The ACLU’s Free Speech Double Standards

• June 19, 2006

Here’s an ACLU spokesmen commenting on a recent Supreme Court ruling regarding government whistleblowers (I posted on that ruling here):

“In an era of excessive government secrecy, the court has made it easier to engage in a government cover-up by discouraging internal whistle-blowing,” said Steven Shapiro, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union.

Now here’s some reporting on new standards the ACLU is thinking on imposing upon its board members:

A lawyer in the New York state attorney general’s office informally warned the American Civil Liberties Union that his office had concerns about proposed standards that would limit the group’s board members from speaking publicly about policies and internal operations, according to three board members.

Could it be that the ACLU is worried about loose-lipped board members divulging information that would undermine the group’s ability to obtain its objectives? Sort of like how loose-lipped government officials undermine our intelligence community’s ability to keep this country safe when they expose details of our anti-terror intelligence gathering programs to the media?
Hypocrisy, they name is ACLU.
(via John J. Miller)

Tags: Freedom Of Speech

http://Array JeremyB

Sure, there’s a difference, and what the ACLU is doing might very well be legal. But it’s still hypocritical to engage in activities that you loudly denounce others (such as the government) for engaging in.

Either transparency and openness to criticism are good, or they’re no, whether you are the U.S. Government or the ACLU.
jpe

So you don’t understand that suppression of speech by the state and a contractual agreement between private parties are very different?
LoadTheMule

But…but…but it’s different when they want to do it.

Regards…
http://sayanythingblog.com robport

So you don’t understand that suppression of speech by the state and a contractual agreement between private parties are very different?

So you don’t understand that the suppression of a citizen’s free speech by the government is different from prosecuting a government employee for violating the confidentiality they agreed to when accepting their job?

Using your way of thinking, the folks down at the IRS could tell everyone all about my financial information and get away with it since it’s their right to free speech and all.

SayAnythingBlog.com

The ACLU’s Free Speech Double Standards

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