ACLU In The News

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This is the complete article.



ACLU couldn't find any plaintiffs over searches near Wakarusa


Civil libertarians wanted to make a case over police searching vehicles as they left Interstate 70 near a weekend music festival but couldn't find anyone upset enough to complain.

"We couldn't find a plaintiff," said Phil Minkin, Douglas County president of the American Civil Liberties Union. "Without one, we don't going looking for a plaintiff."

The Wakarusa Music Festival drew thousands to the Lawrence area starting Thursday, with the huge crowds creating traffic gridlock that had fans taking as long as four hours to enter Clinton Lake Park.

Police stopped cars heading for the event, searching some, and the ACLU wanted to get an injunction against the practice, which it said may have been unconstitutional. Some local attorneys had contacted the ACLU, saying clients believed the searches were based on the way people looked rather than evidence of illegal substances or wrongdoing, said Brett Shirk, director of the ACLU of Kansas and Western Missouri.

"I had concerns they have been stopping people based on what they looked like," said Shirk. "There very well may have been Fourth Amendment search-and-seizure issues."

Lt. John Eickhorn of the Kansas Highway Patrol said troopers stopped every car using the toll lane exiting Interstate 70 at Kansas 10 both Thursday and Friday, regardless of how the vehicle or the driver looked.

"We didn't discriminate about how people looked," he said.

Some cars, he said, received more thorough checks than others but only when there was evidence of wrongdoing, such as the smell of marijuana, the driver looking more nervous than expected on a typical traffic stop or the car looking trashed, as if someone had lived in it for days at a time.

"Typically drug dealers don't stop," he said. "That's a good indication that criminal activity is afoot."

Shirk said he called the ACLU's legal panel about possible action, including a state or federal court injunction that would have temporarily stopped the searches, he said. But the legal board said it needed a formal complaint to proceed, and neither Shirk nor officials at the Douglas County ACLU office had received one.

Shirk said legal action against the patrol or other law enforcement units remained a possibility if local attorneys or their clients come forward with complaints.

"If there was police misconduct, if that would happen, the ACLU may very well investigate," Shirk said. "But the ball is in the court of local attorneys at this point."

Kevin DeSisto, 35, of Boston, was released on bond Monday after being arrested on a marijuana charge, and he said he was considering a civil-rights lawsuit against for what he believed to be an improper search.

He said he and some friends were arrested Sunday after officers knocked on the door of their rented RV and alleged that someone in the vehicle had sold LSD and ecstasy to an undercover agent with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.

DeSisto said during the ensuing search of the people and the vehicle, officers found him in possession of a pipe and a quarter-ounce of high-grade marijuana, but he said it was for personal use. He said the group had $10,000 seized by police from a lock box inside the vehicle - money he said was for their trip.

Undercover agents from Alcoholic Beverage Control were at the concert to look for instances of underage drinking. Agent Fletcher Hill said that is part of the state agency's statewide enforcement effort, and Wakarusa presented an opportunity for agents to look for violations.

According to Douglas County Jail records, more than 80 people from 28 states were arrested on alcohol or drug violations during the four-day festival.

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ACLU Wants Idaho Inmates Home

Idaho inmates at the Newton County Correctional Center in Texas are being held in unacceptable conditions -- according to the ACLU.

The American Civil Liberties Union is also calling for the Idaho Department of Correction to move the inmates to another facility.

Two men escaped from the center this week.  One has been captured, but Rudolfo Garcia Lopez is still on the run.

In spite of their escape, inmate protests and allegations of mistreatment by guards, Idaho Corrections officials tell us they have no plans to move any inmates.

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Secretary of State candidate opposes ACLU lawsuit


ALBUQUERQUE - Republican candidate for Secretary of State Vickie Perea has joined two other parties as interveners in an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit that challenges Albuquerque’s photo voter identification statute.

The ACLU has sued the city in federal court, contending an ordinance approved by voters on October 4th is unconstitutional.

The law requires people voting at polls to present a current, valid identification card that includes their name and photograph.

Those who vote absentee are exempt, and the ACLU says that unfairly places more rigorous identification requirements on voters at polls.

Perea says the measure approved by Albuquerque residents was aimed at preventing voter fraud. The ordinance was approved overwhelmingly, which Perea says indicates support for secure elections.

