“John Doe”s Speak, Finally

By Norman Oder -- Library Journal, 6/15/2006

On May 30, four librarians from suburban and small-town Connecticut—dignified, conservatively dressed fiftysomethings gagged for nearly ten months under the USA PATRIOT ACT—finally got to speak publicly. At a press conference held at American Civil Liberties Union offices, George Christian, executive director of the Windsor-based Library Connection, said he felt the gag order to be very compromising, since he discussed it only with the three-member executive committee of the board of directors but could not reveal it to the rest of the board or the members without risking prosecution.

Owing to mistakes by government lawyers, the name of the consortium was released in court papers in November. Still, “the circumstances were always the unspoken elephant in the room,” Christian said. Barbara Bailey, director of the Welles-Turner Memorial Library, Glastonbury, noted that, because of the gag, the executive committee members could not even anonymously attend the federal court hearing on the case. Another executive committee member, Peter Chase, director of the Plainville Public Library, said that, as chair of the Connecticut Library Association's Intellectual Freedom Committee, he had to turn down speaking engagements, fearing that he would reveal something.

The four “John Doe” plaintiffs were permitted to speak publicly after lawyers representing the government withdrew an appeal to keep their identities hidden after a federal judge declared the perpetual gag order that accompanies National Security Letters unconstitutional. The underlying case, involving an FBI request for library records that has not been made public, continues. American Library Association president-elect Leslie Burger addressed the plaintiffs: “I'm proud of your courageous stand and grateful to count you among our professional colleagues.”