2009 was a year that saw the ACLU of Minnesota continue its major lawsuit against the Duluth police department. We are still in the preliminary stages of our TiZA law suit. And we are in trial preparation for the Republican National Convention literature seizure case.
Your ACLU always takes cases defending our civil liberties, but these three cases demonstrate the increasing size and complexity of our lawsuits. For example the RNC literature seizure case has already cost the ACLU of MN more than $1,000 in copying surcharges alone. In addition, we had to purchase two horizontal files for just the papers from this case.
Terri Nelson, our legal counsel, has spent hundreds of hours working on our response to TiZA's counter suit alleging interference in their business. The judge ruled in our favor, but it still cost us almost 10% of her annual availability.
In Duluth, we have spent thousands of dollars in travel, lodging, printing and other legal costs. And we have spent three years working on this case.
That is what your ACLU is supposed to do and we are doing it.
However the time lines for these cases are longer than they used to be. Each of these cases will take years more to settle - without any appeals. The cases we are involved in now are bigger and more complicated than the ones we took in the past. Our opponents are better funded and the courts less friendly to our causes.
Our cases are powerful and important. But even with incredible generous donations of time and talent from the legal community, the direct costs for our legal program are seven times higher than they were just two years ago.
The need for ACLU lawsuits continues to grow. Government has developed new ways to eliminate personal freedoms and the ACLU is one of the few groups with the credibility to take principled stands for individual freedoms. And you are the people whose generous donations allow us to take and hold these principled stands.
Please take a moment to send us your thoughts about what our case docket should include and please support our legal program in your charitable giving.
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