 

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ACLU: protecting the rights of sex offenders

Woodfin, N.C., passed an ordinance banning registered sex offenders from the town's three public parks. The state's chapter of the ACLU filed suit to overturn the law.

One reason the ordinance passed is that a l6-year-old was raped in one park, and in another, several children were molested by a sex offender whose home overlooked the park. Also, one of the parks is adjacent to a school and is regularly used by children during recess. Many communities have passed laws prohibiting sexual predators from coming within 1,000 feet of a school or playground.

The ACLU of North Carolina thinks sex offenders have a right to hang out in a park used by children during school time and after. It filed suit against the town on behalf of a registered offender, convicted of sexual assault with a handgun.

Once again the ACLU has gone way too far. It's reasonable to demand tighter language than Woodfin seems to have used. Many "registered sex offenders" are teenagers who had consensual sex with underage partners almost their own age. Others have committed offenses involving adults and show no sign of attraction to children. But communities surely have the right to keep known sex predators from places where the very young gather and play.

If the ACLU thinks the language is too broad, why doesn't it tell the town what changes it believes would make the law acceptable? The answer, apparently, is that the ACLU doesn't want to become involved, except as a litigator against the community. Last year, after the ACLUNC threatened a similar suit in Garner, N.C., an alderman offered Jennifer Rudinger, executive director of the group, a chance to help draft an ordinance it could live with. Rudinger said no.

[Soldier4Christ]

RANDOM SEARCHES HALTED: Detroit Public Schools to stop weapons sweeps

violence at Detroit Public Schools has made headlines, the district has agreed to stop random weapons sweeps and cut back on other security measures as part of a settlement in a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union. Under the terms of the agreement, school officials may no longer conduct sweeps to search students' clothing, backpacks, cars or other items unless they have reasonable suspicion that a student has violated school rules and that the search will reveal evidence of the violation. Lockers may still be searched randomly because they are school property.

Although metal detectors at school entrances may still be used to detect weapons, the district has agreed not to prolong the searches longer than necessary, according to a court order signed last week by U.S. District Judge Marianne Battani.

The settlement has some students and parents worried about safety.

"The most innocent looking one could be the guilty one," said Tami Miller, whose 15-year-old daughter, Makyia Miller, will be a sophomore next year at Mumford High School.

The random searches, she said, "helped to protect the kids from outside dangers."

Sharon Kelso, who was one of three parents and grandparents who brought the lawsuit on behalf of students at Mumford, said she was appalled when she picked her grandson up from Mumford on Feb. 18, 2004, and he told her that students had been searched en masse then corralled into an auditorium for an hour and a half, missing their morning classes.

She said she approached the ACLU only after Detroit Schools officials did not respond to her questions about the constitutionality of the random searches.

"I want the schools to be safe 365 days a year, not just on one given day when there's a sweep," Kelso said. "This will make people be a little more aggressive at finding the people who are doing wrong rather than blanketing and making good children feel guilty until you consider them innocent."

The school system has agreed to pay a total of $22,500 in damages and attorney fees to the three plaintiffs.

The Detroit Police Department, which conducted the 2004 Mumford search alongside school district security, agreed to pay $10,000 in damages and fees and said they would only search students and their belongings when they have probable cause to believe the student may have a weapon, drugs or might otherwise be violating school rules.

One school board member, the Reverend David Murray, said he had not heard about the settlement but agreed that children should not be randomly searched without suspicion.

"I don't believe people should have their rights trampled on, but at the same time we don't want people hiding weapons in the school and terrorizing the students," said Murray, chair of the school board's safety committee. This settlement "shows we're going to have to be more careful about what we do and how we do searches."

The settlement comes two months after the district hired 50 laid-off Detroit police to help patrol the schools due to an upsurge in crime on school grounds.

Detroit public schools reported 151 cases of students caught carrying a concealed weapon in 2003, the most recent year for which data is available from the district.

The district has failed to respond to several Freedom of Information Act requests for more recent crime statistics.

Random weapons searches, usually conducted with the assistance of the Detroit Police Department, have been a tactic used to deter crime in Detroit Public Schools, mostly in high schools, for at least the past two decades.

