Your background with the ACLU is both deep and longstanding. What is your relationship with the national organization, and with ACLU Hawaii?

I’m executive director of the ACLU of Hawai‘i, an affiliate of the national ACLU since 1965, on an interim basis, and previously served on the national ACLU board for nearly 14 years, over 11 as one of its elected general counsel. When I left that office, my colleagues honored me by electing me general counsel emeritus, a singular honor only three people have been awarded.

You have broadened the scope of action for Hawaii’s ACLU. What are the organization’s top concerns?

The board sets the priorities, and it’s up to me to execute. I’ve done so by leading the team on three existing campaigns — smart justice, decriminalizing poverty and reimagining policing — which obviously have significant overlap and primarily concern law enforcement practices and the justice system. While that is a 100% fit with my professional expertise, it is narrower than the full range of issues the ACLU works on. I’ve expanded our focus to elevate reproductive rights, cannabis legalization and decriminalization, traditional free-speech issues, and incorporating indigenous justice into our work.

Hawaii is currently grappling with the U.S. Supreme Court’s latest ruling on the Second Amendment, allowing for public carry of firearms. What is the ACLU’s position on those rules that have been pushed out on a local/county level, and what are recommendations on the statewide level for regulation of public carry?

The ACLU believes reasonable regulation under the Second Amendment is consistent with the principles surrounding its adoption in 1791. These include limits on open-carry, concealed-carry, sensible background checks and registration, and regulation of the types of weapons and ammunition. All of these should be done statewide for consistency.

No civilian needs military-style weapons or large-capacity magazines for personal home defense.The Second Amendment does not mean that an individual has a right to possess an aircraft carrier, flamethrower, or semi- or fully automatic assault rifle.

You have a long record of research and advocacy on citizen rights related to policing procedures, including police interaction with those who are armed or suspected of being armed, and police body cameras. Where does Hawaii stand?

I’m proud to be one of the architects of the most-emulated collaborative reform model for law enforcement practices, Cincinnati’s Collaborative Agreement. Policing can be safe, effective — and fully constitutional. I’ve been a strong advocate for the adoption of body-worn cameras to enhance accountability and oversight, and also for eliminating “stop and frisk” interventions that create distrust, are ineffective, and usually target communities of color. Those reforms help.

The Fourth Amendment has been steadily eroded, though, so it’s imperative to reset rules for police interactions to the advantage of the public. People do not have to answer questions, and the public will no longer tolerate excessive force. Police need effective ways to assist people, including in incidents where an individual is experiencing a behavioral health crisis, but not with unnecessary pain-compliance techniques that were once routinely used. Right now, the most important thing we can do in Hawaii is to support a set of bills before the Legislature — Senate Bill 372 (duty to intervene), House Bill 1336 (pretrial reform) and HB 880 (policing data collection).

The ACLU has long advocated for the rights of women, including access to birth control, abortion rights and the right to bear children without interference. Where does Hawaii stand on the spectrum of protections? What needs to be addressed, either locally or on the national level, based on the Supreme Court’s overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022?

Reproductive rights are under full-scale assault across the country after the disastrous Dobbs decision last June, with efforts to eliminate both medication and surgical abortion, restrict birth control and “morning after” medication, and create unscalable barriers to accessing necessary health care — including overreaches by other states into choices made here. These are fundamentally efforts to control women’s lives, destinies and choices.

Fortunately, Hawaii is in a relatively good place on these issues, but still at risk. The most important thing that can be done here right now is to enact SB 1 to protect and clarify the rights of pregnant people to access abortion services. We strongly support it.

Bonus Question

What is ACLU Hawai‘i’s stance on the need for “police reform” in the islands?

Hawaii needs comprehensive reform to its approach to law enforcement and criminal justice. Far too many people here are incarcerated and even sent to the continent, and far too many experience the use of force in unjustifiable and unnecessary situations.

You cannot have effective policing that keeps our communities safe without it also being values-driven and fully constitutional. The public should be able to trust police to serve as protective guardians of their rights and safety; the police need public trust to ensure their legitimacy in carrying out their role.

THE BIO FILE

>> Title: Executive director, ACLU of Hawai‘i

>> Professional background: Joined ACLU as executive director on an interim basis in October 2022; constitutional lawyer of over three decades, concentrating on the First Amendment and law enforcement oversight and accountability

>> Educational background: Juris doctor, University of Chicago, 1989

>> Community: Lives in Kakaako; serves on boards of one-n-ten, providing services to LGBTQIA+ youth in Arizona, the Southwest Conference of the United Church of Christ; and the Ohio Legal Assistance Foundation

>> Family: Husband Adil; senior rescue pug Hank