Political Privacy Should Be a Civil Right

May 2, 2011 06:16


This order represents the latest salvo in the Obama administration’s war on the First Amendment rights of its political opponents.

By DAVID MARSTON AND JOHN YOO at The Wall Street Journal

EXCERPTS:

Suppose that during the civil rights movement segregationist governors ordered all state contractors to disclose their political donations in an attempt to expose civil rights supporters to harassment and retaliation. The Supreme Court would have had none of it.

Today President Obama is ignoring the lessons of the civil rights era he claims to revere. According to a draft executive order leaked last week, Mr. Obama plans to require any company seeking a federal contract to disclose its executives’ political contributions over $5,000—not just to candidates, but to any group that might make “independent expenditure” or “electioneering communication” advertisements.

It would be comforting if this order had been some aberration produced from somewhere deep in the bowels of the federal bureaucracy. Unfortunately, it was not. This order represents the latest salvo in the Obama administration’s war on the First Amendment rights of its political opponents.

Having failed to undo Citizens United by legislation, Mr. Obama apparently believes that he can veto the Supreme Court by naked presidential fiat.

Mr. Obama’s executive order threatens to replicate the Prop 8 experience on a nationwide scale. In fact, it requires the release of contractors’ political contributions in a publicly available electronic database to be posted online as soon as possible. It shouldn’t matter here that disclosure would be the price for doing business with the government.

Civil libertarians and liberals have so far been mum in the face of Mr. Obama’s executive order. They’re likely justifying their silence on the basis that businesses—not unions—will suffer. But if the president succeeds in reducing the free-speech rights of business today, it will be far easier to limit the same rights of other Americans tomorrow.

FULL ARTICLE



Help Make A Difference By Sharing These Articles On Facebook, Twitter And Elsewhere:

Interested In Further Reading? Click Here