IN OPPOSITION TO S. 1 (REVISION OF U.S. CODE)

WHEREAS, there is presently pending before the United States Senate Judiciary Committee a certain legislation known as the Criminal Justice Reform Act (S.1); and

WHEREAS, there are a number of extremely objection­able features in this bill such as:

• Expansion of the government's authority to prohibit the communication of information necessary to decide issues which are properly the subject of debate in a democratic society;

• The sanctioning of broad scale wiretapping and eavesdropping on private conversations;

• Broadened authority to prosecute individuals who picket or otherwise demonstrate against a federal agency or function;

• The right to issue well-publicized subpoenas smearing a union's reputation while, at the same time, diverting public attention from the real issues of a strike;

• Defining any public disturbance of 10 or more persons that causes or threatens imminent danger to persons or property as a riot;

• "Federalizing" the prosecution of strike violence; and

WHEREAS, this bill is detrimental to the civil rights of all Americans as guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution; and

WHEREAS, a number of labor unions and federations as well as the American Civil liberties Union have opposed this bill and attempts to pass modified versions of it:

RESOLVED, that the AFT call upon the members of the United States Senate Judiciary Committee to defeat the Criminal Justice Reform Act (S.1).