Last updated on: 2/1/2016 | Author: ProCon.org

Wendy Kaminer, JD Biography

Title:
Former Board Member of the American Civil Liberties Union
Position:
Now Con to the question "Is the ACLU Good for America?"
Reasoning:

“This book focuses on what I regard as a dramatic ethical decline at the ACLU, involving the institutionalization of deceit and abandonment of core civil-liberties principles by staff and lay leadership-enabled by the use of social pressure to silence dissent.”

Worst Instincts: Cowardice, Conformity, and the ACLU, 2010

Prior to her 2010 statement above, Wendy Kaminer was classified as “pro”:

“You get values from your family. You don’t need religion to believe in a golden rule. I get my values from the ACLU and I wouldn’t call that a religion.”

Mar. 2000
Theoretical Expertise Ranking:
    Experts
Individuals with PhDs and JDs or equivalent advanced degrees in fields relevant to the ACLU. Also top-level government officials (such as foreign leaders, US presidents, Founding Fathers, Supreme Court Justices, members of legislative bodies, cabinet members, military leaders, etc.) with positions relevant to the ACLU.
Involvement and Affiliations:
  • Writer
  • Senior Correspondent, The American Prospect
  • Contributing Editor, The Atlantic
  • Professor, Tufts University, 1988-1990
  • Staff attorney, New York Legal Aid Society, 1977-1978
  • Former staff attorney, New York City Mayor’s Office
  • Former Board Member, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
  • Former Guggenheim Fellow
  • Awarded Smith College Medal, 1998
Education:
  • JD, Boston University Law School, 1975
  • BA, Smith College, 1971
Other:
  • Writer, the New York Times
  • Writer, the Atlantic Monthly
  • Writer, the Wall Street Journal
  • Writer, Free Inquiry
  • Writer, Dissent
  • Writer, The Nation
  • Writer, Newsweek