Mayor Autry Demonizes ACLU

Fresno Mayor Alan Autry and U.S. District Judge Oliver W. Wanger debated the role of courts in society at today’s Bench, Bar, and the Media event held in the Downtown Club. Autry said “the ACLU has run a reign of terror on American values in this country since 1920.” He said that the ACLU was started by an avowed Agnostic and Socialist who said ‘I’m going to go out and try and take God out of this country and I’m going to go out and make pornographic materials available to everyone, including your children and I’m going to defend the rights of child molesters around this country’ and the ACLU has done that.” Judge Oliver Wanger was the judge in a case defending homeless rights. One of the legal groups involved in the case was the ACLU. Autry claimed, in his talk, that when the case was over the ACLU attorneys got in their limousine and drove back to the Bay Area. Wanger said “I am astounded by what I just heard” and explained the role of the court in both the homeless case and another case involving water rights and the protection of endangered species. The audio is 1 hour 2 minutes and 26 seconds. In the photo below, Autry is on the right and Wanger is on the left.