The ACLU's Michael J. Steinberg said the plaintiffs filed the suit because they didn't want to see the schoolhouse turned into a jailhouse.

"We reached an agreement by which students can learn in a safe environment and not have their rights violated," he said.

But for students like Lasanna Dodd, the prospect of no random searches is scary.

"We've had plenty of incidents where people have brought guns or knives or blades," said Lasanna , 17, an 11th-grader at Redford High School.

"If they're not going to do those searches anymore, that makes me want to go to different schools," in another city, she said.

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Lawmakers prepare new bills to allow single-sex high schools

LANSING --Detroit education officials could revive plans to open two single-sex high schools, under legislation that is likely to clear the state Senate today.

A similar bill is on the House floor. Both are opposed by the American Civil Liberties Union, of Michigan, whose spokeswoman says same-gender schools foster inequality and don't improve academic performance.

Detroit schools, beset with falling enrollment and a high dropout rate, proposed two same-sex schools -- one for girls, one for boys -- in 2005. Unable to reach an agreement with the ACLU, they decided to seek a law change, rather than risk a court battle.

The Senate bill, sponsored by Sen. Buzz Thomas, D-Detroit, would permit any Michigan school district to open single-gender schools. "We need better education -- no question. There is evidence this not only won't fix the problem, it may, in fact, make it worse," said University of Michigan psychology Professor Jacqueline Eccles, speaking for the ACLU.

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Wahkiakum aims to resume drug testing

The Wahkiakum School District hopes to resume random drug testing for student-athletes as soon as possible, even though the issue could end up back in court on appeal.

A Wahkiakum County judge ruled Monday that the district's random drug-testing policy is constitutional.

"We are definitely pleased with the decision. There is no question about that," Wahkiakum School District Superintendent Bob Garrett said Tuesday. "It is in the best interest of the kids, and we are excited to be able to help kids curtail their drug use."

The Wahkiakum School District imposed the policy in October 1999 after trying numerous drug-prevention programs. A school survey in spring 1998 showed that 42 percent of the high school seniors admitted using illegal drugs, and 12.5 percent reported using narcotics within the last 30 days.

"How immediately we can implement drug testing we don't know, but we should know within a week or two," Garrett said. "It is our understanding that the prosecuting attorney (Fred Johnson) will file an order on our behalf. Once it is entered into the court system, that is when the 30 day-appeal process begins."

Plaintiffs Hans and Katherine York and Sharon and Paul Schneider, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, can use that 30 days to appeal the decision.

The Yorks and Schneiders, who had children in high school at the time, protested the policy on the grounds that random testing is an invasion of privacy. The school stopped testing students in June 2001 pending a court decision, according to Dan Bigelow, assistant prosecuting attorney for Wahkiakum County, which represents the school district in the case. "We need to know if we will be allowed to implement testing again or wait until the entire appeal process is complete," Garrett said.

He said he expects Johnson to report to the district by the next school board meeting, on June 21, "if we can plan to resume random drug testing in the fall."

Johnson was not available for comment Tuesday.

[Soldier4Christ]

ACLU Sues Florida Over New Law Banning State Funding For Travel To Terrorist Supporting Countries


Via Miami Herald

    The recently passed Florida law that essentially bans state academic travel to Cuba promised to escalate into a constitutional battle when Gov. Jeb Bush signed it into law last month.

    …….snip…

    The American Civil Liberties Union, representing several professors from state universities, filed a lawsuit against Florida officials in federal court, claiming the travel ban is unconstitutional. The group also demands a temporary injunction to prevent the law from taking effect while the case is in court.

    ‘’This act is terribly misdirected,'’ Randall Marshall, legal director of the ACLU of Florida, said of the new law. “This is unconstitutional, and we hope to have this law struck down very shortly.'’

The Florida Masochist has the right question:

    Tell me Mr. Marshall where it says in the constitution that taxpayer money must be used to support travel? Anywhere in the world? I’ll await your reply but I doubt I’ll get one.

    The new law prohibits spending state money on any aspect of organizing a trip to any of the five nations on the U.S. State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism: Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Syria.

    Other plaintiffs named in the suit include the faculty senate of FIU; Jose Alvarez, professor emeritus at the University of Florida; Carmen Diana Deere, director and professor at the University of Florida’s Center for Latin American Studies; Houman Sadri, associate professor at the University of Central Florida; and Noel Smith, curator of Latin American and Caribbean Art at the University of South Florida.

