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Eleven Members of Congress wrote to House Judiciary
Committee Chair James Sensenbrenner and Ranking Committee Member John
Conyers on January 22, 2004, calling for an investigation into reports
that federal funds were used to violate protestors' rights at the FTAA
demonstrations in November 2003.
Read the Congressional letter in its entirety, including signatories, or review the plain text below:
January 22, 2004
Hon. James Sensenbrenner
Chairman, House Judiciary Committee
2138 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Hon. John Conyers
Ranking Member, House
2142 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Chairman Sensenbrenner and Ranking Member Conyers:
We respectfully request the Judiciary
Committee hold hearings regarding recent allegations that the Federal
Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is planning to monitor the activities of
peaceful protesters. We also request that the committee examine reports
that federal funds were used to violate the right of Americans to
peacefully assemble and petition government officials at the recent Free
Trade Area for the Americans (FTAA) ministerial meeting in Miami,
Florida.
Recent media reports centering on a
leaked FBI memo suggest the FBI is planning to monitor the organizers
of, and participants in, anti-war demonstrations. While we certainly
support the federal government's efforts to identify terrorists and
other agents of hostile powers operating in the Untied States, we are
concerned that government monitoring of political movements, absent
reasonable suspicion of criminal activity and continuous congressional
oversight, may chill activity protected under the First Amendment.
We need not remind you that in the
past federal agencies abused their power by harassing advocates of
unpopular political causes as well as political opponents. Allegations
of such abuses have been raised against administrations of both parties.
Concerns that their activities will be monitored by the federal
government and that they may end up on a list of "suspicious persons"
could cause many citizens to refrain from supporting unpopular causes,
thus weakening the nation's political dialogue and even the ability of
the nation to adopt needed reforms. We would remind you that many
ultimately successful causes, such as the abolition of slavery and the
civil rights movement, began as unpopular movements that were considered
threats to public order.
As you are aware, many Americans have
long worried that the broad definition of terrorist activity in the
PATRIOT Act would authorize government surveillance of peaceful
political activity. Since the sunset provisions of the PATRIOT Act will
force Congress to reexamine many of the issues surrounding this bill,
the FBI's actions provide a perfect forum to begin reexamining whether
the definition of terrorism needs to be tightened to ensure that federal
resources are focused on identifying and apprehending terrorists,
instead of being used to threaten the liberties of law-abiding
Americans.
The Committee on the Judiciary should
also examine allegations that federal finds provided to the City of
Miami for security for the recent FTAA ministerial meeting were used to
deny citizens the right to peacefully assemble and petition their
government. According to reports from some Americans who went to Miami
to participate in lawful protests of the FTAA, demonstrators who posed
no threat to persons, property or public order where harassed by the
police. We have even received reports that some demonstrators where
beaten and arrested without doing any thing to provoke such an extreme
reaction by local law enforcement. While crowd control is a local
function, the use of federal taxpayers money gives Congress a responsibility to ensure that taxpayer funds are not used in a mariner that violates the First Amendment.
In conclusion, we once again
respectfully request that the Committee on the Judiciary hold hearings
on reports that the FBI has been monitoring peaceful political
activities and that federal funds were used to violate the First
Amendment rights of protesters at the recent FTAA ministerial meeting in
Miami. It is more important than ever that Congress maintains vigorous
oversight of federal law-enforcement agencies to ensure our government
is fighting terrorism in the most effective way possible without
sacrificing the people's liberties.
Sincerely,
Ron Paul
Sherrod Brown
Dennis Kucinich
Leonard Boswell
Peter DeFazio
Bernard Sanders
Janice Schakowsky
Edolphus Towns
Lynn Woolsey
Pete Stark
Tom Udall | 
