For release: 4/13/2003
Contact: Josh Wheeler, Thomas Jefferson Center, 434.295.4784

Attorney General John Ashcroft and The 107^th United States Congress Among List of "Winners" of Dubious Honor

For the twelfth straight year, the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression celebrated the birth date of its namesake by bestowing a dubious distinction on those that have forgotten or disregarded Jefferson’s admonition that freedom of expression cannot be limited without being lost.  Released each year on April 13, the “Jefferson Muzzles” are awarded to call attention to some of the more ridiculous or egregious affronts to free expression occurring in the preceding year.

Two of this year’s 10 Jefferson Muzzles go to Attorney General John Ashcroft and the 107^th United States Congress for actions related to the war on terror.  “It was another bad year for free speech,” said Center director Robert M. O’Neil.  “The tragic events of September 11, 2001 and the preparation for the war in Iraq have created new pressures on free expression and may have made it harder to arouse public concern about those pressures.”

As every year, a number of local incidents of censorship earned a Muzzle in 2003.  Says O’Neil, “the local Muzzles are often representative of a far greater number of similar sorts of incidents.  For many of those selected, a half dozen  could have been substituted.  In the public school context, the number is even higher. Four of the 2003 Jefferson Muzzles involved education-related incidents.”  O’Neil believes it is important to call attention to less well-known acts of censorship because “such an indictment challenges the assumption held by many that, because of the First Amendment, attempts at censorship are few in the United States.  In fact, such acts occur every day.  Our hope is that the Jefferson Muzzles help to dispel the complacency with which many view free speech issues.”

Summaries of the 2003 Jefferson Muzzles are listed below. Extensive information on each of this year’s “winners” can be found on the Center’s website at www.tjcenter.org/muzzles.html.

The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression of Charlottesville, Virginia, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan institution engaged in education, research, and intervention on behalf of the individual right of free expression.

Summaries of 2003 Jefferson Muzzles

U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft  for pursuing a number of policies and actions, ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous, that display a general disregard of First Amendment freedoms, including, but not limited to:

• adopting a blanket prohibition of public and press access to immigration deportation hearings;

• refusing to allow incarcerated United States citizens suspected of aiding terrorists from speaking with anyone, including their attorneys;

• allowing $8,000 in tax dollars be spent on drapes to conceal two semi-nude statues that often appeared behind the attorney general during his press conferences in the Great Hall of the Department of. Justice;

• making a number of public statements which implied that public criticism and opposition to his policies added terrorism.

The 107^th United States Congress for passing the USA Patriot Act, specifically §215, which allows the FBI and other law enforcement agencies to subpoena library and bookstore records, including records showing what materials patrons and customers are reading, as part of any terrorism investigation.  Unlike regular search warrants, § 215 does not require a showing of probable cause but only that an agent claim the records are related to an ongoing investigation of terrorism.  Further, libraries and bookstores served with a § 215 search warrant are forbidden to disclose that fact to anyone.

Mayor Tom Bates of Berkeley, California for his admitted involvement in the stealing/trashing of 1,000 copies of the University of California-Berkeley’s student newspaper one day before the November election.  The papers contained an editorial endorsement of the mayoral candidate Bates went on to defeat, incumbent Shirley Dean.

Cedarville (Arkansas) School Board for ignoring the unanimous recommendation of the school’s 15 member library committee and placing the Harry Potter novels on restricted shelves in the school libraries.

Director of the National Zoo (DC), Lucy Spelman for refusing to release records on the death of a giraffe to the Washington Post.  Spellman cited a concern for the deceased giraffe’s right to privacy and claimed that that releasing the information would breach the veterinarian-animal relationship.

Tennessee Arts Commission for its blanket ban from its gallery in Nashville of any art depicting a nude character.

McMinnville (TN) City Administrator Herb Llewellyn for banning public employees from writing letters to the editor or telephoning radio stations without his prior approval.

Whiting (IN) High School Administration for withholding the salutatorian’s diploma because, after delivering her approved graduation speech, she went on to confer upon several teachers humorous fictional awards such as “Trapped in the ‘80s,” “Sesame Street Critic,” and “Pain in the Asymptote.” 

North Carolina House of Representatives for attempting to control the content of an academic program at the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill by voting to withhold public funding for the program because it included a reading assignment on Islam.

Utica High School (Michigan)Principal Richard Machesky for censoring a story in the student newspaper concerning a lawsuit against the school district’s bus depot.