Courtesy of the ACLU of Pennsylvania blog,
transcripts and whatnot from the ID court case. As it turns out, they have on the witness stand for the prosecution a philosophy prof. from Southeastern Louisiana University (my pal is a librarian there! cool!) who is just excellent.
The defense lawyer actually asked her if she was a card-carrying member of the ACLU:
The defense tried very hard to keep Forrest, a philosophy professor from Southeastern Louisiana University, from testifying by portraying her as being in league with the devil. The defense had a pretty good stake in keeping her off the stand. She is probably the foremost expert on the genesis, such as it is, of the movement to introduce unsuspecting kids to the idea of intelligent design creationism and, through that, to overturn our very idea of what science is and what it does.
But before asking her about that, Thompson wanted to probe her membership in the American Civil Liberties Union.
"When did you become a card-carrying member of the ACLU?" Thompson asked in a tone that suggested that such membership put her in league with Satan and the forces of evil.
Not just a member. "A card-carrying member."
Forrest answered that she joined the organization in 1979 because she believes in the Constitution and the ACLU defends that vital document.
Thompson then asked whether she supports everything the ACLU does.
Forrest said she believes in defending the Constitution.
And then Thompson asked whether she knew whether the ACLU has defended child porn as protected speech under the First Amendment.
Before Forrest could answer, one of the plaintiffs' attorneys, Eric Rothschild, rose and objected on the grounds of relevance. In other words, his objection was, essentially, what does this have to do with anything?
The judge cut Thompson off.
Which was too bad because the way it was going, I figured Thompson's next question would be something on the order of, don't you and your friends get together to watch snuff films while snacking on aborted fetuses?
Gee. And I thought it was my membership in the American Library Association that generated all the porn questions when I went to serve my jury duty. Instead, it was the terrorist-lovin' ACLU card in my wallet! Gawddamn sneaky bastards.
Also, the National Center for Science Education has posted transcripts and other useful info.