"He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent which will reach to himself." - Thomas Paine, conclusion, Dissertation on First Principles of Government, 1795

Civil liberties rank just fifth on the FBI list of priorities.

The ACLU says keep America Safe and Free!

Magorn says civil liberties "usually do (get much worse before they get better), but they DO get better. Immersed in constitutional rights . . . I can tell you that the pendulum of individual liberties has swung with amazing regularity over the past 200 years. This particular swing started in 1972 and is just about due for a swing back, but the next presidential election will be critcial because this is the longest we have ever gone without a change to the supreme court. (All) of the recent decisions that have been bad have been 5-4, so even if you have never voted in your life, you really need to this next presidential election."

PBS has a timeline of civil liberties after 9/11.

January 3, 2003 - From Politech, Harvey Silverglate writes about the state of civil liberties at end of 2002.

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