SAVAGE SUES NAPOLITANO OVER 'RIGHTWING EXTREMISM' REPORT
SAN FRANCISCO -- April 17, 2009: Talk Radio Network host Michael Savage, in conjunction with the Thomas More Law Center, has filed suit against Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. The suit claims that the recent DHS report "Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment" reflects a policy on "rightwing extremism" that violates the civil liberties of veterans and targets Americans for their political beliefs.
ANN ARBOR, MI – The Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, announced that yesterday evening it filed a federal lawsuit against Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. The lawsuit claims that her Department’s “Rightwing Extremism Policy,” as reflected in the recently publicized Intelligence Assessment, “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment,” violates the civil liberties of combat veterans as well as American citizens by targeting them for disfavored treatment on account of their political beliefs.
Click here to read the complaint filed by the Thomas More Law Center.
Napolitano tried to blunt the public furor over the Report by a half-hearted apology to veterans, but she left out of her apology all of the other Americans her Department has targeted because of their political beliefs. In fact, officials in DHS now admit that their internal office of civil liberties objected to the language in the extremism report, but the Department issued it anyway.
Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Law Center stated, “Janet Napolitano is lying to the American people when she says the Report is not based on ideology or political beliefs. In fact, her report would have the admiration of the Gestapo and any current or past dictator in the way it targets political opponents. This incompetently written intelligence assessment, which directs law enforcement officials across the country to target and report on American citizens who have the political beliefs mentioned in the report, will be used as a tool to stifle political opposition and opinions. It will give a pretext for opponents of those Americans to report them to police as rightwing extremists and terrorists. You can imagine what happens then.”
The Report specifically mentions the following political beliefs that law enforcement should use to determine whether someone is a “rightwing extremist”:
- Opposes restrictions on firearms
- Opposes lax immigration
- Opposes the policies of President Obama regarding immigration, citizenship, and the expansion of social programs
- Opposes continuation of free trade agreements
- Opposes same-sex marriage
- Has paranoia of foreign regimes
- Fear of Communist regimes
- Opposes one world government
- Bemoans the decline of U.S. stature in the world.
- Upset with loss of U.S. manufacturing jobs to China and India
- . . . and the list goes on
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan on behalf of nationally syndicated conservative radio talk show host, Michael Savage, Gregg Cunningham (President of the pro-life organization Center for Bio-Ethical Reform, Inc (CBR)), and Iraqi War Marine veteran Kevin Murray. The Law Center claims that Napolitano’s Department (DHS) has violated the First and Fifth Amendment Constitutional rights of these three plaintiffs by attempting to chill their free speech, expressive association, and equal protection rights. The lawsuit further claims that the Department of Homeland Security encourages law enforcement officers throughout the nation to target and report citizens to federal officials as suspicious rightwing extremists and potential terrorists because of their political beliefs.
Thompson added, “The Obama Administration has declared war on American patriots and our Constitution. The Report even admits that the Department has no specific information on any plans of violence by so-called ‘rightwing extremists.’ Rather, what they do have is the expression of political opinions by certain individuals and organizations that oppose the Obama administration’s policies, and this expression is protected speech under the First Amendment.”
The Law Center is asking the court to declare that the DHS policy violates the First and Fifth Amendments, to permanently enjoin the Policy and its application to the plaintiffs’ speech and other activities, and to award the plaintiffs their reasonable attorney’s fees and costs for having to bring the lawsuit.
Click here to read the DHS extremism report.
The Thomas More Law Center defends and promotes America’s Christian heritage and moral values, including the religious freedom of Christians, time-honored family values, and the sanctity of human life. It supports a strong national defense and an independent and sovereign United States of America. The Law Center accomplishes its mission through litigation, education, and related activities. It does not charge for its services. The Law Center is supported by contributions from individuals, corporations and foundations, and is recognized by the IRS as a section 501(c)(3) organization. You may reach the Thomas More Law Center at (734) 827-2001 or visit our website atwww.thomasmore.org.
TMLC Demands Dept. of Homeland Security Reveal Basis for its Report Targeting Right Wing Extremists
April 15, 2009
ANN ARBOR, MI – The Thomas More Law Center announced today that is has filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Department of Homeland Security demanding to know the basis for their recent intelligence assessment targeting as “rightwing extremists” those who oppose abortion, gun control, lax immigration laws, and a myriad of other policies supported by President Obama’s administration. The Law Center filed its request after consultation with conservative talk show host Michael Savage.
The Department of Homeland Security’s document in question, “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment” was released to law enforcement agencies throughout the country. Of particular concern was the report’s singling out of military veterans as vulnerable to rightwing extremism.
Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Thomas More Law Center stated, “This is not an intelligence report but a diatribe against those who oppose the policies of the Obama administration. It is a declaration of war against the American people and our constitution. It is a prelude to extreme gun control legislation and hate speech laws targeting Christian churches and others who oppose abortion and same sex marriage. The federal government should be focusing its attention on the 35 radical Muslim compounds in the U.S. training its followers on how to kidnap and kill Americans.”
Thompson went on to say that this may be another opportunity for the Law Center to team up with Dr. Michael Savage. Michael Savage, the nationally syndicated conservative radio talk show host of The Savage Nation, recently teamed with the Thomas More Law Center in order to protect free speech by opposing the so-called “Fairness Doctrine.” Michael Savage warned of the possibility of a document like this being produced by DHS when he raised the issue of “Fusion Cells.” Fusion Cells are a set of local intelligence centers across the country created by the Department of Homeland Security to combat terrorism and related criminal activity, which includes pro-life activity.
Michael Savage is a longtime on-air supporter of the Thomas More Law Center. He used his radio show to marshal overwhelming support for one of the Law Center’s clients, Marine LtCol Jeffrey Chessani. Chessani is being prosecuted by the government in the so-called Haditha massacre – a massacre that never happened. A military judge ultimately dismissed the case. The government appealed the ruling and lost, but may appeal again.
The Thomas More Law Center defends and promotes America’s Christian heritage and moral values, including the religious freedom of Christians, time-honored family values, and the sanctity of human life. It supports a strong national defense and an independent and sovereign United States of America. The Law Center accomplishes its mission through litigation, education, and related activities. It does not charge for its services. The Law Center is supported by contributions from individuals, corporations and foundations, and is recognized by the IRS as a section 501(c)(3) organization.
You may reach the Thomas More Law Center at (734) 827-2001 or visit our website at: www.thomasmore.org.
Janet Napolitano made the media rounds this morning to face the public firestorm over DHS’s hit job on conservatives.
I’m calling it the Extremist Makeover tour.
She offered an apology to veterans, saying it wasn’t her intention to offend. It may not have been the intention of the report authors or Napolitano to offend or overreach, but that was certainly the effect. And it remains a mystery why Napolitano felt it necessary to distribute a shoddy nine-page report that was supposedly in the works under the Bush administration for a year, as Napolitano claims, containing zero data backing up the claim of a “resurgence” of rightwing extremist violence — and was padded with analysis from the left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center to stir fear of “disgruntled military veterans.”
On Fox and Friends this morning, Napolitano admitted that she would have changed the definition included in the report.
A reminder:
Rightwing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely. It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration.
So, how exactly would she rewrite the definition? We rightwing extremists want to know.
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