ALBUQUERQUE, NM – On Independence Day, July 4th, Grace Williams, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico from 1975 to 1993, passed away in her home in Albuquerque. Grace was a founding member of the state affiliate and led the ACLU of New Mexico for 18 years, doggedly defending the civil liberties of all New Mexicans. During her long tenure with the ACLU of New Mexico, Grace grew the organization in size, impact and influence, winning significant victories in the cause of liberty.
New Mexico Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Daniels, who served as president of the ACLU-NM board of directors during Grace’s tenure, said, “New Mexicans have never had a more dedicated champion of our constitutional rights than Grace Williams. She never forgot that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty."
“Grace was a pistol,” said ACLU-NM Co-Legal Director Phil Davis. “She had boundless energy, and could wax eloquent on civil liberties at the drop of a hat. She had a great sense of humor. She was fearless and brash about the importance of civil liberties and was willing to tell anyone, anywhere, anytime why civil liberties were critical to the fabric of American society. She stood up against mayors, and governors and legislators, and was not afraid to let them know exactly what she thought.”
As Executive Director, Grace tripled the ACLU staff, recruited volunteer attorneys from the community and organized a legal panel to steer the organization’s litigation efforts. The ACLU of New Mexico also became fully financially independent from the national ACLU due to Grace’s skillful fundraising and management.
Grace played a major role in elevating civil liberties work in New Mexico to the national stage. Under her direction, the ACLU of New Mexico won many important victories that created a lasting impact on the legal landscape, including litigation that:
-        Removed religious iconography from the Bernalillo County Seal,
-        Challenged infiltration of citizen organizations by the Albuquerque Police Department and
-        Introduced sweeping reforms of the New Mexico corrections system in the wake of the 1980 Santa Fe penitentiary riot.
In recognition of her contributions, the ACLU of New Mexico honored Grace as Civil Libertarian of the Decade in 1992. She has also received the Albuquerque Bar Association’s Liberty Bell Award, and the Governor’s Award for Outstanding Women.
As Grace prepared to retire in 1993, longtime Albuquerque Journal writer Jim Belshaw reflected on her storied career:
“We all get irritated [with the ACLU] for the same reason. Liberty as an abstraction is sometimes easier to deal with than liberty as a reality. Which is to say that when it comes to the exercise of individual rights, sometimes all we do is talk a good game. For the past 18 years, Grace Watson Williams has dragged us, kicking and screaming, out of abstraction and into reality. It’s all in a day’s work for her.”
“We have lost one of New Mexico’s greatest champions of freedom,” said ACLU-NM Executive Director Peter Simonson. “Grace put the ACLU on the map in New Mexico. She embodies the fighting spirit of the organization and its unwavering commitment to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. She will be missed.”

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ALBUQUERQUE, NM -- Today, in a ruling handed down in the Second Judicial Court, Judge Nash ruled that the City of Albuquerque did not have to correct the city’s mal-apportioned city council districts before the October elections. However, as a consequence of this lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico, the city has agreed to implement the reapportioned districts immediately instead of in 2013 as they had originally planned.
The following statement can be attributed to ACLU-NM Managing Attorney Laura Schauer Ives:
“We are pleased that, as a consequence of the ACLU of New Mexico’s lawsuit, the city will redistrict and implement those changes immediately. Our primary concern was that the citizens who live in districts one and five on Albuquerque’s West Side would be grossly underrepresented until 2013, when the city initially intended to implement the new districts. However, in its closing arguments, the city stated that “as soon as a redistricting plan is approved by the Mayor and is published for five days, it will go into effect.” This means that, although redistricting will not be completed in time for the October election, West Side residents will be equally represented a few months from now as required under the Constitution.”
The ACLU of New Mexico still maintains that redistricting could be completed before the October elections and the plaintiffs are currently considering an appeal to the judge’s ruling.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
July 18, 2011
CONTACT: Micah McCoy, (505) 266-5915 x.1003 or [email protected]
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SILVER CITY, NM - The Southwestern Chapter of the ACLU of New Mexico is sponsoring a singer/songwriter competition, in connection with its Annual Meeting, to be held on October 7, 2011.  Due to continuing attempts to suppress the rights of Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals and Transgender (LGBT) people; we are looking for songs that deal with issues of Civil Liberties relating to LGBT issues.

• This competition is open to all musicians in the “Border Regions” of West Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, who write and perform in any musical genre.  The prize will be a 4 hour recording session, provided by our co-sponsor, Mountain Air Productions.   Mountain Air Productions is a state-of-the-art, digital recording studio and production house, located in the performance space of Seedboat Gallery, in Silver City, New Mexico.   All submissions must be original compositions of the Artist/Performer (maximum of 2 entries per Artist/Performer)
• Entry will be made on an official entry form (contact William Hudson, at [email protected]).
• Entrants will submit a tape or CD recording of their entry (It need not be a professional recording, but should be clean enough that the listener can hear the melody and musical interpretation).
• Entrants will submit a written copy of the lyrics (so that the appropriate theme and poetic quality can be evaluated).

All entries must be mailed to: ACLU/Competition
C/o Peter Falley
521 E. Lance Dr.
Silver City, NM 88061
Entries will be evaluated by the judging panel on;

• How appropriate the song is relative to the theme (Civil Liberties/Constitutionality, as it relates to LGBT issues)
• Artistic lyrical styling, poetic interpretation
• Musical originality, styling

All entries must arrive no later than August 30, 2011.  Finalists will be notified no later than September 10, 2011.  Finalists need to be present at The Annual Meeting of the ACLU of New Mexico, Southwestern Chapter, in Silver City, NM, on Friday October 7, 2011.  On that evening, the finalists will perform their entry live for our audience and judges for final selection of the winner.
Download the entry form: 2011 Entry form
Download the Rules of Entry: 2011 RULES OF ENTRY

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
April 25, 2011
CONTACT: William Hudson
HC 71 Box 765
San Lorenzo, NM 88041
(575) 536 3092
[email protected]