CIVIL LIBERTIES ADVOCATES ASSAULT FROM AMERICA S

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000707220024-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 18, 2011
• Sequence Number: 24
• Publication Date: November 10, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/01/18: CIA-RDP90-00552R000707220024-9
4? ARTICLE }PE ''D
0T1T '?AGE____ ,
CHRISTIAN SCI E.,TCE i-'o nnr'CR
10 November 1981
q NO,
1 11 !l rues advoca es bri,
assault fro mi'"Americ'a's rigi
'
First of two articles on civil liberties and
the Reagan WVtllte House.
The Christian Science Monitor
:.. ::. _. Washington '
In the American Civil Liberties Union of-
fice a few `blocks 'from the Capitol, John
Shattuck is fielding phone calls from report-,
ers. Attorney General William French Smith'
has just launched a major attack on'the fed-
eral courts for finding too many "implied"
rights in the Constitution, and the ACLU is
responding.
Reading from a hastily drafted statement
scribbled on a yellow pad.-Mr. Shattuck
shoots back that. winning a presidential elec-
tion does not give the Reagan administration
license to run the judicial branch. too. .
The ACLU, founded 60 years ago to defend
Individual rights, routinely wades into such
disputes. But even for this controversy-prone
-group, which two years ago infuriated much
of Its liberal membership by backing. the Nazi;
Party's right to march, these are extraordi-
nary times.-
A year-ago, Shattuck, legislative director
and chief lobbyist for q:g ACLU. thought his;
office was busy,-..arguing from tupe?to time'
.with the Carter, administration and trying to
pass bills through, Congress. Now-those days.
Seen) like easy times.. :.
"The difference is that we are now fighting
a combination of a hostile government and;t
very stron& hostile political force 'outside the
government" on civil liberties issues, he says
While administration officials deny that
they are hostile to civil liberties, the new'ad-
ministration and the ACLU have been at cross
purposes almost from the start. Presidential
counselor Edwin Meese III fired the first shot !
last May when he called the ACLU part of a
"criminals' lobby" because of its efforts on -
behalf of convicted criminals. Mr. Meese
later backed away from the statement, but
not very far. (A . Department . of Justice
spokesman recently joked that whenever the!
ACLU and New York Times oppose a stand,
"Thep we think we're right.") ;._
Meanwhile, -outside of the government,
groups such as Moral Majority, the National.
Conservative- Political Action Committee
(NCPAC). and others from the New Right
have grown powerful.
"They have their view of civil liberties,". 1
concedes Shattuck. But it is certainly not the!
ACLU view. which emphasizes-free speech.
separation of church and state, abortion
rights, and desegregated schools, as well as
protection " of the , rights of. criminal
?defendants.:.!:::; ..... ,.,. i;;.;a
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release
en
s rights..says Shattuck.
vive the engines of interns
House Un-American Acti'i
he adds. (The ACLU is w
circulating in the House of.
reinstate the defunct HUAC, which once in-f
vestigated suspected communists.)
. "At the same tune we have the Reagan ad-
ministration," says the ACLU lobbyist. ".'It is
often feeling pressures from the New Right.,
This makes our- work extremely important!
and difficult."..'
The new climate already has reshaped the
civil liberties organizaton. which once fo-
cused on winning its cases in courts but is -in
creasingly turning to the political arena. The
group has even taken a page out of the New
Right handbook by going directly' to the
"grass-roots" to try to build local support. -
. "We are learning that the definitions of li-
berty are fought out in the political arena,"
says Shattuck. "It is not enough to rely on d .
cisions of the courts unless there is popular
support for the courts.!-' As part of the- new
strategy, the: ACLU is running conferences
around the''country with the theme "cam ,
panto - defend. the -Bill of - Rights. in'
Congress .7. - .,
Shattuck lists six areas his group consid-{
ers most pressing:
1. Extending the Voting Rights Act. Thel
law, which protects the rights of minorities to
vote. has strong ACLU backing. The House
already has voted for extension. President
Reagan late last week gave a lukewarm en-
'dorsement of the act, but encouraged the Sen-
ate-to,add "reasonable" procedures to allow
states and localities to bail out of the Voting
Rights Act requirements. .
2. Protecting the federal courts. Shattuck
has counted some 40 bills in Congress aimed'
at stripping, the federal courts of authority to
rule- on -Cases involving abortion,. school
prayer, and school busing. He calls these bills',
adangerous precedent for amending the Con-
stitution by a simple act of Congress, short-
circuiting the amendment process.
3. -Reproductive freedom. While the Su-
preme Court- ruling that granted abortion,
rights in 1973 was correct." Shattuck says,
"There was not enough political support for it.
when it came down. Perhaps the way wasn't
paved." He is lobbying against several at- !
tempts to overturn that decisiom including a
Senate bill that would give legal personhood
to a fetus.- - . - -
4. Criminal justice changes. He is opposing
a number of Reagan proposals,, including
jailing accused criminals without bail if they
are considered dangerqus. permitting use in .~
court of some evidence gained illegally, and
limiting a prison inmate's access to federal
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