THE CHICAGO COMMITTEE TO DEFEND THE BILL OF RIGHTS (CCDBR) 1325 S Wabash Avenue, Suite 105       Chicago Illinois 60605 312-939-0675     fax 312-939-7867     ccdbr@pobox.com     www.ccdbr.org

In the face of fresh civil-liberties challenges emerging almost daily, CCDBR has entered a new phase of struggle with an enlarged and rejuvenated board of directors. We are proud to inform you that in recent months we have added four outstanding young members to the board. In order of arrival they are: Jevon Gammon, Kali Cohn, Alicia Robinson, and Amanda Graham.			ALICIA ROBINSON Alicia, a lifelong South Sider and third year student at DePaul Law School, was president of the DePaul Black Students Law Association and recently became the first recipient of the CCDBR backed Larry Kennon Scholarship - created in honor of our advisory board member (see below).
	JEVON GAMMON Jevon is a West Side educator and graduate of Western Illinois University; with special experience in broadcast media.		AMANDA GRAHAM Amanda, a second-year student at DePaul Law School, is president of DePaul’s chapter of the National Lawyers Guild and has just returned from their annual meeting in New Orleans.
	KALI COHN Kali, recommended to us by the Bill of Rights Defense Committee (BORDC), comes to Chicago after graduation from University of Rochester; she is active in the Illinois Coalition Against Torture and works for an immigrants' aid organization dealing primarily with South Asians.	All of them are working on vital projects for CCDBR: an educational program on threats to internet freedom, abuses of racial profiling and stop-andsearch by the Chicago Police Department, and a freedom of information request to the Illnois Fusion Center - one of many bodies across the country which pool data in the service of the emerging Surveillance State

Several CCDBR board members are participating actively in the Illinois Coalition Against Torture (ICAT), of which we are an organizational member. ICAT pursues a multi-faceted agenda including follow-up to the great victory represented by the perjury conviction of police torturer John Burge, education on the torture issue from local to international levels, and active support and political mobilization in behalf of legislation to make torture by public officials a felony. In particular, we are backing the remarkable bill submitted to the U.S. House of Representatives by Congressman Danny Davis, which uniquely defines torture using international standards and removes any statute of limitations on prosecution. ICAT is also focusing on a Springfield fbill that would revoke licenses of health-care professionals who participate in torture.

The FBI raids of September 24 on antiwar activists in Minneapolis and Chicago serve as a wake-up call that CCDBR is as necessary as ever to stand in defense of our basic rights. Reading "fighting homegrown terrorism" as the new equivalent of "fighting Communism at home," we see a disturbing echo of McCarthyism at its worst: guilt by association, Orwelllian surveillance and searches (including official naked-scanning and groping at airports), abuses of grand jury investigations, and the chilling message that anyone who speaks out risks persecution.

As if the Patriot Act blanket extensions, refusal to act on torture prosecution, and so many other recent disappointments were not enough, we now contend with the new threat to First Amendment rights of prosecutions for "material support of terrorism." Sadly, the Supreme Court has upheld an interpretation of this offense that prohibits anyone from "coordinating" even advice on non-violence with an organization the State Department defines as "terrorist." Conviction for such an offense carries a very long prison sentence. Many of us will remember from the days of McCarthyism how viciously the similar "Attorney General's List of Subversive Organizations" was manipulated and abused.

We remain grateful to all those of you who have helped fund our work in 2010. With your continued financial and moral support, we will continue to stand up and speak out for the bedrock rights that shield us from tyranny. As 2010 ends, following the November 2 election that bodes even more ill for protection of constitutional rights, please help us enter 2011 with the resources we need to keep fighting. (As always, contributions made out to BORF are tax deductible.

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The vast majority of our funding comes from individuals who support us in a variety of ways.

There is no way can we fully express the depth of our gratitude to our supporters for their help year after year.

Being a member and a monthly sustainer of the Chicago Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights provides a means of expressing the courage of your convictions.

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