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Spread the Word & Save the Date!
DATE:
Thursday, March 26, 2009

TIME:
12:00-1:30 PM – LUNCHEON & PROGRAM START PROMPTLY AT NOON!

WHERE:
The Marriott Wardman Park Hotel
2660 Woodley Road, NW
Washington, D.C.

(adjacent to Woodley Park/Zoo/Adams Morgan, Red Line)

 
Sponsors at the Leadership level and above are entitled to advertising space in the program book.

We need to know by March 11th or with the return of this form (whichever comes first) whether or not you will be submitting an ad.

ACLU’s NADINE STROSSEN TO RECEIVE
EDGERTON AWARD ON MARCH 26

Among the honorees at our 46th annual Bill of Rights Awards Luncheon will be Nadine Strossen, who just stepped down after 17 years as National President of the ACLU, where she was the first woman and the youngest person so elected.

Nadine’s tenure saw significant advances. Last year’s change of the annual Bill of Rights event to mid-day was a big hit. The upcoming Luncheon, being held at The Marriott Wardman Park in D.C. with its tribute to the Nadine’s lasting legacy for American liberty (her only event in the Washington area), promises to be one of the most memorable awards ceremonies in NCA history. Join us!

Our 2009 Awards Luncheon will take place on Thursday, March 26th, at The Marriott Wardman Park, 2660 Woodley Road, NW, Washington, D.C. adjacent to the Woodley Park/Zoo/Adams Morgan station on the Red Line). Luncheon and program start PROMPTLY at noon, and the program is expected to end at 1:30.

Law Professor Nadine Strossen, recently retired after 17 years as National President of the ACLU, will be honored with the 2009 Henry W. Edgerton Civil Liberties Award for her distinguished career in creating a living legacy of civil liberties for all Americans. She was the first woman and the youngest person ever elected ACLU president. During Nadine’s tenure, ACLU membership nearly doubled, national staff tripled and 25 state affiliates hired their first full-time staff attorneys. Nadine has also been a super-articulate defender of liberty and the ACLU against attacks by the Clinton and both Bush administrations. This is the only local opportunity to thank Nadine for her years of outstanding service.

Under Strossen’s leadership, the ACLU has led many civil liberties struggles, including (in the early 1990's) the defense of free speech and privacy in the then-new Internet world and (after September 11, 2001) the fight against government secrecy, abuses of power, and human rights violations. [On Jan. 21, 2009, the Supreme Court refused to hear the Justice Department’s appeal of the ACLU victory against internet censorship in the ten-year-long case, ACLU v. Mukassey (formerly v. Ashcroft) thereby keeping intact the magna carta for online freedom of speech achieved in the 1997 triumph, ACLU v. Reno. Meanwhile, the Obama Justice Department is continuing such Bush legal arguments as the “state secrets” justification for refusing to say why they are detaining certain individuals. “Eternal vigilance…”]

Nadine is also known for her special efforts to engage diverse audiences, and she has welcomed the opportunity to discuss civil liberties issues with people with whom she has strong disagreements. She has debated many prominent conservatives, including Pat Buchanan, William F. Buckley, Ann Coulter, Lou Dobbs, Sean Hannity, Ed Meese, Ted Olson, Ralph Reed, Pat Robertson, Phyllis Schlafly, Ken Starr and John Yoo.

Nadine Strossen continues as Professor of Law at New York Law School.

Montgomery County’s Robert Coe, with the unanimous recommendations of our Staff and Board of Directors, will be awarded the Alan and Adrienne Barth Volunteer Service Award for exemplary work on liberty's behalf.

ACLUers know Bob mostly as the Montgomery County ACLU-NCA Chapter Board member from 1997-2008 and Chapter Co-Chair for about half those years. He worked on several County measures, including  the County law against transgender discrimination, where he presented testimony using work drafted by the ACLU-NCA Legal Director and Legislative Counsel, both also Montgomery County residents.

Bob also served as an invaluable legal intake volunteer for a dozen years at the NCA office.

For more information on Nadine Strossen or Robert Coe, please click here.

Funds raised at this Bill of Rights Awards Luncheon are used for the legal and public education work of the ACLU Fund of the National Capital Area, with a portion to the national ACLU Foundation for similar work nationwide. ACLU legal staff has, for example:

• Won changes in police practices

• Defended rights of residents, businesses and neighborhood associations to contact D.C. Government agencies without fear of lawsuit.

• Conducted widely acclaimed neighborhood education that effectively ended police efforts to search homes without warrants or consent.

• Sparked protests against constitutionally suspect police checkpoints interrogating residents and visitors, effectively ending them.

• Protected religious rights for D.C. Firefighters and public charter school students.

• Exposed FBI and local police spying on political and religious groups, such as the Quakers and Catholic Peace Ministries.

• Won release of documents detailing abuse at Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib Prison, elsewhere in Iraq, Afghanistan and worldwide.

• Fought for fair elections and voting rights nationwide, including re-votes not merely recounts when voters were wrongly excluded or obviously confused (e.g., West Palm Beach).

• Provided thousands of What to Do If You're Stopped by the Police cards in Spanish and English (even the police distribute them).

For more information on past events and their luminous award recipients and speakers, click here.
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 RSVP to: RSVP@aclu-nca.org 
The ACLU-NCA Fund is a 501(c)(3) organization and contributions are tax deductible to the maximum extent provided by law (above the The Marriott Wardman Park Hotel's $60 per plate charge). Donations and Student Sponsorships are fully deductible. The ACLU of the National Capital Area (ACLU-NCA), the local affiliate of the nationwide nonpartisan organization, is really two separate nonprofit entities. The ACLU-NCA Fund carries out most of the legal and public education work, made possible by the tax-deductible donations from members and nonmembers alike--such as Bill of Rights Awards Luncheon seats, sponsorships and donations. Most of the legislative lobbying work is done by the ACLU-NCA affiliate, supported by membership dues and additional gifts which are not tax-deductible while nonetheless absolutely vital to civil liberties. Each contribution will be gratefully received and carefully used. Because contributions are used to defend civil liberties, we cannot offer refunds (not that anyone's ever asked for one.)