    The academics worry that the travel ban will discourage top students who have an interest in studying Cuba or other countries on the list from remaining at Florida schools.

This law is a very responsible move on the part of the state. The argument that it will discourage study in these countries and therefore diminish our security is crazy. We are at war despite the attitudes of some to recognize it. Why in the world should the state use its funds to put Americans in harms way where they could be taken hostage and a myriad of other terrible things done to them?

I will repeat my opinion from when the ACLU first announced their opposition to the law.

This law is straight up common sense, and if the ACLU were truly concerned for the security of Americans they would be applauding it. The law does not prevent anyone from actually travelling to these countries, it only prohibits taxpayer funds from paying for it. If professors and students want to travel to these dangerous countries they can do it at their own risk, and their own dime. Perhaps the ACLU are disappointed that the taxpayer will not be paying their fare to visit their clients? If so, I’m sure they have plenty enough duped supporters that would gladly donate.

This was a production of Stop The ACLU Blogburst. If you would like to join us, please email Jay or Gribbit. You will be added to our mailing list and blogroll. Over 200 blogs already on-board.

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The ACLU’s Urgent Flag Day Message

Do not let it be said that the ACLU forgot Flag Day! They are honoring our flag in their own special liberal way….by urging you to protect people’s right to burn it. You know, because “Free expression and the right to dissent are core principles that the American flag represents.” After all, “freedom cannot survive” if we don’t allow idiots to burn the very symbol that represents it. Isn’t it ironic?

Seriously this topic is a controversial one that I can see both sides on. It just seemed particularly disrespectful of the ACLU to tout this out on a day set aside to honor the flag, but I guess liberals would think it the most patriotic thing they could have done.

I agree with Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist in his dissenting opinion in Texas v. Johnson:

    The American flag, then, throughout more than 200 years of our history, has come to be the visible symbol embodying our Nation. It does not represent the views of any particular political party, and it does not represent any particular political philosophy. The flag is not simply another “idea” or “point of view” competing for recognition in the marketplace of ideas. Millions and millions of Americans regard it with an almost mystical reverence regardless of what sort of social, political, or philosophical beliefs they may have. I cannot agree that the First Amendment invalidates the Act of Congress, and the laws of 48 of the 50 States, which make criminal the public burning of the flag.

    Rehnquist also argued that flag burning is “no essential part of any exposition of ideas” but rather “the equivalent of an inarticulate grunt or roar that, it seems fair to say, is most likely to be indulged in not to express any particular idea, but to antagonize others.”

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ACLU, NAACP Sue Baltimore Police

Two civil liberties groups sued the Baltimore police Thursday, claiming they arrest tens of thousands of people illegally each year for minor infractions and submit innocent people to humiliating treatment.

The suit by the NAACP and the American Civil Liberties Union claims that the police department has refused to change its practices, calling them "patently unconstitutional" and detrimental to the residents of Baltimore, which is 65 percent black.

"The time has come to rein in this abuse of power and stop these unconstitutional and illegal acts," the lawsuit says.

Last year, police arrested more than 76,400 individuals, the suit claims. Thirty percent of those cases were dismissed after a preliminary review.

Many of those arrests were for such offenses as loitering, impeding or obstructing pedestrian traffic and disturbing the peace, the suit alleges.

It names the mayor, present and past police officials, state corrections officials, and individual officers. It claims that the department rewards officers based on the quantity, rather than the quality, of arrests, and that it punishes those who fall behind.

The Maryland Central Booking and Intake Center also routinely conducts strip searches, including body cavity searches, and holds people in filthy, overcrowded conditions, according to the suit.

The police department's policy of making arrests in cases that officers know won't be prosecuted is both unreasonable and unconstitutional, said ACLU attorney David Rocah. The problem appears to flow from policies set by the administration of Mayor Martin O'Malley, he said.

"We're not saying police officers are evil, but we also aren't saying this is a problem of just a few rogue cops," he said. "Police officers do what they're told. The message they're getting is, make more arrests and you're a good officer."

The plaintiffs will be unable to back up their allegations, said city Solicitor Ralph Tyler.

