Where’s the ACLU to Defend the Duke Lacrosse Players?
Rabbi Aryeh Spero writes at Human Events:
If ever there was a case screaming for the assistance of the ACLU on behalf of defendants suffering denial of their civil rights and the need to go after a prosecutor abusing his power, the Duke lacrosse case is it. Yet the ACLU remains silent.
By now and for months, the prosecutor’s flouting of the most basic legal and civil rights procedures has become transparent and beyond question to all those following this case. The defendants have been accused by a plaintiff who misidentified them when given her chance during the police photo line-up. Worse, the DNA results of the semen taken from the accuser do not match those of the boys she is accusing of rape. There are contradictions in the timeline first provided by the plaintiff, and her partner at the scene presents a story at odds with what the accuser is positing. We now hear that the accuser has even gotten herself pregnant, somewhere else.
The ACLU is not moved. Instead, it is out there every day bringing lawsuits on behalf of known terrorists planning or already guilty of committing acts of terrorism against innocent U.S. civilians. Unlike the Duke case, where the deprivations to the boys involve civil rights matters firm and already settled in decades of case law, the claims by the ACLU on behalf of the jihadists are mostly spurious and flimsy.
While hardened terrorists who have announced their vile intentions against Americans, and boast of it, pull the heart strings of the ACLUniks, the ongoing plight of the accused American boys who deny guilt and are, in principle, against such crimes, does not stir the conscience of the ACLU. They don’t care that these boys are not getting a fair shake. Rules of procedure, duration, evidence, authority, and secretion apply only to non-U.S. Muslim terrorists, according to the ACLU, not white, Christian, mainstream, middle class Americans.
This case has been going on for months, with even more procedural and evidentiary aberrations and yet the “civil rights industry†remains silent as these young men are left hanging , with their reputations tarnished, their schooling interrupted and their families held in suspension while the Durham district attorney continues his crusade.
How well I remember the Central Park jogger rape and assault case here in New York City during the early 1990s when the civil rights industry and leftists, now silent, were demanding that the mob of black men accused of the vicious and cruel crime leading to a white girl being millimeters from death be spared anymore investigation so that “the boys could continue with their young lives and proceed on with their future.†This, despite the incontrovertible evidence of their guilt or accessory.
The Durham district attorney has consistently ignored the most basic procedural rules by hiding evidence from the lawyers of the defendants that would help the case of the young athletes. Not once, but twice. Be it by secreting the evidence of the private lab results or what happened the day of the photo lineup. There are other abuses of procedural conventions. Many believe this is a political case, with the Durham district attorney’s offering the scalps of some “privileged white kids†in return for the black vote so necessary if the D.A. is to be re-elected in this heavily black precinct.
And yet, while the ACLU is bringing a law suit against our President, authorized by the Constitution during time of war to spy on and investigate enemy combatants, as well as the U.S. attorney general, working in the executive branch on behalf of the President, they are taking no action against the Durham district attorney, who is clearly overriding the limited powers granted him and abusing and exploiting his government position at the expense of regular citizens, indeed it appears, harassing these young men and their families for his own personal reasons.
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Posted by Jay on December 20, 2006 10:14 pm
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11 Responses to “Where’s the ACLU to Defend the Duke Lacrosse Players?”
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Wow, that’s not even close to a logical argument. Are you and the Rabbi really implying that the ACLU isn’t involved because its resources are tied up “bringing lawsuits on behalf of known terrorists”?
I don’t pretend to know the details of this case for the same reasons I don’t know the details about the white girl that went missing in the Caribbean. I don’t feel bad about that because the writer here didn’t feel the need to discuss details anyways.
Is the D.A. taking this too far? Probably. Is he following the proper procedures? Probably not.
Do these “privileged white kids” want or need the ACLU’s help to counter-sue the D.A.? I don’t see anything to suggest it, Rabbi.
By the way, did you bother to ask them why they weren’t involved and under what circumstances might that change?
The ACLU intervenes in many cases where no one ask them to, and no one wants them, especially high profile cases. I’m not calling them either. It is too close to Christmas for such a waste of time.
I didn’t necessarily expect you to, the fact that the author didn’t should have impacted your decision to quote him.
This article is a long rant that touches on a slew of things without substantiating any connection between them. On top of all that, he didn’t even seek a comment from the target of his wrath. Or if he did seek and receive a comment, it didn’t support his conclusion, so he omitted every mention of it.
What value does that rant have other than to reassure those with preconceived notions?
