• Putting an end to government spying on political and religious activities.
  
  
• Repealing anti-civil liberties provisions in the USA PATRIOT Act.
  
  
• Protecting privacy by limiting surveillance, data collection and information sharing.

The ACLU and its 50 state affiliates will begin working toward the passage of local and state ordinances prohibiting local law enforcement participation in repressive Administration initiatives – such as the Justice Department’s plan to deputize local and state police to enforce immigration laws.

The ACLU of Northern California already collaborated with the California Police Chief’s Association to send a letter to Attorney General Ashcroft on April 10 explaining that “in order for local and state law enforcement organizations to continue to be effective partners with our communities, it is imperative that they not be placed in the role of detaining and arresting individuals based solely on a change in their immigration status.”

The ACLU hopes to contribute to the passage of dozens of such resolutions in the next several months and will add staff to its national legislative office for that purpose. Nine communities have passed local initiatives already – including Cambridge and Northhampton, MA; Sante Fe, NM; Ann Arbor, MI; Carrboro, NC; Berkeley, CA and organizing efforts have started in 30 municipalities around the country.

In addition to grassroots organizing and legislative lobbying, the ACLU will continue to monitor implementation of the USA PATRIOT Act. The ACLU has already filed two-dozen lawsuits challenging government secrecy, detention of immigrants and U.S. citizens, discrimination against Arab Americans and violations of the free speech rights of protesters.

In the first non-governmental brief to be filed before a secret appeals court, the ACLU recently urged three federal judges to reject the Justice Department's radical bid for broadly expanded powers to spy on U.S. citizens. The Senate Judiciary Committee, which has oversight of the Justice Department, also condemned the government's latest power grab, saying, “the abuses of the past are far too fresh simply to surrender to the executive branch unfettered discretion to determine the scope of these changes."

“We take heart from the efforts of key members of Congress who are actively attempting to monitor how the Department of Justice uses its broad new powers,” said Strossen, “and we will do everything in our power to ensure that future efforts to restrict our liberty will be examined and debated in public, unlike the USA PATRIOT Act.”

The ACLU advertisement – the first in a series – will run nationally on cable channels in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Seattle and Washington, DC, and on a limited basis during the Sunday morning news talk shows on the ABC, CBS and NBC networks in Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, DC, San Francisco and Seattle.

For more information on the ACLU campaign, go to www.aclunc.org