Annual Report Annual

BECAUSE FREEDOM CAN’T PROTECT ITSELF NEWS AND EVENTS FROM THE ACLU OF WASHINGTON 2006-2007 ANNUAL REPORT ISSUE | VOLUME 39, NO. 3 million in state tax money. Washington people imprisoned by the government. Th e Annual Report helped lead a rebellion that saw 16 other Roberts bloc at the U.S. Supreme Court states taking similar actions. has shown itself to be no friend of civil Faced with an unresponsive national rights, as seen in its landmark ruling this government, the ACLU has made real summer against Seattle’s school desegrega- progress for civil liberties at the state level. tion program. Shortly after that, our state 2006-2007 We strongly supported the creation of a Supreme Court ruled against the ACLU’s new state registry of domestic partners, challenge to the disenfranchisement of Former U.S. Attorney General John climb back to their rightful place. providing same-sex couples with some of individuals who’ve completed serving their Ashcroft oversaw some of the worst abuses We’ve begun to see rays of hope. Last the rights and protections of marriage. We time for a felony but still owe court fees of power of the Bush administration. Even year the U.S. Supreme Court overturned helped convince the Legislature to require and penalties. Now we’re focusing eff orts so, he said “no,” from his hospital bed, to the White House’s system of military the teaching of accurate information in on convincing the state Legislature to the request of Alberto Gonzales to approve tribunals in Guantánamo. Recently, the K-12 sex education classes. We obtained remedy the problem. the National Security Agency’s warrantless court agreed to review the imprisonment of changes in the medical marijuana laws to Winning or losing, the ACLU has been spying program back in 2004. So the presi- several detainees there, reversing an earlier better protect patients and caregivers. We running a strenuous marathon during the dent then did what he has done repeatedly decision not to consider their cases. Th e worked with pro-choice allies to convince Bush administration. Th e good news is that in his administration - he ignored the law ACLU’s lawsuit against the NSA helped the Washington Pharmacy Board to guar- it has strengthened us. We have seen our and the Constitution and continued the pressure the administration to submit its antee patient access to medications such membership and our infl uence grow. We surveillance program. spying program to the review of the For- as emergency contraception and HIV will need that strength and the support Th is incident, recently revealed in tes- eign Intelligence Surveillance Act court, inhibitors. of our members for many more years to timony to the U.S. Senate, illustrates the as required by law – though the White Th at’s not all. We launched a new Tech- come. It will take that long just to undo challenges faced by civil libertarians. For six House continues to assert its power to run nology and Liberty Project to ensure that the damage caused by people with too years and counting, the administration has the program without oversight. government and business respect civil much arrogance and too little respect for blocked eff orts to enforce the law, restore And here in Washington, we obtained liberties when they adopt new technologies. America’s values of liberty and justice. basic rights and make itself accountable. vindication for an Iraqi refugee who was Th e project is already taking a hard look We’ve had a federal government that snoops wrongfully detained and harassed by immi- at the privacy risks of embedding radio on citizens without cause, jails people with- gration offi cers, and shined a spotlight on transmitters in identity and transportation out charges, tortures prisoners of war, and telecoms’ complicity in the illegal mining documents. We are responding vigorously ignores the Geneva Conventions. of phone records. to the unfair application of school disci- Th e ACLU has led the resistance, shaping To make advances in Washington, D.C., pline against ethnic and racial minorities, Jesse Wing the public dialogue around civil liberties, lawmakers often need pressure from home. educating parents and students about their Board President repeatedly challenging presidential actions We were very happy that our work with rights, and advocating for remedies to in court, and eking out some, though cer- the Washington State Legislature resulted disparities in achievement test scores. tainly not suffi cient, action by Congress. in passage of a bill that rejects the REAL But so much work remains. Congress has With hard work and good luck, we hope ID Act – the federal law that would create failed to reform the Military Commissions history will remember 2007 as the water- a de facto national ID card at the expense Act to restore the writ of habeas corpus, Kathleen Taylor shed year when civil liberties began the slow of our personal privacy and at least $250 the essential guarantee of