After the US Election: Center for Constitutional Rights

Rabbis for Human Rights Award to CCR and find many other awards here

Letter from Vincent Warren, Executive Director of CCR (Just In, November 3, 2010):

After yesterday’s election you may be wondering what your next move is to further social justice and restore sanity in government....Support (for) CCR ...(is taking) another step on the very long journey we are taking together to restore our rights and renew our country’s commitment to the rule of law.

Like many of you, I watched the election coverage to see what direction the American people wanted to pursue. The results were disappointing, but not surprising. The right wing is now calling the shots in the House of Representatives, some left-leaning members of Congress were discarded and the Tea Party has a toe hold. The stakes for justice and democratic principles are so high, CCR must continue to be a clear, progressive voice for change no matter who controls the House or the Senate. Help from the current Congress and the executive has been rare and lackluster. History has shown that the upcoming move to the center-right may serve the 2012 elections but will certainly mean further retreat from the change we want to see. Your next move should be to keep the Center strong to serve as a check on these two branches and to push the courts to preserve a meaningful democratic society for us all.

Early on CCR took on the fight against the unconstitutional expansion of presidential powers; sought to expose the abuses and illegalities of US actions in Afghanistan and Iraq, including the increased use of military contractors; and challenged the repeated use of “national security” justifications by President Bush, and now by the Obama administration, to obscure facts and avoid judicial review.

With your help CCR will continue to take the long view and pursue cutting-edge litigation and educational & media advocacy, pushing back on overreaching executive power, taking on unpopular cases for the most marginalized clients and communities, and building respect for human rights...

On behalf of all of us at CCR, thank you for standing with us at the front lines of social justice and pushing ahead, even in the most difficult times, to protect and advance rights for all.

With appreciation,

Vincent Warren
Executive Director

P.S. I’d like to share with you more of CCR’s work over the past year in the pursuit of justice. Please check out our 2010 Annual Report at www.CCRjustice.org/annual-report or CLICK here to learn more.

To obtain a hard copy of Center for Constitutional Rights' latest annual report, please write to:

Center for Constitutional Rights
666 Broadway
New York, NY 10012

or

Office of the Attorney General, Dept. of Law, Charities Bureau
120 Broadway,
New York, NY 10271

(I suppose what you may want to supply is a large SSAE (Stamped, Self-Addressed Envelope with a good estimate of the needed amount of stamps from your location.)

NOTES from Connie (blogger here):

Help keep groups like the CCR STRONG...we in the US and those who work with us need this solid organization more than ever. I left out the plea for funds as this is my policy with this blog - yet you may want to contact ccrjustice.org to both sign up for free emails and to find other ways to pitch-in...

By the way, here's a recent piece via Vincent by a CCR Staff Member
"Live from the Rachel Corrie Trial in Israel" GO here