‘Flagging’ Operation Disabled; Victory for Free Speech

Reports Indicate that the White House’s Citizen-Reporting Program Is No Longer Operational

WASHINGTON, Aug. 17, 2009—The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), focusing on constitutional law, said today it's extremely pleased that a White House ‘flagging' email operation has been disabled.  The program encouraged Americans to report to the White House about fellow citizens who may have disagreed with President Barack Obama's policies.  Earlier this month, the White House began encouraging Americans to report on citizens who make ‘fishy' statements about health care reform.  The White House established a separate email address, flag@whitehouse.gov, for use by those reporting the "fishy" information.

 

News reports today indicate the White House reporting program is no longer operational and that the emails sent to flag@whitehouse.gov now bounce back with this message:  "The email address you just sent a message to is no longer in service. We are now accepting your feedback about health insurance reform via:http://www.whitehouse.gov/realitycheck/."

 

"This program was problematic from the very beginning and we called on President Obama to rescind it," said Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel of the ACLJ.  "This ‘flagging' operation was nothing more than an attempt to stifle free speech and intimidate those who did not agree with the President.  It raised significant First Amendment concerns and countered core principles that our nation was founded on a belief in the necessity of free and open discourse on the important policy and political issues of our day.  We're hopeful the White House got the message - the ‘flagging' operation created constitutional concerns and needed to be withdrawn."

In a White House blog written by Macon Phillips, the White House Director of new media, Phillips claimed that "[t]here is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there" both on the web and floating around in chain emails.  Phillips stated that "[s]ince we can't keep track of all of them here at the White House, we're asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov."

 

The ACLJ sent a letter to Obama urging that the program be withdrawn.  That letter is posted here:  http://www.aclj.org/media/pdf/ACLJ_LettertoPresidentObama_080609.pdf

 

The letter argued:  "The citizen reporting program raises significant First Amendment concerns… Creating a program that requests individuals to report on their neighbors, co-workers, family members, and friends who express personal opinions to your policy choices is not the way to encourage openness and transparency.  It is tantamount to policing ideas.  Such a program will only stifle free and open debate among the citizens of this great country… We respectfully request that the program be withdrawn."

Quotes

Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the ACLJ

• "This program was problematic from the very beginning and we called on President Obama to rescind it."
• "This ‘flagging' operation was nothing more than an attempt to stifle free speech and intimidate those who did not agree with the President.  It raised significant First Amendment concerns and countered core principles that our nation was founded on a belief in the necessity of free and open discourse on the important policy and political issues of our day.
• "We're hopeful the White House got the message-the ‘flagging' operation created constitutional concerns and needed to be withdrawn."

 

About the ACLJ

Led by Chief Counsel Jay Sekulow, the American Center for Law and Justice focuses on constitutional law and is based in Washington, D.C.  The ACLJ is online at www.ACLJ.org. 

 

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