It probably made him feel better as that is the purpose of most rants. That, and it was probably preaching to the choir a bit too. Why does everything have to have the purpose of changing other people’s minds? Sometimes you just want to express the outrage you’ve been holding inside and hope that some others will identify and share that same emotion..or at least understand it.
I understand and respect that. There’s nothing wrong with expressing emotions in an editorial.
The problem is that he doesn’t state them as emotions. There aren’t any “feeling verbs.” He states his emotions as if they are facts. He’s not merely expressing himself in hopes of connecting with his audience. The article follows the textbook structure of a persuasive essay except that it lacks substance.
In that context, an appeal to emotion is a complete fallacy. It accomplishes nothing other than pushing people even farther apart.
Frankly, I see this as an example of the ACLU’s double standards. It’s not an isolated incident either. They will defend a Muslim while ignoring the Christian in similar circumstances. They will defend the liberal and socialist but remain silent when a conservative is in a similar situation. The ACLU has an ongoing agenda that regularly sides with liberalism, socialism and secularism. This is shown routinely by their own behavior as documented not only by blogs like this but recognized news reports as well.
I rest my case.
Carl sees this as further proof of his preconceived notions despite a complete lack of substance. There’s probably even a fair chance he’ll refer back to it next time someone asks him to support statements like “They will defend the liberal and socialist but remain silent when a conservative is in a similar situation.” and “This is shown routinely by their own behavior as documented”.
Sure, it’s incumbent upon the reader to be more discriminating, but let’s be honest: many people aren’t. We all know that’s true, so writing and linking such drivel is a willful attempt to play on that nature.
Politics are divisive enough in this country. Don’t help this man drive people to dig deeper foxholes.
From what I heard the Duke Lacrosse case is progressing according to how it should go. I don’t see why conservatives even want to interfere in a battle between liberals.
Maybe it should become a sporting event labeled The North East Liberal Elites v the Liberal Black Community.
Jeff, if this is what you choose to rest your case upon, then be glad you’re not an attorney because the preponderance of evidence as shown by this blog and others as well as recognized news organizations actually support my point (which incidentally is not a “preconceived notions despite a complete lack of substance” no matter how much you wish it to be so but actually a logical and sound conclusion based upon the ACLU’s own actions). But you’ve chosen to ignore the fact to support the ACLU regardless of its well documented history of supporting & defending liberalistic, socialistic and secularistic causes while ignoring or even condemning conservative causes of similiar or even identical issues. To give a specific example, since you seem to demand it, the ACLU is and has filed lawsuits defending various Muslims’ rights of religious symbology (even to go as far as defend one such case where a Muslim student wished carry a curved knife in a sheaf based upon “religious freedom” and that the knife was a “religious symbol” even though carrying such a weapon was in clear violation of school policy and local law) while condemning and threatening lawsuits against Christian symbology (again, specific example: the ACLU’s recent condemnation and threatened lawsuits against St. Bernard Parish, LA for plans to put up a memorial for Katrina victims. What does the ACLU object so strongly? The memorial has a cross on it. The problem with the ACLU’s objection? The memorial is being constructed on PRIVATE PROPERTY). So don’t try to imply that the ACLU’s double-standards are some sort of figment of my imagination for it is obviously not. It is indeed factual and extremely well-documented.
Finally, your ad hominem attacks are duly noted and indicative of someone who truly cannot defend their position based upon its merits and as such your whole argument becomes moot. It’s sad that you choose to close your eyes and mind to the truth regarding the ACLU and its decline into an agenda-driven organization rather than the constitutional defender ideals upon it was originally founded.
So in conclusion, the facts speak for themselves and prove conclusively that the ACLU now practices an agenda-driven double standard. And if your cause or issue is in opposition to the ACLU’s agendas, then they will not help and more than likely will condemn you.
Carl, I’m sorry that I wasn’t clearer.
- I wasn’t offering an opinion on the Duke case.
- I wasn’t offering an opinion on your opinion of the Duke case.
- I wasn’t offering an opinion on the ACLU in general
- I wasn’t offering an opinion on your opinion of the ACLU.
I was commenting on the article, which I believe to be devoid of substance. I only brought you into it because your reaction was a perfect illustration of the pitfalls of such an emotionally driven essay.
Both the accuser and those were accused were being debaucherous. It is know that rape and false accessions happen under such conditions. They all show contempt for that risk. Some of them have reaped what they sow. It is better they reap it in this world than the next. I am more concerned about the innocent babies who are murdered in their mother’s wombs because they have the audacity to have been conceived when their mother chose to have sex. In the U.S. the children are punished for the crimes of their parents. We have no business criticizing the Muslim people or anyone else until we clean up our own act.