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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Montana is a Leader in the Growing REAL ID Backlash

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Friday, February 22, 2008   

Missoula, MT – States from the Atlantic to the Pacific are looking to Montana as they craft legislation rejecting compliance with the federal REAL ID requirements, which establish a national driver's license in the name of fighting terrorism.

Montana rejected REAL ID because of privacy issues, constitutional rights and the cost to taxpayers, and as other states look at doing the same, it's re-igniting the debate over how to protect against terrorism and protect civil rights at the same time.

Pennsylvania, the latest state to follow Montana, is working on legislation this week to refuse to comply with REAL ID. Montana was the first state to refuse compliance, and six other states also have rejected it.

The national legal director of the ACLU, Steven Shapiro, says REAL ID is just one small example of the many federal rules, laws and policies that have trampled civil rights over the past few years in the name of fighting terrorism. However, he adds, civil liberties CAN be restored while also protecting against terrorism.

"We can take those steps, we should take those steps, I think we will take those steps. The leadership Montana and your governor have provided on REAL ID is an example."

Shapiro says lots of repair work remains to be done, not just for civil liberties, but to restore America's reputation and honor around the world.

"We are a country that has now engaged in kidnapping, in torture, in forced disappearances. Even Canada has listed us now as a country that engages in torture."

Shapiro is to be a keynote speaker at the ACLU of Montana annual meeting, "Civil Liberties Under the Big Sky," on March 1 at the Doubletree Missoula.



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