ACLU looks ahead to post-Trump era

Fair Tax failure risks enforcement of reforms, revival of regressive penalties, fees

Ed Yohnka (clockwise from upper left), Colleen Connell, Nusrat Choudhury, and Khadine Bennett take part in the ACLU of Illinois webinar “The Fight Is far From Over.” (Zoom)

By Ted Cox

“Many of you, like me, are starting to breathe again,” said Colleen Connell, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, “but we’re not breathing easy.”

Connell spoke Wednesday as part of a webinar called “The Fight Is far From Over,” looking ahead to the fight for civil rights as it figures to shift under President-elect Biden. She said President Trump’s refusal to concede the election, combined with his administration’s attempts to push through “onerous regulations” before leaving office, was “alerting us to the rebuilding effort ahead” to protect and expand civil liberties.

But Connell was not concerned about the inevitability of Trump leaving office as Biden is inaugurated Jan. 20. She said she expects Trump’s arguments against the election results to “evaporate” after the Electoral College votes to formally decide the election once and for all next month, and she pointed to how Trump’s claims of election fraud have not gained traction in the courts thus far.

“The judges have been explicitly critical of the weakness of the arguments and the absolute lack of evidence that has been presented in these cases,” Connell said. “And what we have seen consistently is a whittling down of the claims — not just from the grandiose press releases of the lawyers and the tweets of President Trump, but from the actual initial pleadings themselves. We see a whittling down until there’s really quite frankly nothing left.”

“What we have seen consistently is a whittling down of the claims — not just from the grandiose press releases of the lawyers and the tweets of President Trump. … We see a whittling down until there’s really quite frankly nothing left.”

Colleen Connell, executive director of ACLU of Illinois (One Illinois/Ted Cox)

Connell said the ACLU could join in cases should any advance, arguing that voting rights should be respected along with the integrity of the election, but she did not expect Trump’s foot-dragging to get that far. There’s actually a federal law on the transition, Connell added, although “it’s never been an issue before.” But she said the controversy did show the need for “national standards” on voting rights “that make the right to vote more secure.”

Nusrat Choudhury, legal director of ACLU of Illinois, said she expected an end to the Muslim travel ban, an end to shell games over funding for Trump’s border wall with Mexico, and the not uncomplicated task of reuniting immigrant and refugee families separated at the border all to be implemented on Day One of the Biden administration. She expressed confidence that the law is the law and that the ACLU will be able to continue to argue effectively for civil rights, even with the 300 conservative judges Trump has appointed to federal benches.

The ACLU also expects the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program to be immediately revived. U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, a prime defender of the so-called Dream Act, was slated to take part in the webinar, but had to cancel at the last minute Wednesday over Senate business.

The ACLU was a frequent opponent of the Trump administration in the courts. ACLU of Illinois spokesman Ed Yohnka said the organization filed 400 suits against the administration over civil liberties over the last four years, and Choudhury said almost 200 other suits concerned Trump’s handling of the pandemic.

Choudhury said she expected the organization to push ahead on reproductive justice, LGBTQ rights, and racial justice, especially in granting equal protection to vulnerable communities that all too often see those rights jeopardized. “These are areas we’re going to lean into and fight,” she added.

But in Illinois the failure of the Fair Tax Amendment could have unintended consequences, Connell said, especially as “chronic underfunding” has already created problems the ACLU has taken on in the Department of Corrections and the Department of Children and Family Services. Khadine Bennett, director of advocacy and Intergovernmental Affairs with ACLU of Illinois, said that risk to funding also threatened to have an “impact on our consent decrees” in law enforcement and other agencies.

Choudhury added, “Where are they going to be turning for money?” The possibility exists, she said, that the state could turn to regressive penalties and fees the ACLU could take issue with.

Connell said it is discouraging to see “a president who actually applauds White nationalists, who applauds police violence,” along with the widespread “public approval for autocratic actions.” She bemoaned “the decline of civic education” and of “civic virtue” as an “impediment for reform,” and she called for a recommitment to basic civics education. But she was cheered by the “mass mobilization of literally millions of Americans” since Trump took office four years ago, including a new generation of activists joining the struggle, and she said that presents “an opportunity for reform” going forward.