU first appeared. Civil liberties were in a sorry state. The most notable thing about the Bill of Rights was its nearly total lack of implementation. The Supreme Court had yet to uphold a single claim of free speech under the First Amendment. With the emergence of ACLU all this slowly began to change.

For the first time, courts were presented systematically with constitutional violations. During the 1920s and ‘30s ACLU’s role was critical in many celebrated cases, and by the ‘40s and ‘50s the stage was set for the courts to accept broad constitutional protections. The ‘60s, the ‘70s and later evidenced that the ACLU and similar organizations allowed our constitutional system to apply in real life. We should be aware, however, not only of the distance we have come but also how far we have yet to go to prevent the return to the long period when the Bill of Rights was reduced to a formal piece of paper.

To anyone who may wonder just what, when, where and why this unique organization’s activities are vital, perhaps the best answer was provided by playwright Elmer Rice, on the 40th birthday of ACLU.

“Anybody here having a little liberty trouble? Some little thing your doctor, dentist, veterinarian, garageman, landscape gardener . . . or psychiatrist can’t quite handle for you? Or hasn’t got the know-how maybe? Well, just drop us a postcard--or give us a ring--and we’ll come a-running. Somebody tapping your wire or roughing you up a little at the station house? Somebody telling you you can’t say that, hear that, read that, mail that? Finding it hard to get into school, a bus, a jury box? . . . Well, just come around and spill it all to us. We’ll not only tell them where they get off, but speed up the process with a swift kick where it will do the most good. For we are the Liberty Boys, the Habeas Corpus Boys, the Certiorari Boys, the Amicus Boys. . . . When we bust into the courthouse, the judge reaches for his earphone, the sheriff tries to hide behind the flag--and the D.A. wishes he hadn’t played hooky from law school.”

We have been criticized and maligned, harassed and ridiculed, yet we have never failed to adhere to our mission--which is to protect every foot, every inch of liberty for everyone in any part of America.

TED SCHOENMAN

Santa Barbara