Where Does Your Rep Rank on Civil Liberties?

CHICAGO - Aug. 12, 2013 - PRLog -- The non-partisan civil liberties organization 21Freedom released its latest ranking of Illinois representatives. Halfway through the legislative session, 2013 is shaping up to be a major year in regards to civil liberties. Crucial votes have already taken place on internet freedom, indefinite detention, and more recently, NSA domestic surveillance. Only two Illinois representatives, Bobby Rush (IL-1, D) and Danny Davis (IL-7, D), have achieved a 100% score for protecting the freedoms of Illinois residents, while three Republicans, Peter Roskam (IL-6, R), Adam Kinzinger (IL-16, R), and Aaron Schock (IL-18, R) have scored a 0%. 
 
Unlike many actions of the 113th Congress, major civil liberties legislation has seen both bipartisan support and opposition. “What we’re seeing this year is a number of bills where the battle is between the Washington establishment and independent representatives, rather than Democrat versus Republican,” said Dr. Dave Grabaskas, the director of 21Freedom. “There have been efforts led by members of both parties against the wishes of their leadership, such as we saw with the Amash amendment to reign in the NSA,” says Dr. Grabaskas, referencing the recent contentious vote to limit NSA funding for domestic surveillance.
 
21Freedom hopes that the scorecard will call attention to those representatives who consistently take, what they call, “anti-civil liberties” positions. The full scorecard is available at www.21freedom.org/scorecard/. In total, there were seven major civil liberties votes in the U.S. house in the first half of the year. The topics included cybersecurity, indefinite detention, the transferring of Guantanamo Bay detainees, and restrictions on domestic intelligence gathering.