According to Wired News, Oakland joined nineteen other U.S. cities on Tuesday when the City Council passed a resolution barring its employees from enforcing the PATRIOT Act. Flagstaff also passed a similar resolution on Tuesday. Good for them.
The Oakland resolution reads, in part:
...FURTHER RESOLVED that, to the extent legally possible, no City employee or department shall officially assist or voluntarily cooperate with investigations, interrogations, or arrest procedures, public or clandestine, that are in violation of individuals' civil rights or civil liberties as specified in the above Amendments of the United States Constitution; and be it
FURTHER RESOLVED that the Oakland City Council calls upon all private citizens and organizations, including residents, employers, educators, and business owners, to demonstrate similar respect for civil rights and civil liberties, especially but not limited to conditions of employment and cooperation with investigations; and be it
FURTHER RESOLVED that the City of Oakland call on our United States Representative and Senators to monitor the implementation of the Act and Orders cited herein and actively work for the repeal of the Act and those Orders that violate fundamental rights and liberties as stated in the US Constitution and its Amendments.
I've mentioned this phenomenon before, and the Bill of Rights Defense Committee is apparently one of the organizations spearheading this movement. The site boasts an overview of the issues, among other resources. Take a look.
The Shifted Library (aka Jenny) wrote about opposition to the Act by librarians earlier this week. Interestingly, when I went to her blog to pick up the link (it had disappeared from my aggregator, probably by mistake on my part), I saw this post indicating that Congressman Sanders of Vermont is planning to hold a press conference tomorrow detailing his plans to introduce legislation modifying some provisions of the Act. I'll be interested to see how that goes, and will post a follow-up tomorrow.
