July 13, 2004

The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey (ACLU-NJ) anticipates a favorable vote by the Ewing Township Council in support of a Pro-Civil Liberties Resolution that the Council will consider at its meeting tonight, February 10, 2004, at 7:00 p.m. 

The Resolution calls upon the Ewing Township Council to affirm its commitment to securing national security, but without sacrificing the fundamental civil rights and liberties upon which our country has been founded. If passed, Ewing Township will become the fourth New Jersey community - following Willingboro, Princeton, and Highland Park Borough - to pass a resolution in reaction to the federal government’s controversial USA PATRIOT Act.

Congress passed the USA PATRIOT Act just 45 days after the September 11 attacks, with virtually no debate. This 342-page piece of legislation allows for the broadest expansion of police and law enforcement powers in the recent history of our country. Some of the most troubling provisions of the Act enable the FBI to access private records, including medical records, library records and student records, without the need for a warrant or establishing probable cause that a crime has occurred or is about to occur. A “gag provision” within the Act makes it so that the person searched may never learn that he or she has been the subject of government surveillance.

In the two years since the passage of the Act, numerous lawmakers, Republicans and Democrats alike, have condemned some of the Act’s most far-reaching provisions and have called for closer scrutiny into how the government uses its expanded powers.

On a grass-roots level, over 235 communities and three states have passed resolutions condemning the Act. In Ewing Township, the campaign to pass a pro-civil liberties resolution was initiated by Ewing Township residents, Norma Saltz and Allan Willinger, who founded the group Ewing Citizens for Civil Liberties (ECCL).  

Starting with a handful of concerned citizens, the group expanded after they held a public forum at the Ewing Public Library about the USA PATRIOT Act and other government actions since September 11, 2001 that threaten civil liberties. 

“A major strength of the United States is our amazing toolkit for liberty, including our Bill of Rights.  The USA PATRIOT Act includes measures that take away many of our tools for liberty,” said Jonathan Abolins, a Ewing resident and member of ECCL.  “If we don’t speak up for civil liberties now, we will not be able to speak up for them later,” added John Bing, another Ewing resident and member of ECCL. 

The USA PATRIOT Act threatens the very rights and freedoms that we are struggling to protect,” said ACLU of New Jersey Executive Director Deborah Jacobs. “I commend the people of Ewing Township for taking a stand and hope that the voices of these concerned citizens will be heard by the Township Council and other elected officials.”