due process for Executive Director Seattle, WA Seattle, Permit #1379 Permit www.aclu-wa.org PAID Seattle, WA 98104-1799 WA Seattle, U.S. Postage U.S. 705 2nd Avenue, 3rd Fl. 3rd Avenue, 2nd 705 t org. t fi non-pro American Civil Liberties Union of Washington of Union Liberties Civil American Page 2 Civil Liberties ACLU-WA 2006-2007 Annual Report Homeland SECURITY Domestic Spying and Presidential Power Th e National Security Agency’s secretive domestic spying programs have stood as a symbol of the administration’s fl outing of the Constitution and the rule of law. Ever since they were disclosed in 2005, the ACLU has forcefully countered the government’s sweeping assertion that the president has “inherent powers” to order Photo Courtesy of the Washington State Senate such covert surveillance of communica- Gov. Chris Gregoire signs a bill rejecting state implementation of the REAL ID Act, which would create a nationwide ID card. tions by people in America. Th e ACLU fi led a lawsuit in early 2006 as required by law. Still, the administration rule of law, ending warrantless surveillance placing personally identifi able information challenging the legality of monitoring claims it has the power to conduct NSA will require a long-term eff ort. To further in databases accessible across the country, electronic communications without a monitoring without warrants, and it re- public awareness, our Annual Membership REAL ID makes the information more court warrant. Th e suit was fi led on be- mains unclear whether individual requests Conference in February 2007 focused on vulnerable to identity theft and misuse. half of journalists, scholars, attorneys and for surveillance go before the court. “Confronting the Surveillance Society.” As the ACLU sounded the alarm over nonprofi t organizations, who felt stifl ed in In this state, the ACLU took on another Several hundred members and supporters privacy concerns, state offi cials were horri- their work because of likely government NSA surveillance activity, its program for heard journalist James Bamford, an expert fi ed by REAL ID’s expense. In Washington, eavesdropping. data mining of telephone records. In May on the National Security Agency, describe the net costs of implementing the new In October 2006, U.S. District Court 2006, we asked the Washington Utilities in fascinating detail the inner workings of system would be $250 million over the Judge Anna Diggs Taylor found the and Transportation Commission (UTC) to the secretive agency. fi rst fi ve years, according to a survey by program unconstitutional, declaring that investigate whether phone companies here the American Association of Motor Vehicle “there are no hereditary Kings in America illegally surrendered private phone records Administrators. and no powers not created by the Constitu- to the NSA. According to news reports, REAL ID = Real With strong bipartisan votes, the Legis- tion.” But in July 2007, an appeals court several telecommunications companies Mess lature passed a measure prohibiting state dismissed the lawsuit, fi nding that plaintiff s enabled the agency to collect and analyze implementation of the Act, unless the fed- could not show they had been the subjects massive amounts of customer phone Recognizing that a national ID is the eral government fully funds it and provides of NSA surveillance. In an exercise of cir- records, without a warrant or permission hallmark of authoritarian government, our stronger protections for privacy. Senators cular logic, the court did not explain how from the customers. nation traditionally has balked at creat- Mary Margaret Haugen, Dan Swecker and the subject of a secret surveillance program Th e ACLU testifi ed at two UTC hearings ing one. Washington is in the forefront Ed Murray sponsored the legislation. By could possibly prove that he or she was the on whether to conduct an investigation, of a rebellion by states seeking to block summer, 17 states had adopted measures subject of secret surveillance. Th e ACLU and 4,000 people signed our petition implementation of a federal law that rejecting REAL ID. has decided to appeal the decision to the calling for one. However, in September would establish a national ID system by U.S. Supreme Court. 2006, the commission decided to wait for the back door. Th e lawsuit, though, had some political Congress or the courts to clarify legal ques- Passed by Congress in 2005 without Save Habeas impact. Combined with pressure from tions about state jurisdiction and national serious debate, the REAL ID Act requires Corpus looming congressional hearings, it moved security. In the meantime, the UTC ordered states to produce standardized driver’s the administration to backtrack. In 2007, phone companies to secure the customer licenses and to store the drivers’ informa- Th e writ of habeas corpus is the single the president placed the spying program records that may have been shared.

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