IN 1969, LAWRENCE Speiser, the director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Washington, D.C., office, appeared before Congress to testify against a proposed law that would greatly expand the powers of federal law enforcement. “Our constitutional system of government wisely limits the range of methods available to us, reflecting our historical commitment to liberty and justice rather than to efficiency and expediency,” Speiser said. “To the extent that this puts us at a disadvantage in dealing with the criminal organization, it is a price we must pay, for ultimately it is this which distinguishes the lawful from the lawless society.”
Despite Speiser’s warnings, article, “Ambitious federal prosecutors have now discovered RICO’s many uses, and this poses a great danger to civil liberty and free enterprise.”
