To Serve and Protect #3 — And now a word from the loyal opposition
THEIR OFFICIAL LOGO. M FOR MAN, b for boy. Very Sick
Representing the Unpopular Client
By Denise Lieberman ACLU/EM Legal Director
When people learn that I am an ACLU lawyer I am often asked how I come to grips with our defense of morally reprehensible groups like the Ku Klux Klan. Many cannot reconcile their belief in freedom of speech with their repugnance towards the client. I respond that we don’t advocate the client’s viewpoints, but the broader legal issue. The ACLU has stood up for everyone from Oliver North to the National Socialist Party, represented a fundamentalist Christian church, a Santerian church, and the International Society of Krishna Consciousness. Yet the ACLU has never advocated Christianity or Krishna beliefs, socialism or arms trading. What the ACLU has advocated is freedom of speech and the protection of civil liberties. While most people understand this on an intellectual level, many have difficulty internalizing our representation on a personal level, and a good number condemn it altogether.
There are mixed messages about the representation of unpopular clients. We think itís a good idea in theory, but tend to pass judgment when the actual clients become too distasteful for our sensibilities. Retaliation often befalls attorneys who undertake unpopular causes. Anthony Griffin was terminated from his role as general counsel for the NAACP after he served as a cooperating attorney for the ACLU representing the KKK against efforts by the state of Texas to compel the group to turn over its membership list. An entire website, called the ACLU Rage Page, has been dedicated to condemning ACLU lawyers for the Massachusetts affiliateís representation of NAMBLA (North American Man-Boy Love Association) last year. After the ACLUís litigation locally to remove a government-sponsored crËche in Florissant several years ago, the public response was so threatening that a new security system had to be installed in our St. Louis office and the FBI were called to monitor our safety.
Why? People associate lawyers with their clients. We see this in many ACLU cases, — our stance defending the offensive and the politically incorrect from burdensome censorship laws, [I.E. expanding access to the most vile pornography]
defending the religiously and politically outcast, advocating in opposition to the death penalty for those convicted of ghastly crimes, fighting for expanded rights for gays and lesbians, [I.E., the normalization of that, along with adotions and marriage]
and fighting laws enacted to restrict offensive material on the internet. [I.E., porno once again -- it is big business and great for destroying a stable moral order]
In St. Louis, the ACLU affiliate has been accused of being anti-police for defending a police officerís right to speak out about racism on the police force and for our efforts to combat racial profiling; and for being anti-Christian for our litigation to remove nativity scenes from government buildings, and for being anti-safe schools for defending students’ free speech rights.
NOT A BAD ARTICLE, DENISE.
NOW, IF YOU THINK THA T “Retaliation often befalls attorneys who undertake unpopular causes” YOU SHOULD EXPERIENCE SOMETIME THE RETALIATION THAT CAN BEFALL AN ATTORNEY WHO TAKES ON THE CULTURE OF DEATH DIRECTLY.
I CAN ASSURE YOU THAT YOU HAVE NOT SEEN ANYTHING QUITE LIKE IT, AS THAT ACLU ATTORNEYS ARE NEVER AS REJECTED IN THE CORRIDORS OF POWER AND SMOKEFILLED BACK ROOMS AS ARE PRO-LIFE ATTORNEYS.
MORE DETAILS TO FOLLOW ….
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