Quotes by Laura Murphy

“Its not like throwing a bone to the far right, its like throwing a carcass, ... Hes voted for school vouchers, against affirmative action, against abortion. He has voted for very punitive juvenile justice legislation. He has voted for a constitutional amendment (banning) flag desecration. He is the architect of efforts to give federal funding to religiously controlled institutions -- he doesnt seem to have much regard for separation of church and state.”

“My hope is he will take himself out of the partisan cast and see himself as the standard bearer for civil rights and civil liberties because that is what the Justice Department is supposed to do,”

“People who go to places of worship, people who go to libraries, people who are in chat rooms, are going to have Big Brother listening in even though theres no evidence that they are involved in anything illegal whatsoever.”

“How often do you see the attorney general go on a sort of a charm offensive? ... I see this as a defensive measure on his part. It is a political campaign.”

“[The American Civil Liberties Union criticized Bushs order as] disturbing. ... must justify why the current system does not allow for the timely prosecution of those accused of terrorist activities.”

“Absent such a compelling justification, [Tuesday]s order is deeply disturbing and further evidence that the administration is totally unwilling to abide by the checks and balances that are so central to our democracy. Increasingly they appear willing to circumvent the requirements of the Bill of Rights.”

“We are monitoring what the Defense Department may do in terms of providing surveillance information to domestic law enforcement,”

“We are not prepared to say, to assert, that they are or are not. We are looking at what they are saying, what they are doing and looking at how it compares to the law.”

“The guidelines acknowledge racial profiling as a national concern but do nothing to stop it. The new policy guidelines provide no rights or remedies.”