ACLU: “We’re Too Busy”
That’s basically the response from the Texas ACLU in answer to a donor who wants to know why they aren’t engaged in the Zion debacle. The full letter below:
First off, I apologize for the difficulty you’ve had reaching someone by phone here at the ACLU of Texas. Our offices moved last weekend and the phone people have yet to make our telephones work. I know this has frustrated you - please know that it has also frustrated all of us on staff here, and please accept our apology.
Next, I know you’ve been imploring that the ACLU of Texas get involved in the situation in Eldorado. You’ve heard that we’re monitoring and observing the situation, and that’s about all I’m able to tell you that we are doing at this time. I’ve prepared the email below that will be emailed out to some of our contacts later today, and I wanted you to see it. I hope it goes some distance toward answering your questions and allaying your concerns.
Last, I wanted to address a comment in your email - “so worried about baggy pants….fail to smell the shit….” Rest assured that the ACLU of Texas is doing everything it can to address the most egregious violations of rights and liberties in our state given our limited resources. We are a small staff and Texas is a big state. Indeed, as my email below indicates, our legal department currently includes only two lawyers. We work using not just the courts, but also (local and state) legislatures, and community and public educational programs to promote positive change in Texas. We are daily addressing racism and racial profiling by law enforcement, the violation of the fundamental human rights of immigrants, the disfunctionality of Texas public school districts and their policies, reproductive rights, LGBT rights, etc., etc. I personally wish that we could deploy a team of lawyers to Eldorado, but that’s simply beyond our current capacity, and frankly, our lawyers say, of questionable benefit at this time. I do know that other organizations, including the Texas Advocacy Project (an anti-domestic violence legal advocacy group) and Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, among others, were there in San Angelo with our legal director. Likewise, there are hundreds of private attorneys on the scene as well. We do work often and quite effectively in coalition with other groups and private attorneys, and have advised those groups to let us know when the ACLU’s continued involvement can have an impact.
Nonetheless, I believe the ACLU’s response to Eldorado to date has been adequate under the circumstances.
I applaud your interest in assuring that everyone’s constitutional rights are respected, and, on behalf of all of us at the ACLU, we do sincerely and humbly appreciate your support. Indeed, increased financial support is the one thing that can help expand our capacity to confront the myriad rights violations that occur each day in our state, so thank you for standing with us.
I hope this email has gone some way towards addressing your concerns, and I thank you for contacting the ACLU of Texas.
Sincerely,
James
James Canup
Director of Development
ACLU Foundation of Texas
P.O. Box 12905, Austin, TX 78711-2905
512-478-7300, ext. 102
512-478-7303 fax
10 Comments to “ACLU: “We’re Too Busy””
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they would be interested IF someone reported the children were being FORCED to pray against their will.
Right on, Houston. Because the ACLU has never ever ever worked on behalf of religious folks. They hate religion. The conservatives on the teevee tell me so.
It’s not just the “teevee” that told you so.
They’re also busy fighting against some license plates in Indiana. Why? Because they will offer the option of having “In God we trust” on them.
http://www.indystar.com/apps/p.....8804180442
Just to be clear, I’m w/ Gwyon in my previous post.
The previous post that never appeared:
The greatest thing about the ACLU is that they DO defend religious freedom for everyone from Christians to Muslims to Wiccans to athiests. Check out the link for yourself.
As to Wick’s point, it’s not like they have a ton of lawyers running around a big firm looking for work. They have TWO lawyers, and they’re already swamped. I can’t say I’m a huge fan of the ACLU, but I also can’t imagine that they are expected to drop what their two lawyers are currently working on when something more interesting hits the airwaves or when an outside non-contributing conservative commentator thinks they should. And the ability to deploy other volunteer attorneys is based on whether the volunteer attorneys themselves (a) have the time and (b) care to get involved.
James said it himself in the letter: they’ll become involved when they can AND when they feel that their involvement will have the greatest change of having an impact. That just sounds like an appropriate allocation of limited resources to me.
The previous post that never appeared:
The greatest thing about the ACLU is that they DO defend religious freedom for everyone from Christians to Muslims to Wiccans to athiests. Check out the ACLU website for yourself (I’ve tried to link to it for you, but to no avail).
As to Wick’s point, it’s not like they have a ton of lawyers running around a big firm looking for work. They have TWO lawyers, and they’re already swamped. I can’t say I’m a huge fan of the ACLU, but I also can’t imagine that they are expected to drop what their two lawyers are currently working on when something more interesting hits the airwaves or when an outside non-contributing conservative commentator thinks they should. And the ability to deploy other volunteer attorneys is based on whether the volunteer attorneys themselves (a) have the time and (b) care to get involved.
James said it himself in the letter: they’ll become involved when they can AND when they feel that their involvement will have the greatest change of having an impact. That just sounds like an appropriate allocation of limited resources to me.
The ACLU may have only 2 lawyers on staff, but they have a large network of attorneys who voluntarily take on cases on behalf of the ACLU.
And looking to the ACLU’s website for proof that they are good and even-handed is absurd. Of course they are going to be laudatory about their own good deeds and say that they are for everyone. They’re not. Read between the lines in the letter and you’ll see the political bent to their cases.
Again, they can only access volunteers who are available and willing. If the volunteers aren’t available and willing, the organization itself is left to rely on the two in the office to handle it, and their response will be proportional to the available resource.
Obviously you didn’t even look at their website, and to brush it off anyway is what’s absurd - and presumptuous. Again, I’m no ACLU fan, but I can at least try to be objective about it. Certainly, they have an angle to promote, but in the section on their website where they discuss the defense of religious liberty, they cite the court cases where they have represented one of the litigants, and link to the mainstream media reports on those cases. (For some reason, I can’t link to it here - I’m sure it’s some D Mag policy not to allow links to the ACLU . . .). But you should go enjoy their website on your own and see for yourself.
Otherwise, you, like so many others, presume to know everything about an organization that certainly has a liberal agenda but objectively cannot be blamed for refusing to come to bat for religious freedom, regardless of the religion.
I must say that I’ve been persuaded by Wes’s compelling argument. Everything on the ACLU website is lies. The cases cited therein never happened.
Wick, if you’re so interested in the ACLU helping with this matter, I am sure the organization looks forward to receiving your membership application and substantial donation to help fund the staff who will work on it, along with the many other projects that were already in progress before it occurred.
https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?aid=13982