Defending the ACLU.

• Author: Whitfield, Emily
• Position: Letter to the Editor

I very much enjoyed Ruth Conniff's column highlighting the work of civil liberties champion David Cole ("Staying Engaged," February issue). But a reference to the ACLU in this otherwise excellent piece is incorrect.

Commenting on recent repressive government initiatives, Conniff wrote that the ACLU "nearly caved on screening employees against a government list."

That is not true. We immediately withdrew from the Combined Federal Campaign, a workplace charity program administered by the government, after we learned for the first time on July 31 that the government expected recipients to check their employees' names against a watch list.

As ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero said unequivocally in a statement issued that same day, "The ACLU will not be intimidated. We will not compromise. We will never check any of our employees against a government list. And we absolutely will not accept any funding that undermines or threatens our principles or our mission.

Further, in August we formed a coalition in opposition to the watch list policy, and in November we...