Civil libertarian
Nonprofit leaders would do well to achieve as much in two years as Dane Claussen did at the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada.
Mr. Claussen is stepping down as executive director of the organization Jan. 31, almost two years to the day after he took the helm from longtime ACLU chief Gary Peck. A longtime journalist and journalism educator, Mr. Claussen is plenty familiar with the Bill of Rights and the safeguards enshrined in them.
The ACLU has long been at the front of the movement for greater local police accountability, especially when officers use deadly force. But Mr. Claussen seized the momentum created by last year’s Review-Journal investigative series, “Deadly Force,” which documented flawed Metropolitan Police Department policies and how they contribute to an unusually high number of fatal officer shootings.
In the aftermath of that series and last year’s fatal shooting of unarmed, mentally ill veteran Stanley Gibson, the ACLU recommended reforms to reduce the number of officer-involved killings. The U.S. Department of Justice subsequently launched its own study of the department’s policies and culture, and it adopted many of the ACLU’s recommendations.
Under Mr. Claussen, the ACLU also has continued to keep close watch of First Amendment issues on the Strip and downtown, where government efforts to limit handbilling and pedestrian congestion can easily trample our freedoms of assembly and expression. This cause, in particular, is largely thankless and immeasurably important.
Indeed. The ACLU has a high bar for its leaders. Mr. Claussen cleared it. Here’s hoping his successor does, too.
