PUBLIC MARKS from jasontromm with tag liberties

When Judge Anna Diggs Taylor was given the job of deciding whether the Bush administration’s wiretapping program was unconstitutional, she certainly understood that she would be ruling on one of the most politically charged cases in recent history. So it would have been prudent for her to disclose any activity that might conceivably raise questions about her ability to be impartial. Regrettably, it was left to a conservative group, Judicial Watch, to point out her role as a trustee to a foundation that had given grants to a branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, a plaintiff in the case.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is guilty of "judicial blackmail," according to the American Legion, which is pushing for congressional legislation to end one of the ACLU's streams of revenue. Judges would be stripped of the authority to award attorney fees to the ACLU and similar groups in cases involving the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment Establishment Clause, if the American Legion gets its way.

The American Civil Liberties Union has too much time on its hands. The organization is like a pesky flea, jumping around uncontrollably, able to draw blood and fully capable of driving you crazy, if not killing you. The ACLU is at it again and this one takes the cake! No doubt, over the years its taken up some questionable causes, but this latest one proves its lost it.

A federal judge in Louisville, Kentucky, granted a temporary restraining order prohibiting a prayer from being said during graduation ceremonies at an area high school after a Muslim student on the planning committee objected and garnered the help of the American Civil Liberties Union.

The American Civil Liberties Union failed an attempt to remove volunteers with the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps from Arizona state land. Pat King, according to the Daily Star, called the ACLU members misguided, out-of-town youngsters who don't understand what people and drug smugglers have done to her land and the valley.

A new congressional effort to police advertising by crisis pregnancy centers is unnecessary, pro-life advocates said, and unconstitutional, free-speech defenders charged. The American Civil Liberties Union, which has long promoted itself as the leading defender of freedom of speech and civil rights, is right in the middle of the controversy, promoting the new legislation to the surprise of some.

Court whacks civil-liberties group, OKs Ten Commandments display A U.S. appeals court today upheld the decision of a lower court in allowing the inclusion of the Ten Commandments in a courthouse display, hammering the American Civil Liberties Union and declaring, "The First Amendment does not demand a wall of separation between church and state."

A recent government order mandating that voice over internet protocol services must include the same government-approved wiretapping capabilities as traditional phone companies threatens to cripple peer-to-peer telephone innovation, according to new warnings from civil liberties groups and an internet telephony pioneer.

Liberties should be as unlimited as possible -- unless and until there arises a real threat to the open society.