12/14/2007: "National Bill of Rights Day"

National Bill of Rights Day is December 15, 2007. The San Juan Island Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington urges all citizens to honor and to express gratitude for the legacy of civil liberties passed down to us from previous generations.

The Bill of Rights limits and restricts the powers of the government, defines what the government cannot do, and states that the citizens hold the right to restrain government. The Bill of Rights protects freedoms of speech, of the press, of assembly, of religion, to petition the government, to keep and to bear arms; protects us from unreasonable arrests, searches and seizures, excessive bail, double jeopardy, coerced confessions, cruel and unusual punishment; and secures our rights to probable cause, due process, counsel, jury trials and to defense witnesses. The Bill of Rights ensures that liberty depends upon the people, not the government.

The local chapter sent out a press release that maintains “celebration is not enough”, and in a press release stated:. "’We the people’ must act to defend our liberties. Central tenets of the Bill of Rights have been violated under the often-used, ill-defined, seldom questioned term ‘national security’. We are being forced to accept that some freedoms must be abandoned for the sake of safety. In response, we suggest that the words of Benjamin Franklin in 1759 remain appropriate today: ‘They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety’".

The chapter is asking “all citizens to protest to the Administration and to our Congressional representatives the recent Bill of Rights infringements such as the elimination of aspects of the right to privacy by the USA Patriot Act of 2001 and the elimination of due process and habeas corpus by the Military Commissions Act of 2006. Additional abuses may be expected under the ‘Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act (HR 1955)’ that passed the House of Representatives in October and is under consideration in the Senate (S 1959).

They point out that “Freedom cannot defend itself”, and ask others to “please join with us in the recognition and celebration of the Bill of Rights and in the difficult and never-ending effort to preserve this centerpiece of our democracy.”.