home > newsroom Federal Senate Judiciary Committee Comes to Town; ACLU Calls on Chairman Hatch to Keep America Safe and Free FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Monday, April 12, 2004 SALT LAKE CITY -- As the Federal Senate Judiciary Committee convenes here Wednesday to conduct a public field hearing on the state of current anti-terrorism measures, the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah welcomes the venue, saying that an open discussion and public examination of the USA PATRIOT Act and other anti-terrorism measures would only add additional voices to the growing call that both liberty and safety be protected. “By bringing these important issue into the limelight, and looking at the facts, Utahns will see exactly what liberties have been unnecessarily lost,” said Dani Eyer, Executive Director of the ACLU of Utah and one of the hearing’s witnesses. “This public hearing is a step in the right direction. Utah – and America – deserves a government that works not only to ensure that we remain safe, but that in the process, does not curtail the very freedoms that define us as a nation.” In her testimony before the Committee, Eyer will focus on the USA PATRIOT Act, the 2001 law that passed just six weeks after the terrorist attacks, as well as other government policies adopted since 9/11. The Patriot Act diminishes procedural checks and balances on executive powers, Eyer said, which are essential to preserving individual liberty. Other groups who will testify in support of fixing the PATRIOT Act at Wednesday’s U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary include the League of Women Voters of Utah, the Eagle Forum, Utah Grassroots-Conservative Caucus, and the Libertarian Party of Utah. The U.S Senate Committee on the Judiciary, chaired by Senator Orrin Hatch, will convene at 10:00 AM Wednesday, April 14, 2004 at the Sutherland Moot Court Room of the S.J Quinney Law School on the University of Utah campus. Testimony from the following witnesses is scheduled: James Comey, Deputy Attorney General, Department of Justice, Washington D.C Paul Warner, U.S. Attorney, District of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah Dani Eyer, Executive Director, ACLU of Utah Nanette Benowitz, League of Women Voters of Utah Frank Mylar, Utah Grassroots, the Conservative Caucus Robert Flowers, Commissioner, Utah Department of Public Safety Scott Bradley, Eagle Forum, Utah Aaron Turpen, Libertarian Party of Utah Bruce Cohne, Chair, Utah Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Dan Collins, Munger, Tolles & Olson, LLP, Los Angeles For more on the ACLU of Utah’s campaign to Keep America Safe and Free, go to: http://www.acluutah.org/safeandfree.htm. --end--

ACLU OF UTAH UNION OR FOUNDATION? | USER AGREEMENT | PRIVACY POLICY | CONTACT US © 2008 ACLU OF UTAH · 355 NORTH 300 WEST · SALT LAKE CITY, UT 84103 · T (801) 521-9862 · F (801) 532-2850