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| 2011.06.26 - ACLU's Liberty (Photo credit: JBYoder) |
Introduction of Udi Ofer, 2013 Recipient of the Law
& Justice Program’s Distinguished Contributions Award
The American Civil Liberties Union
describes itself as “ our nation's guardian of liberty, working daily in courts,
legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and
liberties that the Constitution and laws of the United States guarantee
everyone in this country.”
Since its founding in 1920, the ACLU has been variously described in
many ways, some less flattering than others.
Herewith a quick sample from the past few decades:
· In
1978 an op-ed in the New Times complained: “The intention of the ACLU is noble but the understanding
of their duty is faulty.... It is true that unpopular as well as popular speech
must be kept free, but it is not the unpopularity of Nazism that deprives Nazis
of their free speech rights. It is their opposition to that right for all and
their intention to destroy it that makes it monstrously impertinent for them to
claim it. It is a grievous mistake for the ACLU to accept Nazism as merely
another unpopular point of view to be defended against prejudice and
intolerance."
· A decade later, after presidential candidate Michael Dukakis
revealed that he was a member of the ACLU, Bill O’Reilly retorted: "Hitler
would be a card-carrying ACLU member. So would Stalin. Castro probably is. And
so would Mao Zedong.”
· In 1998, Julian Bond, co-founder of SNCC and later
Board Chair of the NAACP offered a more balanced view: “When you hear about the ACLU defending these horrific
people, you react with revulsion. The Klan, Nazis, who knows what. Awful, awful
people. But then you think about it, and you say, 'Is this the right of the
Nazis to march in Skokie or is this the right of unpopular people to march in
an area where they're terrifically unpopular?' And if you look at it that way
then you have to stand with the ACLU."
·
Lastly, I offer
this 2012 quotation, which appears in an opinion piece headed “I’m in Shock,”
by a blogger who billed himself “The Political Outcast”:
“When mayors of major cities came out and said that they
would deny a business license to Chick-Fil-A because of the beliefs of the
president of the company, I wondered if the ACLU would get involved. While the ACLU supports homosexual marriage,
and I suspect will also support transgender and polygamous marriages when the
cases come up for legal challenge, [it] has denounced the comments of the
mayors.”
The Political Outcast was not
mistaken about the ACLU’s position on same-sex marriage. Witness this statement, posted on the website
of the ACLU of New Jersey on October 21st:
"Governor Christie's decision to drop
his appeal in the marriage equality case is an unexpected but joyous
development for the gay and lesbian couples who tied the knot at the stroke of
midnight today and to the many more who will follow this week."The governor made the right call to step aside and allow loving and committed couples to marry after Friday's unanimous New Jersey Supreme Court decision and as it became clear that the legislature had the votes to override his veto of the marriage equality bill. After so many years of hard work, today begins a new era for equality in the state of New Jersey.”
The speaker was Mr. Udi Ofer, ACLU-NJ’s
Executive Director and this year’s recipient of the Law & Justice Program’s
Distinguished Contributions Award. Mr.
Ofer is a graduate of the University of Buffalo and Fordham’s law school. He launched his legal career a dozen years
ago as a staff attorney with an organization called “My Sister’s Place,” which
served victims of domestic violence in West Chester County. Chiefly, he represented women clients with
immigration and public-benefits issues.
Two years later he joined the ACLU
as Director of the New York Bill of Rights Defense campaign. The year was 2003 and the campaign’s focus
was on civil liberties issues precipitated by post Nine-Eleven national
security measures.
I found a 2005 interview that Mr. Ofer
gave to a publication called “The Gothamist.”
The reporter asked, “What sections of the Patriot Act do you find most
threatening?” Mr. Ofer’s answer: “Where
should I begin?”
In 2008 he founded and
directed the advocacy department of the New York ACLU, which tackled such
issues as the NYPD’s alleged over-use of racial profiling and the city’s
recently discredited stop-and-frisk policy.
As Executive Director of the ACLU of New Jersey, he has overall
responsibility for legal, legislative, public education, organizing and fund
raising programs. With 15,000 members,
ACLU-NJ is the largest civil liberties organization in the Garden State and one
of the largest ACLU affiliates in the nation.
As I’ve tried to illustrate, Mr. Ofer
and his organization are often aligned with unpopular causes --- occasionally
causes they themselves may find distasteful --- but always in the cause of
individual rights and liberties under the Constitution of the United States.
I am pleased and proud to present the 2013 Distinguished COntributions in Law & Justice Award to Mr. Udi Ofer.
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