Free speech has many glorious manifestations: the right of a prominent California Democrat to sanction public art on state property showing the United States going down a toilet; the right of U.S. art museums to host an exhibit featuring unclaimed and unidentified Chinese corpses; and the right of an ex-Boston Globe political correspondent to make a fool of himself. But apparently, free speech may no longer fully obtain for.....the American Civil Liberties Union. Those erstwhile free-speech advocates are seriously considering a rule barring board members from publicly criticizing organizational policies or staff decisions. The New York Times reports:

The American Civil Liberties Union is weighing new standards that would discourage its board members from publicly criticizing the organization's policies and internal administration. "Where an individual director disagrees with a board position on matters of civil liberties policy, the director should refrain from publicly highlighting the fact of such disagreement," the committee that compiled the standards wrote in its proposals. "Directors should remember that there is always a material prospect that public airing of the disagreement will affect the A.C.L.U. adversely in terms of public support and fund-raising," the proposals state. Given the organization's longtime commitment to defending free speech, some former board members were shocked by the proposals.

Generally speaking, I am sympathetic to the need for organizational discipline, and the problems caused by telling tales out of school. But if any entity needs to lead by example on free speech, it is the ACLU. Moreover, individuals who exercise free speech indiscriminately suffer repercussions. Which is to say the marketplace regulates itself. If the good of the republic depends in part on upholding the free speech rights embodied in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, how can it make sense for the leading U.S. advocate of those rights to abrogate same with respect to its own proceedings? Now that's Orwellian.

The ACLU will debate the matter further at its June board meeting. I think one of the dissident board members should live-blog it.

TECHNORATI TAGS: ACLU, FREE SPEECH, CENSORSHIP