Somerville Civil Liberties resolution passes!

[cos]

Jake Beal writes,

The Somerville Bill of Rights Defense Committee is proud of announce that our city has become a Civil Liberties Safe Zone.

Tonight, March 11th, the Somerville Board of Aldermen voted unanimously in favor of our resolution (minus clause #5 --- monitoring --- which vanished in committee as a compromise to get the rest passed)

Next step: implementation, and recovery of clause #5.

Here's the press release:

---

Somerville Becomes Civil Liberties Safe Zone

On Thursday, March 11th, the Somerville Board of Aldermen unanimously
passed the Civil Liberties Safe Zone resolution, making Somerville the
264th community to protect its residents from the USA PATRIOT Act.

Over 1,100 Somerville residents signed a petition in favor of the
resolution. "The outpouring of support we had from people signing
the petition was amazing," said Abi Harper, one of the authors
of the Somerville resolution.

The ill-named USA PATRIOT Act, a messy piece of legislation passed in
the panic immediately following September 11th, violates many of the
rights guaranteed to Americans. Parts of the Act have already been
ruled unconstitutional, and challenges are underway against more of
it.

Among other things, the act (and accompanying executive orders) allow
the government to search your house without a warrant, spy on your
medical records and book purchases, tap your phone without probable
cause, and put you in prison without charging you with a crime.

Somerville adds to the growing clamor against the Act, coming from
both Republicans and Democrats. Groups as diverse as the ACLU and the
Eagle Forum oppose the Act, and pressure is mounting in Congress to
repeal the objectionable parts of the law.

Somerville is in good company: Washington D.C., New York City, Los
Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, Seattle, and Detroit have all
got resolutions, to name just a few. Here in the Boston area,
so have Arlington, Cambridge, Brookline, and Newton.

For more information on the USA PATRIOT Act and efforts to oppose
it in Somerville, contact the Somerville Bill of Rights Defense
Committee in email at info@municipalfreedom.org, on the web at
http://www.municipalfreedom.org/ or call (617) 764-2357.

---

If you live in Somerville, call your alderman and thank them for their support. Politicians need to be thanked when they do the right thing --- it makes them much happier to do it the next time!

Comments

[frederic.livejournal.com]

My first reaction is "Wow... Somerville rocks!"

It still does, but when I realized that Somerville officials don't really utilize the Patriot Act but higher level organizations like federal agencies who are most likely to use it will just not care about what rinky-dink Somerville has to say about it.

[cos]

Somerville's not exactly rinky-dink - it has a population larger than that of the largest cities of many states, including nearby Maine and Vermont. It's a substantial city. And Somerville's former Mayor Capuano is now in Congress.

But you're right, if it were just Somerville, it wouldn't make much of a difference. However, it's not just Somerville - it's over 250 cities, towns, and counties, and three states, covering nearly 50 million people, so far. It is getting noticed. Read some of these articles:
http://search.csmonitor.com/search_content/0916/dailyUpdate.html
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0407/hentoff.php
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2004/01/20/resistance_to_patriot_act_gaining_ground?mode=PF

And finally, read the resolution itself. There are things in it that do matter on a local level. Most law enforcement, and civil liberties related issues, happen on the local level. The intention here isn't just to cancel out bad federal policies, but to counterbalance them by enacting good local policies. In other words, this isn't just about reducing the negatives, it's also about adding new positives.

[herr-burren.livejournal.com]

I asked in the prior thread what the point of this was, but let me rephrase: What is the legal point of this? Does it actually suspend the Patriot act in Somerville, or register our displeasure iwth the Patriot Act as currently constituted?

I am no fan of the act, but I don't understand how this resolution will affect the Patriot Act and it's enforcement.

[cos]

Well, it registers displeasure, but it does other things too. Read the resolution itself, first of all. Then, see my reply to the previous commenter.

[cos]

Oh, also, read Jake's Story on the web site, for an example of how the actions of local officials can matter. BTW, I was in Portland, ME last month for the Portland caucus, and the city was hopping mad about a recent series of INS raids on minority owned businesses. Apparently the mayor, much of the city council, and their congressional rep, all marched in a protest, and at the Portland caucus, both the mayor and the aforementioned Representative spoke against Ashcroft, the Patriot Act, and the raids. This sort of thing happening all over the country does matter. Even the Republicans in Congress started clapping when Bush said parts of the Patriot Act are going to expire soon, and then sat down quietly with the Democrats when Bush went on to ask them to vote to extend those parts.

[sasha-bee.livejournal.com]

It's amazing and scary that we have to establish "Civil Liberties Safe Zones"; before the "Patriot" Act, the United States was a civil liberties safe zone! Good for Somerville!