constitution.jpgInspired by the Pakistan Lawyer Protest against President Pervez Musharraf’s attempt to hold onto power after the 2007 Pakistani election, over 1300 American lawyers and law students signed this request to Rep. Conyers and Sen. Leahy urging them to defend the rule of law and uphold the US Constitution against the egregious abuses of the Bush Administration. The group is known as The American Freedom Campaign.

Abuses include but are not limited to: torture, extraordinary renditions, warrantless wiretapping, jailing without habeas corpus, and the destruction of evidence such as the CIA interrogation videotapes and five million White House e-mails.

Bruce Fein, Mario Cuomo, Jesselyn Radack, a former Justice Department ethics lawyer, Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, Marjorie Cohn, president of the National Lawyers Guild, and AFC’s Steven Fox are among the participating lawyers.

Message to House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy from American Lawyers Defending the Constitution

We are lawyers and law students in the United States of America. As such, we have all taken (or will be taking) an oath obligating us to defend the Constitution and the rule of law from those who would violate and subvert them, and to hold wrongdoers accountable.

We believe the Bush administration has committed numerous offenses against the Constitution and may have violated federal laws. Evidence exists that it has illegally spied on Americans, tortured and abused men and women in its direct custody, sent others to be tortured by countries like Syria and Egypt, and kept people in prison indefinitely with no chance to challenge the bases of their detention. Moreover, the administration has blatantly defied congressional subpoenas, obstructing constitutional oversight of the executive branch.

Thus, we call on House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers and Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy to launch hearings into the possibility that crimes have been committed by this administration in violation of the Constitution, federal statutes, and international treaties. We call for the investigations to go where they must, including into the offices of the President and the Vice President. Should these hearings demonstrate that laws have in fact been broken by this administration, we support all such legal and congressional actions necessary to ensure the survival of our Constitution and the nation we love.

If you are a lawyer or law student, sign here

Listen to the AFC press conference here

The American Lawyers Defending the Constitution campaign is being coordinated by the American Freedom Campaign (AFC), a grassroots and grasstops movement to defend the Constitution, and is a joint project of AFC, the Center for Constitutional Rights, National Lawyers Guild, Alliance for Justice, Equal Justice Society, and the American Freedom Agenda.

UPDATE:

Sorry that I did not see this post/thread earlier. I just wanted to let everyone know that this campaign was actually launched on December 20, 2007, after about six weeks of organizing following the events in Pakistan. (It is certainly our bad for not have the year on this release online, but you can see as proof of the 2007 launch that it says “Thursday, December 10.”) Obviously, we wish it had more of an impact when it was launched, but, for what it is worth, it helped AFC develop more of a reputation on the Hill which has led to productive work on issues ranging from congressional subpoenas to the unconstitutional nature of the U.S.-Iraq agreement.

Thank you all for your interest.
AMERICAN FREEDOM CAMPAIGN