FRED KOREMATSU, UNIV. OF CHICAGO AND NYU LAW PROFESSORS AND THE AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION

As concerns grow about the threat to our civil liberties, a number of attorneys, legal organizations and justice-minded individuals are stepping forward to challenge current government practices.

In October 2003, Fred Korematsu filed a "friend-of-the-court" brief in the U.S. Supreme Court asking the high court to review the constitutionality of prolonged executive detentions under the Bush administration "war on terrorism." The amicus brief was filed in the cases of Khaled Odah v.United States, Shafiq Rasul v. George W. Bush and Yasir Hamdi v. Donald Rumsfeld. Each of the plaintiffs has been held without formal charges, without any fair hearing to determine "guilt" or innocence, without the assistance of counsel, and without any meaningful judicial review. Odah and Rasul are being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and Hamdi, a U.S. citizen, is in a military brig in Virginia.

University of Chicago law professors Geoffrey Stone and David Strauss along with NYU professor Stephen Schulhofer filed the briefs on Korematsu's behalf. According to Stone, "The extreme nature of the government's position... is reminiscent of... past episodes, in which the United States government too quickly sacrificed civil liberties in the rush to accommodate overbroad claims of military necessity."

Fred Korematsu challenged the constitutionality of Executive Order 9066 more than 60 years ago and his conviction was upheld on the grounds of military necessity. It wasn't until 1983, that the U.S. District Court in San Francisco overturned Korematsu's conviction in response to a writ of coram nobis (to correct a judgment on the ground of an error of fact). Upon receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Fred said "We should be vigilant to make sure this will never happen again." Though in his mid.-80's, Fred Korematsu holds true to his words, and continues to fight for others who are suffering under the government's unjust treatment.

The ACLU believes that civil liberties must be respected even in times of national emergency and pursues its mission of preserving the protections and rights guaranteed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Since September 11, the ACLU has been extremely active monitoring and educating the public about the USA Patriot Act. Under the Patriot Act the President can label a U.S. citizen an "enemy combatant" after which he or she can be stripped of all rights of citizenship, including the right to legal counsel and due process. The Act also gives the FBI vast powers to secretly obtain records and personal belongings of innocent people, including citizens and permanent residents.

The first legal challenge to the Patriot Act came from the ACLU, which filed a lawsuit in Detroit on behalf of 6 advocacy and community groups targeted for investigation. The Muslim Community Association of Ann Arbor, Michigan, the lead plaintiff, testified that due to fear of the Patriot Act, "attendance at prayer services, educational forums and social events has substantially dropped" and donations are almost half of what they were before 2001.

In addition to litigatin the ACLU supports coalitions around the country that are working to adopt resolutions opposing the Patriot Act. Recently, a big victory was won when the Los Angeles City Council adopted such a resoluton.