Panhandle ACLU Hires Lawyer

Will wonders never cease? After years of limping along as an outlander chapter of the Florida American Civil Liberties Union, the Panhandle chapter of the Florida ACLU has hired a staff lawyer. And they pay him a salary!

According to Emerald Coast.com, Benjamin James Stevenson will be a full time staff attorney right here in Northwest Florida. He's no schlub just out of law school, either:

Stevenson joined the ACLU after a sabbatical traveling extensively throughout the world. Prior to that, he worked at the Tallahassee law firms of Andrews Moyé, LLC, and Fowler White Boggs Banker, P.A., where he handled all aspects of his clients’ litigation needs. He also directed Florida’s False-Claims-Act cases by overseeing attorney’s prosecutions and settlements while in Tallahassee.

The state ACLU issued a press release that adds Stevenson graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of the South and was Order of the Coif at Florida State University’s College of Law. Both high academic honors.

We're told the move is part of the Florida ACLU's "five-year strategic growth plan that includes additional staff, new regional offices and increased public education efforts across the state."

It's also pretty clearly a response to years of the Bush administration's assault on the U.S. Constitution. Local chapter leader Susan Watson, who has been a major force locally in upgrading the Panhandle Chapter, told the on-line Emerald Coast.com:

"People have become alarmed at how the Administration has run roughshod over the Constitution in its response to the terrorist attacks of 9/11. The country sees that the ACLU has been needed to challenge many of these excesses, including wiretapping, surveillance, detention and torture, especially in light of the irresponsible lack of oversight by Congress."

Amen to that. If our own experience is any guide, a lot of folk in the last few years have are signing up or renewing their status as card-carrying members of the ACLU. It costs as little as $20 a year to thumb your nose at the Bush administration while helping to retain smart lawyers like Ben Stevenson to defend our Constitution.