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July 05, 2004
Defending Civil Liberties Shortly After 9/11
Posted by Ernest Miller
The New York Times runs an editorial by William Safire decrying lack of opposition to President Bush's abrogation of the rights of aliens and terrorism suspects shortly after 9/11 (Rights of Terror Suspects). He claims,
[M]ost liberals — supposed advocates of the rights of the accused — did not want to appear to be insufficiently outraged at terrorists. Only two months after the shock of 9/11, with polls showing strong public approval of Bush's harsh measures to protect us, these liberals turned out to be civil liberty's summer soldiers.
Prof.
Jack Balkin takes the article to task by reprinting an editorial of his from Nov. 2001 (
Where Were the Liberals? All Over It, Bill). Some claimed that Balkin's warnings were over the top. However, the op-ed seems prescient in retrospect.
For those interested in what was actually being said at the time, I wrote a series of blog postings gathering many of the major media pieces dealing with civil liberties shortly after the attack. Many of the articles focus on cyberlaw and surveillance (they were posted on the law, tech and policy blog LawMeme), but many of the postings point to larger civil liberties issues. I believe that these postings from September 2001 will give a better idea of the climate of the the debate than Safire's rant:
Sept. 14, 2001 Winning the War by Preserving Our Way of Life
Sept. 16, 2001 More on the Civil Liberties Implications of 9/11
Sept. 17, 2001 The Latest on Civil Liberties and 9/11
Sept. 18, 2001 ZDNet News Focus on Civil Liberties
Sept. 18, 2001 The Civil Liberties Debate Continues
Sept. 19. 2001 Civil Liberties in Time of War
Sept. 20, 2001 More News from the Civil Liberties Front
Sept. 21, 2001 Concern for Civil Liberties Continues
Sept. 21, 2001 EFF Anti-Terrorism Bill Action Alert
Sept. 21, 2001 In Defense of Freedom - New Coalition Defends Civil Liberties
Sept. 25, 2001 Civil Liberties Continued ...
Sept. 26, 2001 Wartime Civil Liberties Report
Sept. 28, 2001 Civil Liberties Continued ...
Sept. 28, 2001 9/11, Surveillance, Free Expression and more on Civil Liberties
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Ernest Miller pursues research and writing on cyberlaw, intellectual property, and First Amendment issues. Mr. Miller attended the U.S. Naval Academy before attending Yale Law School, where he was president and co-founder of the Law and Technology Society, and founded the technology law and policy news site LawMeme. He is a fellow of the Information Society Project at Yale Law School.
Ernest Miller's blog postings can also be found @