"The fact that the state's attorney doesn't charge a case proves only that the state's attorney doesn't charge a case," he said. "It doesn't necessarily mean that police made an illegal arrest."

The mayor and police commissioner did not return calls. State officials were not prepared to comment, a spokeswoman said.

Baltimore bucked a national trend this year, with a 2.5 percent drop in murders and an overall 3.6 percent drop in violent crime, according to a preliminary report released this week by the FBI.

[Soldier4Christ]

Hymn at talent show becomes court case

A federal judge must decide whether officials at a New Jersey school went too far when they banned an 8-year-old girl from singing a hymn in a talent show.

The girl wanted to perform "Awesome God."

Officials in Frenchtown, a blue-collar town on the Delaware River 30 miles northwest of Trenton, told the Christian Science Monitor the problem was not that the song is religious. But they found some lyrics -- like "His return is very close and so you better be believing that our God is an awesome God" -- too graphic and evangelizing for an elementary school audience.

"This is tolerance and political correctness gone awry," Maryann Turton, the girl's mother, said. "This is a much bigger picture than just our daughter in our little town. It is going on everywhere."

The girl's legal supporters include the Alliance Defense Fund, a religious rights group in Arizona, the civil rights division of the U.S. Justice Department and the American Civil Liberties Union.

A federal judge in Trenton is scheduled to hear the case July 3.


_______________________


Yet if the school had not banned it and someone complained about the it then the ACLU would still have been suing the school for allowing this song.

[Soldier4Christ]

ACLU Investigates Six Flags Ban On Ethnic Hairstyles

The American Civil Liberties Union is
investigating complaints by more than a dozen black employees at Six Flags America who have been banned from wearing ethnic hairstyles.

Several employees who wear dreadlocks cornrows or other long styles say they've been ordered to cut their hair, even those who wear costumes all day.

The coordinator of the ACLU's national campaign against racial profiling says it's culturally insensitive and possibly discrimination.

A national spokeswoman for Six Flags says new general manager Terry Prather, who came on with new owner Daniel Snyder, is enforcing a policy that's been in place for years.

Prather, who is black, says allowing employees to wear hairstyles that violate the park's policy would lead to customer service problems.

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A.C.L.U. Warned on Plan to Limit Members' Speech

A lawyer in the New York state attorney general's office informally warned the American Civil Liberties Union that his office had concerns about proposed standards that would limit the group's board members from speaking publicly about policies and internal operations, according to three board members.

 The executive committee of the A.C.L.U. board was told about the warning on Friday, the day before the board met in New York for its quarterly meeting. Board members, who discussed the proposals on Saturday but took no action, had no knowledge of the warning and the meeting ended on Sunday without the executive committee revealing it.

"What if we had voted to approve the proposals?" said Wendy Kaminer, a board member who has criticized the proposals and other actions taken by the board and the A.C.L.U. leadership over the last couple of years. "We had a need and a right to know that if we passed them, we might get into trouble with the attorney general's office."

Nadine Strossen, the board president, confirmed in an e-mail message that "someone" in the attorney general's office had called in his personal capacity to tell the A.C.L.U. of concern about the issue and that the executive committee had discussed it.

"It determined that these details were not germane to the board's general discussion of the issues raised" in the report on the rights and responsibilities of board members that contained the controversial proposals, she wrote.

Ms. Kaminer, who is leaving the board, and two other board members who were granted anonymity because they were afraid to speak publicly given the pending proposals, said an executive committee member had told them that Gerald Rosenberg, the assistant attorney general in charge of the New York State charities bureau, recently had spoken with Antonia Grumbach, a lawyer for the A.C.L.U., and told her the proposals might raise issues for his office if they were adopted.

In a telephone interview from France, Mr. Rosenberg declined to say whether he had spoken with Ms. Grumbach. "There is no pending investigation of the A.C.L.U. by my office at this time," he said.

Speaking in general terms, Mr. Rosenberg said he would have concerns if any nonprofit organization limited its board members' ability to speak publicly about policies. "If a public charity did adopt as a bylaw or a binding resolution that barred its directors from discussing public policy outside the boardroom, it might well be of concern to us," he said.

