The beginning of a new year is a good time to reflect and appreciate positive changes we’ve seen over the preceding year. One change I’ve been grateful for is the increased work and successes of our Alaska chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
For those unfamiliar with the ACLU, their attorneys and staff work in the courts, legislatures, and communities to defend the individual rights guaranteed to all people by the Constitution. The ACLU has defended free speech, personal privacy, citizens’ rights to equal treatment under the law, and more for over 100 years.
I am proud to say they can count me among their supporters.
Fueled by their successful challenge to the Trump administration’s Muslim ban, the national ACLU has grown rapidly, from 400,000 members when President Donald Trump was elected to 2 million members today. The Alaska chapter has experienced similar growth, tripling its staff and becoming much more active and visible on Alaska issues during this time.
Take, for example, Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court. I heard from many Alaska women concerned that no one in power seemed to be seriously considering the allegations against him. This was deeply troubling in a state with historically nightmarish sexual assault rates and a persistent stigma against the women who report them.
But the ACLU of Alaska leaped to action by organizing travel and covering costs for 100 Alaskan women to go to Washington, D.C. to tell our senators what they thought before the vote later that week.
Unbelievably, and with the ACLU’s help, more than 100 Alaska women traveled to our nation’s capital on virtually no notice. More unbelievably, those women found an open ear in Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who subsequently voted against Kavanaugh’s nomination.
An amazing success, to be sure, but not the only one the ACLU of Alaska claimed in 2018.
Like many Alaskans, I was concerned when, in the summer of…
