On the Right

On The Right The Decline of the ACLU New York, Jan. 4-There are arguments for granting amnesty to American deserters and draft-dodgers, but I for one do not desire to hear them from the lips of the American Civil Liberties Union. Which, needless to say, has appointed itself coordinator of the campaign for amnesty, notwithstanding that whether to grant amnesty to deserters is as unrelated to the business of a civil liberties union, as to the Sierra Club. What we have is another in the tedious list of activities by the American Civil Liberties Union which betray its present orientation. It has become a left-wing pressure group, whose concern for civil liberties is limited to the activities of its ideological friends, who are loosely defined as those who desire to destroy by any means American society as we recognize it. A year ago, I requested aid from the ACLU in questioning the constitutionality of a labor union’s requiring me (and others) to join it, before we are permitted to go before a television camera or radio microphone to express our views. The ACLU dragged its feet on the question for months and months, and finally declined to support the case, giving reasons as synthetic as its devotion to civil liberties. That was two months ago and, being parti pris, I did not then denounce the ACLU, but now, with the publication in Commentary Magazine, principal publication of the American Jewish Committee, of the devastating expose of “Politics & ACLU” by Professor Joseph Bishop of Yale, it is appropriate to bring it up. Indeed he does so himself: ” . . . in none of the ninety-odd court cases listed in the most recent report of the Legal Director can it be said that ACLU is representing a right-wing client or cause. . . . A . . . substantial problem was presented by William F. Buckley’s contention that his First Amendment rights are violated by the insistence of the American Federation of Radio and Television Artists that he must pay dues to the Federation in order to conduct his TV program. If Mr. Buckley’s purpose in asking ACLU’s help in his suit was to embarrass it, he plainly succeeded, for the national board took nearly a year to make up its mind to turn down his request.” Mr. Bishop’s examination of the ACLU’s statements and behavior puts an end to the organization’s pretensions. He gives example after example of the organization’s extremism in pursuit of the liberties of anyone to move against the state and its laws.