IN THE COUNTY LEGISLATURE OF JACKSON COUNTY, MISSOURI
Title
A RESOLUTION expressing the commitment of the Legislature to the preservation of civil rights and civil liberties.
Intro
RESOLUTION # 14551, April 14, 2003
INTRODUCED BY Scott Burnett and Henry C. Rizzo, County Legislators
Body
WHEREAS, following the attacks on America of September 11, 2001, Americans have witnessed considerable expansion of federal governmental authority and consequent restriction of civil liberty, justice, and human dignity and security in the areas of electronic surveillance, racial or ethnic profiling, monitoring of social views, expression, and associational activities, search and seizure without probable cause or reasonable suspicion, trials closed to the public, deprivation of the right to counsel and to a speedy, fair, and public trial, monitoring of counsel-client confidences, investigation without specific cause, and detention without charge, among other restrictions; and,
WHEREAS, the Congress of the United States passed PL 107-56, the USA Patriot Act, on October 26, 2001, expanding the authority of the federal government to detain and investigate citizens and non-citizens and to engage in electronic surveillance of citizens and non-citizens; and,
WHEREAS, the historical record of our nation is rife with examples of unchecked trust in the government being misplaced, such as the CONUS (Continental United States) program which, during the 1950's and 1960's, monitored civilian political activity and dissent, collected and maintained files on political activists, and used undercover operatives recruited from the Army to infiltrate these activist groups and steal confidential information and files for distribution to federal, state, and local governments, the FBI’s COINTELPRO and the CIA’s version called OPERATION CHAOS which, from 1956 to 1971, harassed and spied on a vast number of peaceful civil rights and social protest groups, STOP INDEX, a computerized database which the FBI used in the 1960's and 1970's to track and monitor the activities of law-abiding citizens opposed to American involvement in the Vietnam war, and the FBI’s investigation of the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES) in the 1980's because of that committee’s ideological opposition to then-President Reagan's already controversial foreign policy in Latin America; and,
WHEREAS, there exist are too many examples of the CIA stepping outside its own charter to place Americans under surveillance, the FBI investigating groups solely on political grounds, and the military engaging in domestic espionage to believe that new, broad, sweeping powers will be used with restraint, fairness, or justification; and,
WHEREAS, the need for heightened awareness and security on a personal, local, and national scale is obvious, and wisdom requires us to recognize the limits to what can be accomplished by expanding governmental authority and that certain costs to fundamental freedoms are too great; and,
WHEREAS, now is a time to heed the warning of Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, "History teaches us that grave threats to liberty often come in times of urgency, when rights seem too extravagant to endure. When we allow fundamental freedoms to be sacrificed in the name of real or perceived exigency, we invariably come to regret it;" and,
WHEREAS, consistent with Article I, section 2 of the Missouri Constitution, “all constitutional government is intended to promote the general welfare of the people; . . . all persons have a natural right to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness and the enjoyment of the gains of their industry; . . . all persons are created equal and are entitled to equal rights and opportunity under the law; . . . to give security to these things is the principal office of government, and, . . . when government fails to confer this security, it fails in its chief design;” now therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the County Legislature of Jackson County, Missouri, that the Legislature has been, and remains, firmly committed to the protection of civil rights and civil liberties for all people including citizens and non-citizens alike.
Enacted and Approved
Effective Date: This Resolution shall be effective immediately upon its passage by a majority of the Legislature.
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
_________________________ _________________________________
Acting County Counselor
Certificate of Passage
I hereby certify that the attached resolution, Resolution # 14551 of April 14, 2003 was duly passed on _____________________________, 2003 by the Jackson County Legislature. The votes thereon were as follows:
Yeas _________________ Nays _____________
Abstaining _____________ Absent ____________
______________________ _____________________________________
Date Mary Jo Spino, Clerk of Legislature