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Prepared by Trenton Citizens for Civil Liberties (TCCL)
to introduce to the Council of the City of Trenton
AUGUST 19, 2007

RESOLUTION TO PROTECT CIVIL LIBERTIES

WHEREAS, the Council of the City of Trenton recognizes the Constitution of the United States as the supreme law of the nation and recognizes that the Bill of Rights enshrines the fundamental civil liberties of Americans;

WHEREAS, in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, increased security is necessary to protect the American people and to thwart further terrorist attacks; WHEREAS, the Council of the City of Trenton believes that there is no inherent conflict between national security and the preservation of civil liberties -- Americans can be both safe and free;

WHEREAS, racial profiling, being the discriminatory practice by law enforcement officials of targeting individuals for suspicion of crime based on an individual’s race, ethnicity, religion or national origin, has manifested itself in various government activities after the September 11th attacks by targeting Arabs, Muslims and South Asians;

WHEREAS, the USA PATRIOT Act expanded the government’s authority to use National Security Letters (NSLs) to obtain personal records on innocent people with little, if any, judicial oversight; a Federal District Court ruled in 2004 the NSL provision violates the First and Fourth Amendments; and according to the Department of Justice Inspector General, the FBI issued over 143,000 NSL requests from 2003 through 2005 and, in the process, abused the NSL provisions;

WHEREAS, the Protect America Act of 2007 permits the National Security Agency (NSA) to acquire and analyze all international communications of Americans, without any meaningful judicial oversight and in violation of the Fourth Amendment;

WHEREAS, questions persist whether the Military Commissions Act of 2006 stripped any alien deemed an “enemy combatant” of the right to habeas corpus -- the right to be heard in court to establish his or her innocence -- removing the courts of their historical and constitutional role as a check on the Executive Branch;

WHEREAS, serious concerns remain about civil liberty infringements by other provisions of the above-named Acts;

WHEREAS, the National Security Act of 1947 (see 50 U.S.C. § 413(a)(1)) requires that the President of the United States "ensure that the congressional intelligence committees are kept fully and currently informed of the intelligence activities of the United States..." and the President did not inform the full congressional intelligence committees until May 2006 that the NSA was collecting phone call records without a warrant since 2001;

WHEREAS, the New Jersey Library Association, the New Jersey State League of Municipalities, the New Jersey Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, eight states, and over 400 communities, including New York City, Philadelphia, the Mercer County Board of Freeholders, Ewing Township, Lawrence Township, Princeton Boro, West Windsor and 13 other New Jersey communities, have enacted resolutions reaffirming support for civil rights and civil liberties threatened by one or more of these Federal laws or programs;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, THAT THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF TRENTON:

1. Affirms its support for increased security to protect Trenton’s residents but also affirms its conviction that such security must be provided in a manner that will not infringe upon the constitutional and other rights and liberties of Trenton’s residents;
2. Will continue to reject profiling of any person or group based on ethnicity, immigration status, national origin, political affiliation, race or religion;
3. Calls upon our Congressional Representatives and Senators to support the repeal of, or to amend so as to comply with the United States Constitution, the NSL provisions of the amended USA PATRIOT Act, the habeas corpus provisions of the Military Commissions Act of 2006, the warrantless surveillance provisions of the Protect America Act of 2007 and any other provision of these Acts that may violate the United States Constitution;
4. Directs each City of Trenton agency, including the Trenton Public Library System, to critically examine any NSL, or other order under the authority of the USA PATRIOT Act, that it may receive to determine if compliance would be unlawful, and if so, the City shall consider a challenge to the validity of such NSL or other order in court;
5. Calls upon the President of the United States to order all programs of warrantless surveillance to be suspended until a full and thorough Congressional investigation of such programs is completed and to order the NSA to provide to the Congressional intelligence committees, in a forthcoming manner, all information about any related activities;
6. Calls upon the President of the United States to comply with the National Security Act of 1947 and the USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005 by ensuring that the congressional intelligence committees are kept fully and currently informed of all Federal intelligence activities;
7. Calls upon the Federal Communication Commission and the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities to investigate the telecommunication companies' providing of phone call records to the NSA without a warrant; and
8. Directs the Clerk of the Council of the City of Trenton to send a copy of this resolution to the Mercer County Board of Freeholders, the Federal Communication Commission, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, New Jersey’s Assemblypersons and Senators representing the City of Trenton, U.S. Representatives and Senators representing the City of Trenton, New Jersey’s Governor and Attorney General, the United States Attorney General, the Secretary of the United States Department of Homeland Security, and the President of the United States.