Maryland may
require police to have "reasonable suspicion" of
criminal activity before individuals or groups being are
placed on a list of potential terrorists. Thirty-two
widely varied organizations, including the gay
group Equality Maryland, Amnesty International,
and the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Commemoration Committee, were on
such a terrorist watch list, according to documents
obtained by the the American Civil Liberties Union of
Maryland.
A spying program
began in 2005 under Republican governor Robert Ehrlich
and his state police superintendent, Col. Thomas Hutchins,
The Baltimore Sun reports. The operation
lasted more than a year. Ehrlich, who left office in
2007, has denied knowing about the program.
State delegate
Sheila Hixson, lead sponsor of the Freedom of
Association and Assembly Protection Act of 2009 in the house
of delegates, said it was clear the governor ordered
the program. "State police get their orders from the
executive department," the Sun quoted her as
saying at a press conference Thursday. "They don't
just decide on their own to spy on a group because they have
nothing else to do."
Other lead
sponsors were delegates Sandy Rosenberg, Tom Hucker, and
Heather Mizeur and senators Jamie Raskin and Brian Frosh.
The ACLU first
contacted the current governor, Democrat Martin
O'Malley, about the spy activity in July 2008. The group
sued to obtain documents from Maryland police,
with the documents showing that at least 50
individuals were wrongly labeled as being involved in
terrorism. (Michelle Garcia, Advocate.com)
