Each week Editorial and Opinion Editor Jeanne Mariani-Belding hosts The Hot Seat, our opinion-page blog that brings in elected leaders and people in the news and lets you ask the questions during a live online chat.

On The Hot Seat last week was Vanessa Chong, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai'i, who answered questions on civil rights issues, including drug testing for Hawai'i's public school teachers. The following is an excerpt from that Hot Seat session. To see the full conversation, go to The Hot Seat blog at www.honoluluadvertiser.com/opinion and click on "The Hot Seat." (Names of questioners are screen names given during our online chat.)

Kyle: I'm a junior in high school and I don't see what the big deal is over locker searches. The school owns the lockers, and if it improves safety for the rest of us, doesn't that count?

Chong: The ACLU opposes random searches of Hawai'i public school students because it offers a false sense of security, tramples the Bill of Rights and wastes precious education dollars.

Debra: On a national level, what would the ACLU say are the most troubling developments concerning personal liberties?

Chong: The ACLU is concerned about several issues which threaten fundamental rights. We want to end rampant surveillance and warrantless spying on Americans; shut down Guantanamo Bay and give those held there access to justice; restore habeas corpus and due process; and stop torture and the government's practice of secretly kidnapping people and sending them to countries that torture.

Curtis: I am a secular person who has the distinct impression that the ACLU is too active in its efforts to wipe religion entirely from government. A reference to Jesus, or a display of the Ten Commandments on government property gathers far too much of your organization's attention, in my opinion. What is the basis for such apparent animosity toward religion in general, and Christians in particular?

Chong: Among our cherished fundamental rights is freedom of religion and the ACLU in Hawai'i and nationally has long defended individuals, families and religious communities who wish to express their religion privately and publicly.

Hawai'i has more religious diversity than many states. For example, my own family includes Buddhists, Mormons, Catholics and Seventh-day Adventists.

We can enjoy so many religions because government is supposed to keep out of private religious choice and not, by its actions, prefer one religion over others.

Andy Hall: I live in a harbor, and the cops almost always respond slowly or ignore calls for help from the area. There seems to be overlapping jurisdictions depending on whether you are talking about the roads (HPD), parking lot and docks (DLNR), or actual boats (Coast Guard). It's like a hands-off area in terms of law enforcement. So a neighborhood watch program has been organized. One option on the table is install 24-hour surveillance ... which would be recorded and streamed on a public Web site. Docks and the parking lot would be the target areas. What is your take in general about this idea, and what civil liberty concerns might such a plan create?

Chong: The ACLU has concerns about the government's increasing reliance on surveillance to achieve public safety. Many questions may arise with the program you speak of which may affect the fundamental right to privacy. There may be more effective ways to deal with public safety — such as increasing police staffing — than camera surveillance. It may only provide a false sense of security.

Jocelyn: Aside from publicly filing lawsuits, what does the ACLU do on a daily basis, how large is the staff and where do the funds come from? Is this a nonprofit?

Chong: The ACLU is a private, nonpartisan, nonprofit that takes no government funds. We provide our services — legal, legislative advocacy, public education — statewide at no cost to the public. We have a staff of six professionals supported by over 100 volunteers statewide and a volunteer board. Funds come primarily from individual donations.

Christopher: One of the most chilling civil liberties issues in Hawai'i is the lack of a media shield. In a highly publicized case on Kaua'i, a journalist was taken to court for exposing crimes in the press.

Can you make journalist protection a high priority next year?

Chong: We would be happy to take a closer look at this issue and I will be forwarding your concern to our Legislative Committee, which is in the process of developing our agenda for the coming 2008 session.

You may be interested in a federal bill being proposed to also address this issue — Free Flow of Information Act HR 2102. Go to the national ACLU Web site for more info.

Lisa: Are teachers opposed to just random drug testing or all drug testing? Drug testing is not uncommon in the private sector. Why are teachers opposed to it?

Chong: Safe schools are of utmost importance to us all. Random drug testing of Hawai'i's public school educators fails us all. At a time when Hawai'i's students are in desperate need of essential school supplies and services, this policy wastes precious resources while trampling the Bill of Rights and does nothing for the well-being of students.

School officials already have a process in place to handle problem employees. Teachers are not objecting to suspicion-based drug testing.

Scott Sato: There are many other professionals that require drug testing, such as construction workers and human-services workers. Does the ACLU also believe these people's rights have been violated? If so, why have they only recently gotten involved in this area when the issue came up for teachers? It makes the other professions seem like they are not as important as teachers for some political reason, perhaps.

Chong: The ACLU is called into action when government fails to protect the fundamental rights of the people. In this case, the governor wants an entire group of public employees to sacrifice their rights when they have done nothing wrong. There is already a process in place to punish those educators who do violate the public trust.

John K.: Is the ACLU a left-wing organization?

Chong: The only client of the ACLU is the Bill of Rights. It doesn't matter who the target is; when the government tramples on fundamental rights, the ACLU is called into action.

In the nearly 30 years I have been with the local ACLU, our affiliate has represented many individuals including those from across the political spectrum (we are nonpartisan). The government often targets those folks whom they view as unpopular, poor, or marginalized — populations they are counting on to be uninformed about their rights and won't assert them.

Micah L.: What presidential candidates is the ACLU backing? If you do not endorse candidates, why not, since elected officials create the very policies you are challenging?

Chong: The ACLU is non-partisan. We find that political leaders of every stripe can and do make, propose and push for public policy affecting the Bill of Rights.

Tina: Could you please update us on the homeless children who were having problems with access to public education? ALL children deserve access to education.

Chong: The state has failed in its responsibility to follow federal law and used federal funds to assertively outreach to homeless children to ensure that they have an equal opportunity to a public education. The state has been on notice for over a year and has done nothing — for example, they have not provided basic transportation services, they have denied children access to schools over lack of paperwork.

The ACLU filed a lawsuit on behalf of several children and we are waiting for a court date to be scheduled.

Allan: Some time ago your organization was successful in setting a maximum capacity at O'ahu's only jail. Since that time no one has kept tabs on its overcrowding/population situation. Is there anyone who oversees each successful litigation to ensure the responsible party is complying with the mandates?

Chong: The ACLU of Hawai'i in 1984 filed a lawsuit over prison conditions at OCCC and WCCC which resulted in a federal consent decree affecting conditions, practices and population. Congress has passed laws which have made it more difficult for public interest groups like the ACLU to push for prison reform. But we continue to do as much as we can in this area.

Lee: What is the ACLU's position on civil unions?

Chong: The ACLU supports same-gender marriage which goes beyond civil unions in providing all the rights and responsibilities of marriage to committed couples.

Osamu Makiguchi: If the Supreme Court (D.C. v. Heller) decides that the Second Amendment is an individual right, will ACLU Hawai'i as well as the national ACLU also accept the Second Amendment as an individual right?

I find it odd that the ACLU would rationalize the limiting of any civil liberty, in this case the individual's right to own a firearm. Shouldn't the ACLU take the broadest interpretations of how the rights are interpreted in the Constitution?

Chong: Fundamental rights are not absolute and there is a balance between the rights of the individual and the government's interests.

Once the government allows gun ownership, the ACLU's concern would be in ensuring that policies governing gun ownership are enforced in a fair way.

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