This is surely election season, and with election season comes the endless stream of candidate endorsements. Many are from fellow politicians and are based upon the political nature of the race. Then there are endorsements from people who care deeply about an issue, and wish to see the best candidate on that issue win the election. This is the latter.
We are at a critical point in the Presidential campaign, and as lawyers who have been deeply involved in the Guantanamo litigation to preserve the important right to habeas corpus, we are writing to urge you to support Senator Obama.
Some politicians are all talk and no action. But we know from first-hand experience that Senator Obama has demonstrated extraordinary leadership on this critical and controversial issue. When others stood back, Senator Obama helped lead the fight in the Senate against the Administration’s efforts in the Fall of 2006 to strip the courts of jurisdiction, and when we were walking the halls of the Capitol trying to win over enough Senators to beat back the Administration’s bill, Senator Obama made his key staffers and even his offices available to help us. Senator Obama worked with us to count the votes, and he personally lobbied colleagues who worried about the political ramifications of voting to preserve habeas corpus for the men held at Guantanamo.
Obama, before becoming a United States Senator, was, of course, a state senator in Illinois. His campaign has used an accomplishment of his during this service as evidence of his ability to be a politician and pass legislation over intense opposition: he spearheaded a law mandating the videotaping of police interrogations. I think that beyond his political ability, this event is telling of another important facet to Obama’s candidacy: his commitment to civil liberties.
Radley Balko, senior editor of Reason magazine, has authored a groundbreaking study on the use of paramilitary police tactics. He has also, on his personal blog, examined the lack of proper accountability for police officers who break the law or overuse force. Through this work, he has highlighted an inordinate number of abuses in Chicago, Illinois. Here is a short list that does not purport to be exhaustive:
The law mandating interrogation videotaping was, unsurprisingly, vigorously opposed by the police, among others. By fighting for the passage of the interrogation-videotaping law, Obama has proven himself to be not only the only presidential candidate with a basic understanding of the necessity to systemically reduce police abuses, but also one of the only politicians in office with such an understanding.
Speaking personally, this issue is one of the first things that made Obama an appealing candidate to me. His decision to lead the campaign to get this law passed reveals a deep moral character and a sympathy to heightened oversight of a police force that increasingly sees itself as separate and distinct from “civilians.” I trust him to use the power of the federal government granted under Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment to enforce this oversight. No other candidate has this record.
