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Caroline: Hello, hello. Thank you everybody for coming out today, this is fabulous. It
is really a fabulous day thanks to each of you for coming here today to stand up for
our rights. I am the national legislative director at the ACLU and I lobby on Capitol
Hill every day and let me just tell you that lobbying is so much more effective when we
stand with thousands of people and represent millions of Americans.
And speaking of standing up, today I have the honor of introducing someone who has always
stood up for our constitution and for the American values of fairness and due process.
Over the years in my work on Capitol Hill I've had the pleasure of seeing Senator Leahy
fight for justice and I know him to be a true friend of the Constitution and civil liberties.
Senator Leahy from the great state of Vermont is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee
and that is a very good thing for everyone who cherishes justice and freedom. Senator
Leahy has consistently raised his voice in defense of Habeas Corpus. During the 109th
Congress, Senator Leahy joined Senator Specter in offering an unsuccessful amendment to restore
habeas corpus to the shameful military commissions act.
He continues to fight to restore basic due process in his habeas corpus restoration act.
When he introduced this important legislation, Senator Leahy said, in removing habeas corpus
protections we have removed the check that our legal system provides against the government
arbitrarily detaining people for life without charge. We have removed the mechanism the
Constitution provides to check government over-reaching and lawlessness.
This is wrong, it is unconstitutional. It is un-American. Please welcome Senator Patrick
Leahy.