Defending Rights and Dissent

We work to make the promise of the Bill of Rights a reality for everyone in the US.

aka DRAD   |   Washington, DC   |  rightsanddissent.org

Mission

Defending Rights & Dissent strengthens our participatory democracy by protecting the right to political expression. Freedom to dissent is essential to a functioning democracy, and every person under U.S. jurisdiction or control is entitled to Bill of Rights protections. At all times and especially when federal, state, or local governments propose or enact laws or policies that threaten or deny those rights, the people organize, exercising those same rights in the service of protecting them. Most people understand that the country cannot be made safer by sacrificing some rights for all or part of its population. When the people know and exercise their rights, the liberties guaranteed by the Bill of Rights hold firm and remain self-sustaining.

Ruling year info

2004

Principal Officer

Susan Udry

Policy and Legislative Council

Chip Gibbons

Main address

1325 G St. NW Suite 500

Washington, DC 20005 USA

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Formerly known as

Bill of Rights Defense Committee

Defending Dissent Foundation

EIN

27-0042821

NTEE code info

Civil Liberties Advocacy (R60)

International Human Rights (Q70)

International Human Rights (Q70)

IRS filing requirement

This organization is required to file an IRS Form 990 or 990-EZ.

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Communication

Blog

Programs and results

What we aim to solve

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Our programs

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?

Investigate the FBI

The FBI has been spying on activist groups including Black Lives Matter and anti-Keystone pipeline protesters. We know this trough news reports and documents released through the Freedom of Information Act. But we expect the problem goes deeper. This is a national campaign to demand that Congress take oversight seriously and investigate the extent of FBI political spying.

Population(s) Served

Join forces with others in your community to pass a local law or resolution to protect fundamental rights and liberties by promoting transparency and accountability and prohibiting or limiting law enforcement engagement in:

cooperation with immigration enforcement
discriminatory profiling
intelligence-sharing with federal authorities
undercover infiltration of activist groups and religious institutions
cooperation with military personnel
over-policing or restricting protests
prying into social media accounts

Population(s) Served

Public policy advocacy against government programs that promote Islamophobia and discriminate against people based on their faith - particularly FBI trageting of mosques and Muslim communities for surveillance.
We provide a Training of Trainers program which includes a day long Training of Trainers (ToT) session to develop skills and knowledge to address interpersonal, institutional, and structural anti-Muslim discrimination and discuss ways to challenge Islamophobia at their schools, houses of worship, and in their communities.

Population(s) Served

Where we work

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Goals & Strategy

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

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Charting impact

Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.

We aim to build an America that is committed to fulfilling the promise of the Bill of Rights for everyone.
Specifically:
to protect First Amendment rights against government surveillance and harassment of the Muslim community and political activists.
to protect everyone in the United States against unwarranted and mass surveillance.
to oppose torture and indefinite detention.
to end the death penalty and solitary confinement.

We are building a grassroots movement by engaging local coalitions to pass resolutions and laws against surveillance, torture, indefinite detention.

We have a long history of movement building and grassroots empowerment.

We have passed over 400 local resolutions and laws. We need to pass many more. After the 2016 elections, grassroots energy and enthusiasm for passing local laws is high.

Financials

Defending Rights and Dissent
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Operations

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Defending Rights and Dissent

Board of directors
as of 6/18/2019
SOURCE: Self-reported by organization
Board chair

Sascha Meinrath

Penn State University

Term: 2015 - 2019

Sascha Meinrath

XLab

Shahid Buttar

Electronic Frontier Foundation

Steve Abrams

Amnesty International

Fadi Saba

Don Goldhamer

Chicago Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights

Emily Berman

University of Houston Law Center