ACLU ON RIGHTS IN SCHOOL, RELIGION, GUNS

Each week Editorial and Opinion Editor Jeanne Mariani-Belding hosts
The Hot Seat, our opinion-page blog that brings in elected leaders
and people in the news and lets you ask the questions during a live
online chat.

On The Hot Seat last week was Vanessa Chong, executive director of
the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai'i, who answered questions
on civil rights issues, including drug testing for Hawai'i's public
school teachers. The following is an excerpt from that Hot Seat
session. To see the full conversation, go to The Hot Seat blog at
www.honoluluadvertiser.com/opinion and click on "The Hot Seat."
(Names of questioners are screen names given during our online chat.)

Kyle: I'm a junior in high school and I don't see what the big deal
is over locker searches. The school owns the lockers, and if it
improves safety for the rest of us, doesn't that count?

Chong: The ACLU opposes random searches of Hawai'i public school
students because it offers a false sense of security, tramples the
Bill of Rights and wastes precious education dollars.

Debra: On a national level, what would the ACLU say are the most
troubling developments concerning personal liberties?

Chong: The ACLU is concerned about several issues which threaten
fundamental rights. We want to end rampant surveillance and
warrantless spying on Americans; shut down Guantanamo Bay and give
those held there access to justice; restore habeas corpus and due
process; and stop torture and the government's practice of secretly
kidnapping people and sending them to countries that torture.

Curtis: I am a secular person who has the distinct impression that
the ACLU is too active in its efforts to wipe religion entirely from
government. A reference to Jesus, or a display of the Ten
Commandments on government property gathers far too much of your
organization's attention, in my opinion. What is the basis for such
apparent animosity toward religion in general, and Christians in particular?

Chong: Among our cherished fundamental rights is freedom of religion
and the ACLU in Hawai'i and nationally has long defended individuals,
families and religious communities who wish to express their religion
privately and publicly.

Hawai'i has more religious diversity than many states. For example,
my own family includes Buddhists, Mormons, Catholics and Seventh-day
Adventists.

We can enjoy so many religions because government is supposed to keep
out of private religious choice and not, by its actions, prefer one
religion over others.

Andy Hall: I live in a harbor, and the cops almost always respond
slowly or ignore calls for help from the area. There seems to be
overlapping jurisdictions depending on whether you are talking about
the roads (HPD), parking lot and docks (DLNR), or actual boats (Coast
Guard). It's like a hands-off area in terms of law enforcement. So a
neighborhood watch program has been organized. One option on the
table is install 24-hour surveillance which would be recorded and
streamed on a public Web site. Docks and the parking lot would be the
target areas. What is your take in general about this idea, and what
civil liberty concerns might such a plan create?

Chong: The ACLU has concerns about the government's increasing
reliance on surveillance to achieve public safety. Many questions may
arise with the program you speak of which may affect the fundamental
right to privacy. There may be more effective ways to deal with
public safety - such as increasing police staffing - than camera
surveillance. It may only provide a false sense of security.

Jocelyn: Aside from publicly filing lawsuits, what does the ACLU do
on a daily basis, how large is the staff and where do the funds come
from? Is this a nonprofit?

Chong: The ACLU is a private, nonpartisan, nonprofit that takes no
government funds. We provide our services - legal, legislative
advocacy, public education - statewide at no cost to the public. We
have a staff of six professionals supported by over 100 volunteers
statewide and a volunteer board. Funds come primarily from individual
donations.

Christopher: One of the most chilling civil liberties issues in
Hawai'i is the lack of a media shield. In a highly publicized case on
Kaua'i, a journalist was taken to court for exposing crimes in the
press. Can you make journalist protection a high priority next year?

Chong: We would be happy to take a closer look at this issue and I
will be forwarding your concern to our Legislative Committee, which
is in the process of developing our agenda for the coming 2008 session.

You may be interested in a federal bill being proposed to also
address this issue - Free Flow of Information Act HR 2102. Go to the
national ACLU Web site for more info.

Lisa: Are teachers opposed to just random drug testing or all drug
testing? Drug testing is not uncommon in the private sector. Why are
teachers opposed to it?

Chong: Safe schools are of utmost importance to us all. Random drug
testing of Hawai'i's public school educators fails us all. At a time
when Hawai'i's students are in desperate need of essential school
supplies and services, this policy wastes precious resources while
trampling the Bill of Rights and does nothing for the well-being of students.

School officials already have a process in place to handle problem
employees. Teachers are not objecting to suspicion-based drug testing.

Scott Sato: There are many other professionals that require drug
testing, such as construction workers and human-services workers.
Does the ACLU also believe these people's rights have been violated?

If so, why have they only recently gotten involved in this area when
the issue came up for teachers? It makes the other professions seem
like they are not as important as teachers for some political reason, perhaps.

Chong: The ACLU is called into action when government fails to
protect the fundamental rights of the people. In this case, the
governor wants an entire group of public employees to sacrifice their
rights when they have done nothing wrong. There is already a process
in place to punish those educators who do violate the public trust.

John K.: Is the ACLU a left-wing organization?

Chong: The only client of the ACLU is the Bill of Rights. It doesn't
matter who the target is; when the government tramples on fundamental
rights, the ACLU is called into action.

In the nearly 30 years I have been with the local ACLU, our affiliate
has represented many individuals including those from across the
political spectrum (we are nonpartisan). The government often targets
those folks whom they view as unpopular, poor, or marginalized -
populations they are counting on to be uninformed about their rights
and won't assert them.

Micah L.: What presidential candidates is the ACLU backing? If you do
not endorse candidates, why not, since elected officials create the
very policies you are challenging?

Chong: The ACLU is non-partisan. We find that political leaders of
every stripe can and do make, propose and push for public policy
affecting the Bill of Rights.

Tina: Could you please update us on the homeless children who were
having problems with access to public education? ALL children deserve
access to education.

Chong: The state has failed in its responsibility to follow federal
law and used federal funds to assertively outreach to homeless
children to ensure that they have an equal opportunity to a public education.

The state has been on notice for over a year and has done nothing -
for example, they have not provided basic transportation services,
they have denied children access to schools over lack of paperwork.

The ACLU filed a lawsuit on behalf of several children and we are
waiting for a court date to be scheduled.

Allan: Some time ago your organization was successful in setting a
maximum capacity at O'ahu's only jail. Since that time no one has
kept tabs on its overcrowding/population situation. Is there anyone
who oversees each successful litigation to ensure the responsible
party is complying with the mandates?

Chong: The ACLU of Hawai'i in 1984 filed a lawsuit over prison
conditions at OCCC and WCCC which resulted in a federal consent
decree affecting conditions, practices and population. Congress has
passed laws which have made it more difficult for public interest
groups like the ACLU to push for prison reform. But we continue to do
as much as we can in this area.

Lee: What is the ACLU's position on civil unions?

Chong: The ACLU supports same-gender marriage which goes beyond civil
unions in providing all the rights and responsibilities of marriage
to committed couples.

Osamu Makiguchi: If the Supreme Court (D.C. v. Heller) decides that
the Second Amendment is an individual right, will ACLU Hawai'i as
well as the national ACLU also accept the Second Amendment as an
individual right?

I find it odd that the ACLU would rationalize the limiting of any
civil liberty, in this case the individual's right to own a firearm.
Shouldn't the ACLU take the broadest interpretations of how the
rights are interpreted in the Constitution?

Chong: Fundamental rights are not absolute and there is a balance
between the rights of the individual and the government's interests.

Once the government allows gun ownership, the ACLU's concern would be
in ensuring that policies governing gun ownership are enforced in a fair way.