In You Can’t Say That!, I have a chapter discussing the ACLU’s gradual abandonment of civil liberties when they conflict with antidiscrimination laws. As an example of the decline of the ACLU’s traditional commitment to freedom of expression, I note that the ACLU gave Professor Mari Matsuda of Georgetown Law Center, a leading advocate of the censorship of “hate speech,” an honorary position. I’ve heard through the grapevine that ACLU president Nadine Strossen denies that Matsuda has ever been given any such position, and her denial made it into at least one review (see p. 154) of the book. Yet Matsuda’s Georgetown website, last updated in March 2002 (just when I was completing the book manuscript) states that she serves on the national advisory board of the ACLU. If this isn’t an honorary position, it’s even worse, as it means that Matsuda is actually helping make ACLU policy. A while back, I emailed Strossen and asked her to clarify (and promised to correct the paperback edition if it turns out that Matsuda has not actually ever been appointed to an ACLU position), but I never heard back.
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