Grassroots Civil Liberties Organizations Merge to Redouble Their Efforts

The Bill of Rights Defense Committee (BORDC) and Defending Dissent Foundation (DDF) are excited to announce a merger that will place both organizations and their respective supporters in an even stronger position to help restore constitutional rights eroded by executive agencies. While BORDC was established to fight the PATRIOT Act in the wake of its passage under the Bush administration, DDF was founded decades ago to fight the McCarthy-era witch hunt that targeted law-abiding Americans on the basis of their political beliefs. Both organizations are committed to popular constitutionalism, and work with grassroots Americans from all walks of life to help them raise their voices to confront the national security state. DDF, in particular, has built a formidable communications platform to cover and amplify the influence of grassroots movements, which BORDC cultivates and supports. Meanwhile, BORDC has developed a robust network of grassroots organizers, journalists, and policymakers at the local, state and federal level who could be better informed by DDF’s information resources. While the boards of both organizations continue the process of finalizing the formal contours of our merger agreement, we are excited by the prospect of combining our efforts and looking forward to working together to help restore constitutional rights.