Citizen Rights

The League has long worked for the citizen’s right to know and for broad citizen participation in government. League support for open meetings was first made explicit in the 1972 Congress position; in 1973, Leagues were empowered to apply that position at the state and local levels. In 1974, the convention added to the League Principles the requisite that "government bodies protect the citizen’s right to know by giving adequate notice of proposed actions, holding open meetings and making public records accessible," and decided that Leagues could act on the Principles – with the necessary safeguards of member understanding and support. The League supported the 1976 Government in the Sunshine law to enhance citizens’ access to information. In the 1980s, the League monitored and lobbied to revamp the way federal rules and regulations are made.

The League supports broad public participation at every stage of the rule-making process. The LWVUS, in coalition with numerous other organizations, opposed 1983 efforts by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to restrict the political advocacy activities of nonprofit organizations and thereby limit citizen participation in federal policy making. The coalition’s opposition resulted in a much less onerous OMB regulation. As part of its citizen’s rights concerns, the League supports lobbying disclosure reform to provide information on the pressures exerted on the national policy-making process and guarantee citizen access to influence the process. Early in 1995, as part of the "Contract with America," the congressional leadership launched a broad attack on citizen participation in government decision making. Under the guise of "regulatory reform," bills were introduced to make it much more difficult for federal agencies to promulgate regulations dealing with health, safety and the environment. These bills were based on the premise that regulations should be judged solely on their cost to the public and private sectors, and not on their benefits to society.

The League responded quickly to this major threat, lobbying both houses of Congress in opposition. Along with members of 200 other consumer, environmental and disability rights organizations, League members met with their members of Congress and participated in media activities opposing these efforts. The opposition succeeded in stalling all regulatory reform legislation in the Senate in 1996.

The League also responded to a major congressional attack in the 104th Congress, when an amendment to severely limit the ability of nonprofits to speak out on public policy matters was added to several 1996 appropriations bills. Known as the Istook amendment after its primary sponsor, Rep. Ernest Istook of Oklahoma, the amendment was designed to limit citizen participation by forcing nonprofits to choose between community service and public policy. The League, with hundreds of other nonprofits, organized a massive campaign to educate the public and members of Congress about the serious implications of this legislation. The Istook amendment eventually was dropped from the appropriations bills, but similar efforts continued in the 104th and 105th Congresses. The League continues to monitor attempts to gag nonprofit organizations.

In June 2000, the LWVUS urged the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to issue requirements for broadcasters to cover local public affairs. Since 2001, the LWVEF, working through a grant from the Open Society Institute, has participated in the Judicial Independence Project. State and local Leagues, working in conjunction with the national office, assess the levels of judicial independence in their state and develop citizen education campaigns to educate their communities about this important issue. A key part of this program is encouraging Leagues to include judicial candidates in their voter guides and to organize candidate forums for judicial candidates. In 2002 and 2003, more than 200 Leagues nationwide organized 70 forums, meetings and workshops spotlighting their state court systems and the value of an independent judiciary. In 2002 and 2004, the LWVUS participated as amicus curiae in the case of Miller-El v. Cockrell. The League’s interest in the case focused on the use of race-based peremptory challenges to jurors as a means to block citizen participation in government. The Supreme Court agreed with the League’s position, but a lower federal court failed to carry out this interpretation and the case was once again before the Supreme Court in late 2004.

The League’s History

Individual liberties are a long-standing League principle that became an integral part of national program positions in the mid-1970s. This basic concept has been at the center of the League’s attention during times of national tension.

The "witchhunt" period of the early 1950s led the League to undertake a two-year Freedom Agenda community education program dealing with issues such as freedom of speech. Next came a focused study on the federal loyalty/security programs, culminating in a position that emphasized protection of individual rights.

The League’s individual liberties principle was incorporated into the national program by the 1976 convention, thus authorizing the League to act against major threats to basic constitutional rights. Subsequent conventions reaffirmed that commitment, and in 1982 the LWVUS board authorized a specific statement of position on individual liberties.

In 2003, the League contacted all members of the House and Senate to express concern about several far-reaching provisions of the USA Patriot Act, passed in October 2001, asking members of Congress to scale back some of these provisions.