Nancy Talanian Aloud Quotations

In the four years since the PATRIOT Act's enactment, a broad range of Americans have petitioned their state and local governments to protect them from unwarranted surveillance and other excesses of the federal government. Eight state legislatures and nearly 400 local and county governments have responded by passing resolutions upholding the civil liberties of their 85 million constituents, who make up one-third of the U.S. population. Such a large, powerful, and nonpartisan groundswell of people acting locally to hold their federal elected representatives accountable is unparalleled in U.S. history. We commend Senator Feingold for reading the state resolutions of Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Montana, and Vermont, and the county and local government resolutions of his home state of Wisconsin aloud to his Senate colleagues yesterday.