[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 41 (Tuesday, March 11, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E356]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              RALPH TEMPLE TO RECEIVE ACLU-NCA BARTH AWARD

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. G.K. BUTTERFIELD

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 11, 2008

  Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Madam Speaker, the American Civil Liberties Union of 
the National Capital Area on March 18, 2008, will present to Attorney 
Ralph J. Temple their Annual Alan and Adrienne Barth Award for 
exemplary volunteer service. Alan Barth was a founder of the ACLU-NCA, 
and Adrienne Barth was an ACLU activist in her own right, a regular 
weekly legal intake volunteer for decades.
  Legions of friends, fellow lawyers, past clients and others, who have 
been so inspired, over the years, by the bold, trailblazing and trend-
setting efforts of Ralph Temple are expected to gather at the luncheon. 
His defense in particular of matters involving the first amendment is 
noteworthy and typified his tenure with the ACLU and in other venues.
  In April 2000 in connection with DC police mass arrests of World 
Trade protesters, Ralph prepared a series of memoranda presenting a 
strategy for challenging mass arrests, based on ACLU-NCA's 1960s and 
1970s victories against the mass arrests of anti-Vietnam war 
protesters. Those memoranda were supportive of litigation culminating 
in the unprecedented 2004 settlement in Abbate v. Ramsey, requiring 
across the board reform in DC police mass demonstration policies and 
practices. In December 2003 Ralph wrote the ACLU-NCA's report, ``The 
Policing of Demonstrations in the Nation's Capital: A Misconception of 
Mission and a Failure of Leadership.'' On December 17, 2003, his report 
was presented to the District of Columbia Council along with Ralph's 
1\1/2\ hours of testimony as a special witness, and significantly 
contributed to the council's enactment of the Police Standards Act of 
2004, the Nation's most profound legislation restricting police conduct 
during mass demonstrations, legislation that has helped to illuminate 
the vital importance of free speech to our constitutional Government.
  In 1975, he was involved in A Quaker Action Group v. Morton, 7-year 
litigation, that produced five opinions by the U.S. Court of Appeals 
and culminated in invalidating restrictions the Government tried to 
impose on demonstrations at the White House. In 1972, he was involved 
in Jeannette Rankin Brigade v. Chief of the Capitol Police, wherein the 
Court invalidated a statute prohibiting demonstrations at the U.S. 
Capitol, based on the record established by the ACLU in U.S. v. 
Nicholson. He was involved in Women Strike for Peace v. Morton, a case 
that forced the Government to allow protest activities and displays in 
Federal parks on the same basis that civic or religious activities and 
displays are allowed, and in Sullivan v. Murphy, another of Ralph's 
cases, the Court enjoined prosecution of 14,517 people arrested during 
anti-Vietnam war protests during May Week 1971, the largest mass 
arrests in American history, and ordered expungement of arrest records.
  In 1971, he was involved in Dellums v. Powell, McCarthy v. 
Kleindienst, Knable v. Wilson and Tatum v. Wilson, wherein the ACLU won 
a class action jury verdict in Dellums, judge verdict in Tatum, and 
obtained settlements in the other cases, recovering over $5 million in 
damages for the wrongful arrests in May Week 1971; and in Washington 
Mobilization v. Cullinane, another of Ralph's cases, a three-judge 
panel of the Court of Appeals reversed an injunction against police 
sweep arrests, indiscriminate violence, and protracted booking 
procedures.
  Madam Speaker, censorship has never been the best answer to bad 
speech. The best answer is more speech, good speech, free speech. 
Throughout his illustrious career, Ralph Temple has been a steadfast 
defender of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and especially our 
First Amendment Freedoms, even when the causes he defended may not have 
been popular. It is fitting, therefore, that the ACLU of the National 
Capital Area recognize Ralph with the Barth Award. There are many 
wonderful things about America.

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