If you’re thinking about making a holiday donation to the American Civil Liberties Union, don’t. The ACLU has come down on the side of the radical religious reich and the phony-baloney preservers of traditional false-witness bearing. This morning we learn the ACLU thinks the Yes on H8 crowd should not have to comply with Chief US District Judge Vaughn Walker’s order to surrender materials pertaining to the Yes on H8 campaign, as part of the Olson-Boies suit challenging Prop H8 that is scheduled to go to trial on 11 January 2010 in San Francisco.
Bob Egelko, writing at the San Francisco Chronicle, has the details:
The American Civil Liberties Union, which supports marital rights for gays and lesbians, is siding with opponents of same-sex marriage who are challenging a judge’s order to turn over campaign documents from last year’s effort to pass Proposition 8.
Foes of the voter-approved initiative hope the documents will help them prove that the ballot measure was rooted in bigotry and was therefore unconstitutional. The ACLU’s Northern California chapter, which supports the lawsuit, nevertheless filed arguments with the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals saying the court-ordered disclosure could endanger people’s freedom to speak freely while planning political campaigns.
[ ... ]
“The people charged with running those campaigns cannot do so effectively while fearing that every proposal they float, every crazy idea they shoot down … will ultimately become fodder for their opponents,” said Stephen Bomse, a San Francisco attorney who represented the ACLU.
What a load of total crap! The fundies are suing the NO on 8 side to get their Mormon money stained hands on its internal documents. Where’s the ACLU on that? Lawyers for the radical religious reich subpoenaed everything but the shirt on Fred Karger’s back, and fighting it may cost the founder of Californians Against Hate that shirt and more:
On Saturday morning, September 5, 2009 I was served a subpoena in a federal lawsuit where the old Prop 8 campaign committee, ProtectMarriage.com has filed suit against every major California election official from the Attorney General, Secretary of State, all five commissioners of the FPPC (who are in the middle of their investigation of the Mormon Church and the National Organization for Marriage) to the big county registrars of voters. The lawsuit attempts to end reporting of contributor names in California. California was the first state in the nation to implement this type of law when the voters passed the Political Reform Act of 1974. It has worked well over the past 35 years, but NOM and its allies obviously do not believe in transparency.
By subpoenaing me, they are forcing me to spend lots of money on attorneys to represent me throughout the proceedings.
The subpoena calls for me to produce all emails, correspondence, faxes and all stored information that deal with my activities with Californians Against Hate from January 1, 2008 to the present.
I don’t expect the American Civil Liberties Union will be making much of a donation to Karger’s Five for Fred fundraising campaign, but you might consider it.
Click for Printable Version
