January 19, 2010
First Year Saw Civil Rights Advances And End Of Torture But Continuation Of Overbroad Domestic Surveillance PracticesNEW YORK – The Obama administration's record on restoring civil liberties during its first year in office is mixed, according to a new report analyzing the administration's performance released today by the American Civil Liberties Union. Of a set of 145 detailed recommendations the ACLU made to the new president upon his election, the administration has acted on just over one-third of them.
"Starting with bold executive orders to end torture and close the prison at Guantánamo, and continuing with positive actions in areas like open government and civil rights, the Obama administration has made some significant strides toward restoring civil liberties and the rule of law," said Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the ACLU. "But in other areas, the administration has fallen short by allowing some of the Bush administration's most troublesome practices to continue and by failing to take steps that would restore some very fundamental rights and values to American life."
The administration's record on the ACLU's highest priority recommendations – those it asked President Obama to take on his first day in office – is uneven. Despite the president's executive order to close the notorious prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, it remains open, detainees remain there without charge or trial and the flawed military commission system is still being used. And while the president ordered an end to torture and the Justice Department has initiated a very limited inquiry into detainee abuse, the president has shown little appetite for encouraging a comprehensive torture investigation that would include high level officials from the Bush administration. The Obama administration has also retained its authority to engage in extraordinary renditions.
On the ACLU's other top priorities – those it asked President Obama to act on within his first 100 days – the administration's record is weak. On issues like spying on Americans, monitoring of activists, terrorism watchlists, the Real ID Act and DNA databases, the administration has carried out none of the ACLU's recommendations.
"Our hope a year ago was that the Obama administration would restore our nation's long tradition of respect for privacy and the rule of law by rolling back the privacy-invading domestic security policies enacted by the Bush administration," Romero said. "Unfortunately, many of those policies have not been reversed, and we now run the risk of seeing them become a permanent part of American life."
On the issues of civil rights, open government, freedom of speech and reproductive freedom, the administration has fared much better, as it has acted on about half of the ACLU's recommendations.
"In the face of enormous domestic and international challenges that naturally occupied much of President Obama's attention, the administration has managed to initiate a lot of positive actions that deserve commendation and which can help put America on a path toward regaining its standing as a global leader in freedom and equality," said Romero. "But it is clear after one year that the administration has a lot more work to do, and the ACLU will continue to vigorously fight for and support such action."
A copy of the ACLU's analysis of the Obama administration's record on restoring civil liberties, including a chart showing which of the ACLU's recommendations the administration acted upon, is available online at: www.aclu.org/america-unrestored
Updated to add:
In October 2008, two weeks before the presidential election, the ACLU released “Actions for Restoring America,” a set of detailed recommendations to the new president for concrete steps he should take to restore civil liberties in America. These recommendations were designed to correct assaults upon American freedoms that were implemented during the previous eight years. That document – which was furnished to the Obama and McCain campaigns and, after the election, to President‐elect Obama’s transition team – included recommendations for action on the president’s first day in office, during his first 100 days, and during his first year.
With the anniversary of President Obama’s inauguration upon us, it is now possible to assess the administration’s civil liberties performance during its first year through the prism of its record in fulfilling the ACLU’s specific recommendations. Because our recommendations focused on steps that the new president could take on his own, without a vote by Congress, they provide a unique measure of the administration’s determination to reverse the Bush legacy. For each recommendation, we simply asked the question, “did the administration do this or not?”
This report does not purport to be a complete analysis of the Obama administration’s first‐year record on civil liberties. The ACLU recognizes that the issues at the top of the nation’s agenda are constantly changing, and that different issues inevitably carry different weight. Also, the administration has taken actions – good and bad – that are not reflected in the ACLU’s list. For example, while a significant part of how the administration must be judged is in regard to its actions with Congress, our recommendations were limited to executive actions and did not include steps that only Congress could take. In addition, the administration may be preparing actions in some areas that they have not yet had time to carry out because of delays in the Senate confirmation of staff or other factors. And finally, in some instances, the assessment of how the administration has performed with regard to some of our recommendations is inevitably somewhat subjective, as some recommendations are inherently complicated and can involve multiple levels of fulfillment.
Nevertheless, this report is a valuable snapshot of the administration’s performance on the very broad range of issues that the ACLU concerns itself with, many of which reach deep into the government. These issues have a broad impact on the lives of many Americans, even if some are not the kind that make headlines.
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