SPEAKER: Anthony Romero, Exec. Director, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) TITLE: In Defense of America Executive Director of the ACLU, Anthony Romero, will argue that even though President Bush says the U.S. is fighting a “different kind of war,” America does not need to become a different kind of country. Rather than justifying usurping constitutional powers, this war demands that we stick to our core values more strongly than ever, says the ACLU. Romero will demonstrate this by sharing examples from the legal war to protect citizen’s rights that he has been fighting at home. With Romero at the helm, the ACLU has won court victories on the Patriot Act and filed landmark litigation on the torture and abuse of detainees in U.S. custody. Most recently, the ACLU successfully challenged the Bush administration’s illegal spying program. Under Romero the ACLU has experienced the most successful membership growth in its history and doubled the budget and national staff of the organization. An attorney with a history of public-interest activism, Romero is the first openly gay man and the first Hispanic to serve as director of the ACLU. In 2005 Time Magazine named him one of the 25 Most Influential Hispanics and “The Champion of Civil Rights.” He was born in New York City to Puerto Rican parents. Romero was the first member of his family to graduate high school. He went on to graduate from the Stanford University Law School and Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public Policy and International Affairs. This program was recorded live on June 18, 2007 Less