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Dear [email protected],
 
To a free people, civil liberties are vital. A nation in which civil liberties are nullified is one in which people are living their lives as subservient and submissive serfs of the state rather than as independent-minded free men and women. Unfortunately, our civil liberties are under constant attack.
 
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The federal government is denigrating the centuries-old concept of due process of law, which stretches all the way back to the Magna Carta. Due process was born out of resistance to the tyranny of people’s very own government. It is so important to a free society that our American ancestors demanded its inclusion in the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. If the government succeeds in nullifying due process for immigrants — or simply succeeds in ignoring decisions of the federal courts upholding due process — make no mistake about it: This will easily enable them to do the same thing to American citizens.
 
Legal scholars have long pointed out that habeas corpus, which federal officials are now threatening to suspend, is the linchpin of a free society. It provides the process by which people who have been jailed for exercising such fundamental rights as freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of religion can secure their release through judicial intervention. Without habeas corpus, those fundamental rights become dead letters.
 
Trial by jury is also one of the most important procedural rights that were bequeathed to us in the Bill of Rights. It guarantees that people who the government is targeting for punishment can have citizens from the community, rather than a judge or military tribunal, decide their guilt or innocence. Trial by jury serves as a bastion for freedom by vesting the jury with the power to nullify an unjust law by finding a person not guilty.
 
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Ever since our inception in 1989, The Future of Freedom Foundation has steadfastly defended civil liberties. In fact, the July 1990 issue of our monthly journal Future of Freedom included three articles in defense of civil liberties, among which was “The Bill of Rights” by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black, who wrote: “Today most Americans seem to have forgotten the ancient evils which forced their ancestors to flee to this new country and to form a government stripped of old powers used to oppress them. But the Americans who supported the Revolution and the adoption of our Constitution knew firsthand the dangers of tyrannical governments. They were familiar with the long existing practice of English persecutions of people wholly because of their religious or political beliefs. They knew that many accused of such offenses had stood, helpless to defend themselves, before biased legislators and judges.”
 
I hope FFF’s work in defense of civil liberties has earned your continued support. You have our pledge that we will continue fighting to preserve this critically important part of freedom.
 
Yours for liberty,
 
Jacob
 
P.S. Members of our FFF Freedom Club (those who make at least a $250 donation) receive periodic video messages from me in which I challenge viewers to think about liberty at a deeper level.
 
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The Future of Freedom Foundation
11350 Random Hills Road, Suite 800
Fairfax, VA 22030

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