The proposals are in a report on the rights and responsibilities of board members that includes a description of the bylaws pertinent to directors and proposals that address conflicts of interest. But the board discussion on Saturday was primarily on the provisions related to board members' ability to speak publicly about the A.C.L.U.

[Soldier4Christ]

ACLU Says Pulling The Plug On Free Speech Was The Right Call


The valedictorian of Foothill High, Brittany McComb, decided to share her faith voluntarily at her graduation cermony. However, before she could get to the part that meant the most to her, Christ, her microphone went dead. Her speech was in no way endorsed by her school, however the school directly participated in censoring her free speech.

The First Amendment:

    Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The judicial branch has extended the meaning of this amendment to any government body, not just Congress. However, I still don’t understand how so many ignore the part that says ” or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” This is exactly what the school did to this young girl, prohibited the free exercize of her religious expression.

    The decision to cut short McComb’s commencement speech Thursday at The Orleans drew jeers from the nearly 400 graduates and their families that went on for several minutes.

    However, Clark County School District officials and an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union said Friday that cutting McComb’s mic was the right call. Graduation ceremonies are school-sponsored events, a stance supported by federal court rulings, and as such may include religious references but not proselytizing, they said.

    They said McComb’s speech amounted to proselytizing and that her commentary could have been perceived as school-sponsored.

    Before she delivered her commencement speech, McComb met with Foothill administrators, who edited her remarks. It’s standard district practice to have graduation speeches vetted before they are read publicly.

    School officials removed from McComb’s speech some biblical references and the only reference to Christ.

It is shameful that the ACLU take such a backwards stance on this issue. The school obviously didn’t endorse the speech, so therefore they prohibited it, and acted upon it by censoring her.

    But even though administrators warned McComb that her speech would get cut short if she deviated from the language approved by the school, she said it all boiled down to her fundamental right to free speech.

    That’s why, for what she said was the first time in her life, the valedictorian who graduated with a 4.7 GPA rebelled against authority.

    “I went through four years of school at Foothill and they taught me logic and they taught me freedom of speech,” McComb said. “God’s the biggest part of my life. Just like other valedictorians thank their parents, I wanted to thank my lord and savior.”

The ACLU lawyer said that it could have given the perception that the speech was school endorsed. However, the school could have put out a disclaimer. The ACLU said that her speech crossed the line from religious expression into the realm of preaching. I guess if anyone knows what kind of religious expression could cause a lawsuit, it would be the ACLU since they would most likely be the ones sueing. This girl was smart and brave, but her school was rude and cowardly.

    “People aren’t stupid and they know we have freedom of speech and the district wasn’t advocating my ideas,” McComb said. “Those are my opinions.

    “It’s what I believe.”

[Soldier4Christ]

The ACLU Dominoe Effect


I linked to this earlier, but it does deserve a post of its own. It has been emailed to me from different people more than a few times.

One reader writes:

    You might want to look into the ACLU’s domino strategy regarding state
    Supreme Courts.

    This year there are some very important races for state Supreme Court seats. The liberals know that by packing the courts they can hopefully create precedent in individual states which can then be relied upon in other states by liberal judges there. It is an insidious strategy and not all that hard to figure out. One state falls, then another and another until thecontrolling weight of authority is in their favor.

    Take a look at this blog about a Kentucky race.

    George Barrett and a bunch of liberal lawyers are trying to get one of their own on the court by keeping a gag on the conservative candidate so they won’t be discovered. A blogger is on to them. They are working around thecountry this year trying to position their people to make law from the bench.

    In Kentucky this year 263 out of 265 judicial positions are up for election, including 5 of 7 spots on the Kentucky Supreme Court. That makes this year a very important election year and one in which, perhaps more than ever, citizens need to make an effort to educate themselves on their judicial candidates. This is often a difficult task because there is little information on many of the candidates in mainstream print and there is not usually a great deal of name recognition. However, a little research effort will go a long way in making Kentucky better.

    The truth is, liberals already know this. A concerted grassroots effort made by either side over the next few months could potentially change Kentucky forever. Kentucky Supreme Court Justices serve 8 year terms, and incumbents generally enjoy an advantage over opponents. Rich liberals have already begun pouring money into the campaigns of candidates who they hope will become activist judges.

Read the entire piece at Blue Grass , Red State (following post).