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A project of Common Dreams

For Immediate Release
Contact: media@aclu.org

Remembering Michael Ratner

To understand Michael Ratner's courage and bone-deep belief in human rights, all you need to know is that he was the first lawyer to challenge the Bush administration's policy of indefinite detention at Guantanamo Bay. But Michael's principled stance against government overreach and abuse at home and abroad span the decades, from fighting stop and frisk in New York City to helping to prosecute war criminals in Haiti.

To understand Michael Ratner's courage and bone-deep belief in human rights, all you need to know is that he was the first lawyer to challenge the Bush administration's policy of indefinite detention at Guantanamo Bay. But Michael's principled stance against government overreach and abuse at home and abroad span the decades, from fighting stop and frisk in New York City to helping to prosecute war criminals in Haiti. He also helped build the Center for Constitutional Rights into one of the most effective and impactful human rights organizations in the world -- with an established ability to always punch above its weight. Michael has been a mentor, friend, and inspiration to multitudes of lawyers, activists, students, and writers, including many here at the ACLU. America lost one of its most loved and most effective human rights lawyers today, and the world lost a global citizen of conscience. Our hearts and condolences go out to his family and his colleagues at the Center for Constitutional Rights.

The American Civil Liberties Union was founded in 1920 and is our nation's guardian of liberty. The ACLU works in the courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to all people in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.

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